Carving a Leisure Niche

Carving a Leisure Niche

One of the most glorious things about living in this time is leisure. Oh, my! I am hearing some objections already, and we haven’t even gotten started.

Leisure time is time not committed to work or duties.

The thing is, we do have a tendency to fill up our leisure time with activities, and not so much time for leisure. Silly we.

One of the very great skills we develop as we become grown ups is the skill of discernment.

And one of my favorite old saws is: You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.

So what does that mean for us? It means that we really need to think about what we are doing.

I like to do stuff a lot, and I like to do a lot of stuff. My list of hobbies is as long as my arm, and is made out of yarn I spun myself, then knit, dyed, and sewed together. I like to make art, cook, read, write songs, make music, and so on. I like to get together with friends and family, travel, take classes and workshops, well, you get the idea.

I can’t do it all. Even if I won the lottery, and had all my days free, I couldn’t do it all. I have to use discernment.

Because, I’ve learned that I also need some down time, time to flop, time to think, and dream, and plan, and decide stuff.

So, I need to be judicious. I need to look at what has to get done; grocery shopping, minimal upkeep on house, car, me and family, laundry, work, sleep, not necessarily in that order. I have a sense of how long all that takes, but when I am feeling overwhelmed, it is good to actually track it.

We all start with one hundred sixty eight hours in our week. Some of us are very efficient, and get a lot of stuff we feel good about done in that time. Some of us are not very efficient, and feel bad, like we can’t do enough. Some of us pack our kids’ time full of stuff, and so we never stop running until we collapse into bed too exhausted to sleep.

And so, we get back to thinking about commitment, and what do we want. As I have made a little time for reflection, I see that there are some areas in my life where my apparent commitment is at odds with what I want. This is such important information, especially since, if I don’t notice it, that conflict can make me feel kind of crazy.

I have come to recognize how important it is for me to let go of the day’s stresses everyday. Meditation, yoga, qigong, and just consciously relaxing all help me do this. When I am all churned up, everything goes wonky from digestion to sleep. Relaxing, pausing to think some thoughts, noticing stuff, none of it takes very long, and that mini-vacation will ultimately help us get so much more satisfaction from our days.

How have I changed from running at full tilt, to carving out a niche of leisure time every day?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 07292013