Doing nothing is happiness for children and misery for old men.

Empty time means opposite things depending on how much of it you have left. For a child, an afternoon with nothing in it is a field to run around in. Later the same emptiness can feel like being set aside, and the difference is not the hours but whether they were chosen.

If your days have gone slack without your choosing it, the remedy is rarely more entertainment. It is usually something that needs you: a task, a person, a standing commitment somebody else depends on. And if you know someone whose calendar has gone quiet, an invitation costs you very little and lands heavier than you would guess.