Do you have balance in your leisure activities?

Leisure activities generally fit into six categories and and you can learn a lot by examining your own leisure activities and seeing which of the following categories they fall into:

1.  Social Interaction (e.g., parties, social get-togethers, meeting friends for drinks, writing letters to keep in touch, having ongoing contact with people on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, phoning friends, etc.)

2. Spectator Appreciation (e.g., football matches, concerts, cinema, the theatre, people watching, etc.)

3. Creative Expression (e.g., painting, cooking, decorating your home, writing, flower arranging, woodworking, crafts, etc.)

4. Intellectual Stimulation (e.g., study, crossword puzzles, personal development work, educational TV programmes, etc.)

5. Physical Exercise (e.g., hiking, golf, tennis, running, kayaking, etc.)

6. Solitary Relaxation (reading, watching DVDs, just sitting and thinking, jogging, napping, chilling out, listening to music, etc.)

So, what can you learn from looking at your own leisure activities?

Well, for example, if you're an introvert and like your own company, you might find that your leisure activities are heavy on the Solitary Relaxation side – which, in turn, could be an indication that, if you don’t want to become a recluse, you may need to consider making a determined effort to include more Social Interaction in your life if you want to build up a supportive network of people who will be around for you (and
vice versa) in your later years.

In the same way, if all of your sporting activities fall into the 'Spectator Appreciation' category and you have none in 'Physical Exercise', you could be storing up health-related problems for yourself in later life.

If you're big on Physical Exercise but have no Intellectual Stimulation, you could have memory or cognitive processing problems later on.

Although one person’s idea of leisure will always be another person’s idea of hard work, perhaps you could consider trying to achieve a balance which includes leisure activities you enjoy from each of the six categories.

Comments

[Lucie]

Excellent post and as an introvert I must admit my leisure time is considered blissful alone time. It is a struggle to not become a recluse as much as I want to shut the doors and turn off the lights and pretend I am not home.

[Ann Harrison]

LOL, Lucie... we could have been separated at birth! Ann