Leisure? You Never Even Knew Her

A successful life requires work. No one needs convincing of that. What we may need, however, is to understand and to be reminded of the dire need for proper leisure. I don’t just mean rest, quiet, amusement, or a mere cessation of work. Purposeful leisure is something totally different and more strategically complex than a break from work. Most of us are doing it wrong.

This is not a message to reiterate that we all probably work too hard and too often. That sentiment is likely overstated, a bit cliché, and also accurate. It’s an entrenched, cultural issue now to be a workaholic. As we may quickly generalize the widespread problem, we cannot deconstruct the “why” of it quite so easily. Why do people over-work themselves? Why do you? Everyone has different needs and motivations for their work behavior. Some people work hard for selfish reasons like money, notoriety, or power. Some do to be distracted from other pain, or to possibly to avoid harder, more emotionally intense work. After all, the workplace can be an easy place to hide. There are a million reasons we overwork, some good and some terrible. (Perhaps another post will follow defining efficient rest and true recreation, and the need to master both. I think we do them both poorly as well. Rest is for recovery. Recreation is for rehabilitation and renewal.) Today, my desire is to highlight leisure. Leisure is not just resting to…