Making Time for Leisure

Some people's lives seem to be all work and no play. They complain about having no time to visit friends or do their favorite things but they never set time aside to do them. Others seem to be able to do it all! They enjoy their jobs, spend their spare time with family and friends, and have lots of special interests. Is it just luck that some people are able to do everything they want and others are not?

Just think about this: we all have 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week. No person has any more time than another. How is it that some people appear to do so much and some so little? Granted, people have varying degrees of commitments to work, family and friends but isn't it our attitudes that primarily determine how we choose to use the time we have?

Knowing that there is a positive value to leisure, we will include it in our lives. However little time we have, regularly setting aside some time each day leads to the expectation of having that leisure time. By planning, we actually make time available to use however we want.

When we're feeling that there is so much work to do - either at home or at one's workplace - we tend to find it easy to become totally obsessed with our work. But we don't have to feel that we have to be super humans to balance our lives or that only very rich or organized people find time for leisure. What balancing work and play involves is:

				knowing which activities are a priority
				being able to plan our time around them
				enjoying those activities to the fullest

It means taking charge to positively charge ourselves. Some of us may feel as if we are on a hectic treadmill and are asking "how do I get off this thing?" Here is one way to examine our quality of life with some suggested steps for balancing work and play.

Steps to Balancing Work and Play

1.	Put on the brakes; stop everything. Look at what is happening in your life at home and at work.
2.	Answer some of the following questions:   Are my needs being met (personal, intellectual and spiritual)?   Are my values being fulfilled?   What can/will I give up in order to find a balance?
	If you're striving for health, happiness and peace of mind, are you on the right track for achieving those goals?
3.	Establish some priorities as to what would make your life fuller, richer and more rewarding. Ask yourself:   What do I want to be doing with my work time and free time?   How would I best like to renew myself and build up my positives?

Establishing Leisure Priorities

Are there certain leisure activities you've been meaning to become involved in but for some reason have not? If you'd like to assess a certain part of your lifestyle to see how much positive value you are getting out of leisure, try the My Leisure Priorities and Goals survey. This is an opportunity for you to step back and take a closer look at what's happening or not happening during your leisure hours, and what steps you'd like to take to make positive changes.

Setting aside some time each day or week or month for those activities we truly enjoy and want to include, should help us achieve our goals. And as an added measure to ensure we do those particular things we want to do, we must consider how we operate best and are most likely to bring about the change - perhaps planning such time to include other people or maybe scheduling ourselves into certain classes or activities will free us up the way we want.

We will find our leisure time satisfying and positive just as we find our work satisfying and positive if whatever we do:

		is truly enjoyable
		reflects who we are
		allows us to be who we want to be

True satisfaction comes from leading a meaningful life, not simply doing meaningful work. To satisfy our needs, we must set limits for ourselves and live by our own individual notions of life success. Many people may not find their jobs particularly challenging but they accept the fact that their jobs allow them to live their lives the way they want; so each day they are able to do their jobs and then leave them behind.

Balancing work and leisure is a challenge; balancing work and leisure in a changing, fast-paced world is an even greater challenge for meeting tomorrow's challenges.

[Back to the Switchboard page]