lei·sure
Pronunciation: \ˈlē-zhər, ˈle-, ˈlā-\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English leiser, from Anglo-French leisir, from leisir to be permitted, from Latin licēre Date: 14th century 1 : freedom provided by the cessation of activities; especially : time free from work or duties
2 : ease, leisureliness
This week I have plenty of leisure time. It’s been a long time since I’ve said that! I’ve taken the week off from work, and I’m not planning to travel anywhere, which I’ve never done before. The way the remainder of the year is looking, I wasn’t sure I’d get the down time in if I waited any longer to take it. Coincidentally, some of my recent reading material addressed leisure…
According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor at the University of Chicago, in ”Finding Flow, [h]aving leisure at one’s disposal does not improve the quality of life unless one knows how to use it effectively,” which is NOT an innate skill. Without this skill, he actually describes leisure as potentially dangerous to mental and physical health!
The distinction lies in the type of leisure pursued - active or passive leisure, which have very different psychological effects. People report substantially more happiness and flow (i.e. optimal performance or that feeling of being “in the zone”) when they engage in active rather than passive leisure.
This got me thinking, and I’ll pass my question on to you… How do you spend your leisure time?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Leisure as “potentially dangerous to mental and physical health” makes sense. I never thought of it that way until I read this, but yes!
The days where I have leisure time and do nothing much with it are the ones where I feel horrible mentally and physically.
I didn’t work today, so I was excited to have some leisure time. I played soccer, enjoyed a great vegetarian meal with my mom, walked around an arts festival, listened to one of my favorite local bands, ran into friends (which led to making plans to help make hula hoops at a 6 year old’s birthday party in 2 weeks – how fun!), had a beer with my mom and friends, talked of traveling to Peru in a few months, sent emails and texts to catch up with folks, researched Peru travel, checked in on websites, watched a bit of TV, cuddled with my dog… great day!
I hope you enjoyed your week of leisure! What were the best ways you spent some of your time?
You are the perfect person to comment on this post since you have a newly flexible schedule! I feel the same way that you do about spending my time actively rather than passively. I’ve found that it can be physical or mental activity, but either way, activity makes the difference in my day or weekend. Last week I spent some time writing, reading, planting veggies, meeting some new like-minded people, and working out at the gym. It was a good, active (but relaxing) week! Thanks for the comment!