Many Things vs. Nothing

I think I have a problem; I think many of my friends and colleagues share this problem.  See if you can spot the problem in the story below.

On Wednesday, I woke up a bit late-- it was my first day after classes, after all!-- took a shower, and made tea.  We had no milk, so I MacGyver-ed a dollop of whipped cream into "milk" for my Earl Grey, and realized that I needed to hit up the grocery store.  While drinking my morning tea, I talked to my best friend online; we haven't had a chance to talk in awhile, so it was nice to catch up.  While we talked, I half-watched a couple of episodes of Phineas and Ferb, one of my favorite shows that I haven't watched in ages.  Then, I decided to make the trek to the big galleria nearby to go Christmas shopping for my niece.  I spent a little too long picking out things for my niece, then I found a few items in the store that I wanted, too, and indulged a little.  But not too very much, since this was a Christmas shopping trip for others.  After I left the shop, I put on my blinders as I walked through the rest of the mall, and was very good and didn't even look at any clothing or shoes or anything.  On my way home, I stopped at Trader Joe's for necessary foodstuffs-- like milk, butter, salad supplies.  Hooray for having food in the house again!  Then, I watched Brave, ate soup, drank more tea (now with milk in it, instead of whipped cream).  After Brave ended, I put away my clean laundry and organized my room-- it desperately needed it.  Around 7:45, I began to make revisions to my classroom sequence for my Approaches to Teaching Writing class, and a little after 8:30 I left to get a celebratory "end-of-classes" drink with two girls from Georgetown.  As all three of us gathered 'round our delectable skillet cornbread and apple fritters, I said with feeling, "I've done nothing today."  My friend replied, "Oh goodness, I know.  Me either!"

Do you see the problem? It's in the "nothing."  Shortly after saying it, I realized, that my "nothing" referred only to academic work.  I didn't write any papers or do any reading.  I spent only forty-five minutes doing anything academic at all.

But I had a lovely day.  I felt so relaxed and happy, doing many, many things.  I think it is this trick of language, this "nothing," that so often makes me feel my life is worthless.  I need to think of another word to signify that I did not write papers or read for class.  Academics are important, but they are not everything.  Taking a day off to recharge after a semester of intense classes does not mean my life consists of "nothing." Because if spending a day talking to friends, Christmas shopping for family, watching a good film, running necessary errands, and having a late dinner with people I care about is "nothing," how can I expect to have a fulfilling life?