Are We Addicted To Leisure?

In the last couple of months, I have to admit, I have bingeing a few shows. I just finished one last week, and I had just started it the weekend before ! I had a rainy Sunday at home and then some quiet time in the evenings, and sixteen one-hour episodes were done. Yesterday I thought that I would come home and watch an episode, and then realized that I was done with it. It made me a bit sad.

I had had a great day and wanted to come home and just vegetate. I immediately yearned for mindless entertainment and wished that I had more time for that only. The time I had dedicated to my obsessive viewing wasn’t enough. The days off and fun times weren’t enough. I just wanted more and more time for fun and nothing.

Someone might say that this is a result of not enjoying my work or being stressed in my personal life. I am going to say that in part and above all, this is tiredness. Being stuck at home for so long has been hard, and I am worn out. I think it also shows a streak of laziness. I respect the need for rest and enjoying the small things, like watching tv with family while eating ice cream. Not every moment needs to be productive for it to be valuable. However, when I’ve had a lot of unproductive moments, the value of them decreases. They become more about doing nothing than about getting replenished or investing in others.

For me, the purpose of life is to grow. I try to entice myself with interesting ways of learning something. I have my reading challenge, where I am reading every day of the year. The books include topics that I am interested in. I look for fun and simple recipes to replicate for my family. I encourage a walk around the block to add some activity to my day. Yet the amount of energy I need to muster to get something productive done increases as the day turns into night.

I recognize that to grow you need rest. If you don’t take time to breathe, you will run out of energy. But we don’t live to only breathe. There are so many ways we can enjoy ourselves and shouldn’t exchange it for living at a rest stop. Their purpose is to energize us for our destination.

It is important to identify the reason behind the constant yearning for leisure. Am I going through tough times? Am I stuck in a rut? Am I having issues with my loved ones? Do I feel without purpose? Any of these questions can take you to the culprit of why doing nothing or relaxing is what you repeatedly want to do. Be courageous and take a step forward to face what is really bothering you. If all is well and you just need a push to get what you want done, take a look at my previous post about the 10 minutes that will change your life.

Don’t stop until you get to your destination.