Saturday, March 10, 2012

Leisure vs Work: Lessons Learned?

My week of keeping a log of my leisure time vs work time is just about up -- and what have I learned?  One thing -- that sometimes leisure and work get a bit muddled, especially since I don't have a typical 9 to 5 job, in which I have to get up and go someplace....except when I'm teaching a course, and that's a different story.  It was much more clear cut when I "worked" at the hospital.  I *went* to work, I *worked* and then I came home.  What happened after getting home - a lot of times that was work too...typical mom/wife types of things related to keeping the home and the children taken care of. 

I'm list and goal and accomplishment oriented. And unless I cross things off the list -- significant things, like finishing a lecture or getting a load of paperwork done -- then it almost seems as though the day just slipped by without anything being done.

When I'm lecturing/teaching -- that is Work!  But a very enjoyable sort of work.  I really love getting up in front of a group and teaching.  I enjoy putting lectures together and working on my powerpoints -- finding just the right pictures to illustrate what I'm talking about.  I enjoy the interaction with the participants and many times I learn things from them that I wouldn't otherwise know.

So, much of what I did this week I labeled as work -- as it was -- preparing for our course next week, getting some lectures done, getting all the paperwork done that goes along with the administrative role of my part of the business.  Interspersed was time spent on Facebook -- but much of that relates to the Business of Breastfeeding which is my work.  Also communicating back and forth via e-mail with my two colleagues in LEC.  So being on e-mail is also work. 

I had wonderful conversations with my sister and my husband about work and leisure and how we were brought up as children to view leisure -- mostly with suspicion...that if you "indulged" in leisure, it somehow was equated with laziness, unless Everything Else Was Done. 

My leisure activities -- that I really consider leisure involve reading -- novels are really leisure.  Crossword puzzles that I've just begun to thoroughly enjoy -- thanks to Tim & Annabel.  The occasional computer game.  And notice that those are all solitary activities!  Hmmmm.... Other things I would consider leisure -- eating out.  And probably my favorite activity of all, having my family around and eating dinner on the deck in the summer time, spending an hour or so after we have finished, just hanging out and talking.  Being with my family any time may involve work, but I think it is so pleasurable, it has to be leisure.

I discovered I really enjoy my work, so it's hard to look at it as *work*.  And I still feel guilty when I take an hour during the day (I didn't, but I imagined it) to read a book.  I'll need to work on that!!

I think if I add "read for an hour" or "do Monday's crossword puzzle" to my list of things to do, perhaps I'll feel as though I've accomplished something....

Something to think about!!



Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Leisure -- Is It A Woman vs Man Thing?

I started thinking about leisure in the context of men and women yesterday, and couldn't decide if it is easier for men to take leisure time or for women?  Not in my family -- my Bob seldom takes a moment of what I would term leisure...he always has some sort of iron in the fire, and is either doing something around the house or at his desk.  The only TV he watches is the news -- and the only two TV programs we watch if we don't go to church on Sunday night is 60 Minutes and the Amazing Race. 

Think about those a minute.  What does it say about our ability to just kick back?  Both are competetive....

But I had to Google and find this which I think may say it all:
***********************************************

I'M GOING TO BED.....Men vs Women

Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, "I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed".

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches. Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for supper the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar

Container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning.

She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer , ironed a shirt and secured a loose button.

She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer.

She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk, wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair

She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store.. She put both near her purse.

Mom then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails..

Dad called out, "I thought you were going to bed."

"I'm on my way," she said

She put some water into the dog's dish then made sure the doors were locked and the patio light was on.

She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and TV's, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the one up still doing homework.

In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers, and visualized the accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no one in particular. "I'm going to bed"

And he did..without another thought.
****************************Thanks to Rome NewsWire Forum*************************

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

More on Leisure

I'm on day three of this keeping track of my leisure time....did fairly well on Sunday, which, after all, is supposed to be a day of rest anyway.  Not so well yesterday.  I did count our life group meeting as leisure time because it is something I want to do, enjoy doing, and counts for something besides work. 

But one of the things I discovered on Sunday -- and yesterday -- was that when I think about doing something just plain old enjoyable, like reading a novel, I get a bit twitchy.  Like I'm not *allowed* for some reason.  That I should be doing something productive.  And I've been trying to analyze why.

Partly, I think, it was the way I was brought up.  I need to check with my sisters about this, but there was something inherently not acceptable about just being lazy, as my parents would have put it.  We were generally supposed to be doing SOMETHING.  Homework, housework, practicing our music, whatever....but sitting around and reading (yes -- my favorite form of leisure) was to be left until after all the real work was done. 

During nursing school and college there was very little leisure time -- homework was always there; I remember saying things like, "If I can only make it until Friday, then I'll be OK"...or, "If I live through all I have to do this weekend, I'll survive."  Somehow, we still managed to make our fun, most likely at the expense of our sleep.

Even after I got married, there was always something.  It started by realizing that Bob was getting his master's, and since I had nothing to do on Tuesday nights, I may as well go for mine as well.  And then I started teaching in the school of nursing which meant there was always something to do in the evenings and on weekends as we spent hours grading care plans and other papers.  And so it went....

And now I work out of my home, and as anyone that has a home business knows, that work is never finished.  There is always something more to be done. 

So -- perhaps this week will help me learn that leisure is not only OK, but it is good.  And that I need more of it. 

So does Bob.

After all, God rested on the 7th day.....

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Work vs Leisure

We are beginning a new series in our Adult Community at College Church in Wheaton led by Leland Ryken -- kickoff being this morning with an interesting quizlet, given in true Wheaton College Professorial style.  Upshot of the whole thing was that Lee wanted some volunteers to keep a log of leisure and work time this week, and then report on it next Sunday morning.  No one volunteered, however Ned & Linda Gulbransen were volunteered -- and then someone behind me (I didn't see who, but I have a good idea) volunteered me.

So, I'm thinking about it.  What is work?  What is leisure?  How do I decide?  Is, for example, blogging on work and leisure actually WORK, because I'm doing it as part of an assignment, or is it LEISURE, because I rather enjoy writing (not that you'd know it by the paucity of posts in this blog), or is it in that sort of grey, nebulous place of neither one nor the other? 

I'm hoping to find out what is what....

If you enjoy doing something, then is it leisure?  Even if it is work?  I love lecturing, but that is my work -- and it expends a lot of energy (not enough...doesn't burn nearly enough calories to my way of thinking) -- and I wouldn't call it leisure...

I don't like cooking as anyone who knows me at all can attest to.  So for me, cooking -- even thinking about cooking -- is work. 

What about getting dressed in the morning.  After all, showering, dressing, putting on the coffee, making the bed -- sorta getting ready for the day....does that fall into either of the above categories?  I HAVE to do it (goodness knows, I'd be ostracized if I didn't)...but I'm not sure it's work (though some days getting up and moving along seems pure drudgery).

I suppose there are a bunch of things that are going to fall into the neither one nor the other category....

It will be interesting to see how the week falls out.  Especially given that I'm not "working" this week -- I'm home....