How Will You Use Your Leisure Time?

By Rob Henderson, LASUDC, CTRS

Back in the early 1960s, before the sixties were officially “swinging,” many scholars in America were predicting a serious social problem at the end of the twentieth century. The problem, they declared, was going to be too much leisure time. The think tanks of that era were sounding the alarm that a “cybernation revolution” was underway in which machines would slowly push people from the workforce and expedite our lives to the point of no longer needing a full forty-hour work week. Surely by the year 2000, idle free time would take over our lives.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say this problem didn’t really play out as predicted. Was there a technological revolution? Absolutely. But endless leisure time? Not so much. In fact, inversely, a major concern of today’s first-world age is the acceleration of time. We can’t seem to catch up with it or find enough of it, leading to millions of Americans being overworked, overscheduled, and overwhelmed.

“Time poverty,” as it has been coined, comes with a series of concerns related to health and wellness. Our physical and mental health, relationships, families, friendships, community connections, environment, and even our safety and security all suffer when leisure time is not prioritized or intentional.

Which brings me to this article’s purpose. What is leisure time, really, and how important is it to health and wellness? How can we be more intentional with our leisure time? How can couples, families, and communities use wholesome recreation and the adventurous outdoors to make more meaningful connections? So, let’s get started.

What is leisure, really?

When asked to define the term leisure, many align with Google and default to a definition of what it’s not: Leisure is freedom from obligation, work, and required tasks, often escaping or recovering from responsibility and commitment. This is known as the “freedom from” leisure paradigm.

But there are richer and more empowering ways to view our leisure time. Instead of just freedom from, what if we expand our view to a ”freedom to” paradigm, where potential and possibility take the driver’s seat. Aristotle and Plato interpret it this way: leisure is an ideal state of being devoted primarily to contemplation, discourse, and self-expression. And modern research adds that true leisure involves so much more than “not working.” It is a deeper involvement with creative absorption and therefore, intrinsically rewarding and naturally rejuvenating.

How will you carve out the freedom to create meaningful possibilities, strengthen your relationships, and increase your personal health and wellness through true leisure?

Consider searching out some of these titles for more information on this topic…if you have time.

1. Escape from Affluenza (1998 PBS documentary)

2. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (2014, McKeown)

3. Effortless: Make it Easier to Do What Matters Most (2021, McKeown)

4. Visit www.TakeBackYourTime.org

About the Author

Rob Henderson is dually licensed in addiction counseling and recreation/experiential therapy and is a Wilderness First Responder. In addition to therapy, he specializes in leisure and outdoor education, youth and family development, and parenting. He is most known for his ability to integrate play and a variety of adventures and backcountry pursuits into his private practice as well as with his family. Visit www. ARETherapy.com to learn more.