Why Leisure Matters
We are entering an age governed by changes in leisure patterns. Workplaces and businesses will evolve to accommodate and capitalize on the 77 million baby boomers who will, in increasing numbers, have excess time on their hands.
Recently, I came across the work of Alison Link, whose work with people who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated was described in a column by Samuel G. Freedman in The New York Times in 2006. Though Ms. Link works primarily with at-risk populations, she says that we can all improve our quality of life by paying more attention to leisure habits.
How do you define leisure?
Believe it or not, the field of leisure studies is a big area of academic study. Leisure has many different definitions — some involving time, some relating to an activity being done, some relating to state of mind. Personally, I am most at leisure when I feel free, present and integrated. I like this definition for myself because it allows me to experience leisure at any moment, even in just a few minutes. Leisure can happen when we are in various states: artistic or creative, physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, learning new things, volunteering, active, passive, or as a spectator or participant. One can be emotionally connected and engaged or not. And we can even have leisure at work and be more productive, healthy and creative.
Why should we care about our relationship to leisure?
Too often, leisure time that is not used in a satisfying way turns into idle time, or is used to do a single thing to excess (like overeating, or getting into family quarrels). It can even turn negative, which is what happens often in the cases substance use, delinquency and criminal activity. Also, wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t define ourselves by our work? It should be just as valid to define ourselves by our leisure.
So how do you explain all those people who don’t feel free in their lives?
Read more.
Photo by lusi.
Dana Keith on May 14th, 2008 8:24 pm
Leisure means a lot if you really just make sense of it, it’s a great time to just be with yourself and do what will make you feel relax even a bit.
Nafisa on May 15th, 2008 10:05 am
In my country, the problem is that people spend too much time doing leisure activities that they their work really suffers.
Leave a Reply