Introduction
The terms leisure and recreation mean different things to different people from different social backgrounds. Therefore, it is not easy to come up with a universal definition that is acceptable to all people. As a result, the best means to look at leisure and recreation is through the different conceptions that express different perspectives of the two terms. Nevertheless, it would not be wrong to say that leisure and recreation occupy a crucial point in every society, at least in almost all the cultures in the world. For the young children, leisure can be conceptualized as play, while, for the adults, leisure can be conceptualized as recreation. Here, recreation is the broad term that fuses both play and leisure.
Reflection on lessons Learned from the LSI
As a child, my activities and time were pretty much structured by my parents and others. For that reason, I think I was adequately prepared for leisure as I have for work and other vocational activities. Again, I feel that, if I am not playful, it has nothing to do with how I was raised.
As an adult, I found out that I value work more than leisure and recreation. Although, initially, I thought that I live a balanced life, work occupies the greatest percentage of my daily activities. Interestingly, few people, including my best friend, know about my leisure desires and interests.
Relation between the Assessment and Literature on Leisure and Recreation
Looking back, two conceptions of play explain my current notion of leisure and recreation. The first conception is the self-expression theory, developed by Elmer Mitchell and Bernard Mason. According to the two educators, play is the primary result of the need for self-expression. As the theory explains, humans are quite dynamic, and they look for ways to direct their energies and abilities. In doing so, humans also express their personalities. However, the type of activity that individuals engage in depend on physiological and anatomic structure, physical fitness level, environment, family and social background. The same thing can be said about me.
As a child, play was a means of self-expression. It signified my interests and the things that I loved to do. The activities I engaged in expressed the devotion and attention that I gaveto some play activities. As a result, the childhood plays that I engaged in are still discernable from the leisure and recreation choices that I make later in life.
The second conception of play that explains how I was raised is the school of thought that regards play as a social necessity. This theory recognizes that play is an important aspect in life. In my opinion, play was well structured (during my young age) by my parents. This, perhaps, explains why I think my parents understood the role of play in my personal development. Proponents of the theory (play as a social necessity) argue that the ability to recognize the role performed by play in growth and development of children informs the decision by educators to inculcate play in their school curriculum. The argument is that play helps children to communicate, form beneficial relationships with their peers and develop their mental faculties among many other benefits.
Looking back, the fact that I was taught to separate work from play still influences some choices that I make today. For example, I feel guilty for putting off something that I know I should do. Again, I keep busy at times to take my mind off some things or even myself. In addition, I find it hard to sleep more than necessary and switch on the TV for more than two hours a day. The ability to concentrate more on my work than I do on my leisure and recreation has a lot to do with my upbringing and the ‘strict’ nature of structured play. Nevertheless, the well-structured play still had a positive impact on me.
For instance, I find it easy to socialize and meet different people. Considering the fact I am in a new country now, the capacity to socialize is invaluable. In addition, the ability to form friendships (inculcated during my play time when young) enables me to hang out with friends on Saturdays. It also explains my ability to listen keenly when in a group. Nevertheless, everything that I know about leisure and recreation does not come from the things I learned as a child only; there are also some things in my adult life that inform the leisure and recreation choices that I make right now. Nevertheless, I believe that playfulness can be part of one’s work without necessarily interrupting the quality and efficiency of the product and effort.
As an adult, there are two concepts that explain my view of leisure. The first concept states that leisure should be undertaken as an unobligated time. According to proponents of this theory, leisure is the time that is free from work-related responsibilities as travel, study, or social involvements based on work. Again, this concept assumes that leisure excludes time to devoted to essential life maintenance activities such as sleep, eating, and personal care.
However, this theory has been criticized by different quarters. For example, during their free time, some individuals may engage in activities that are not related to work but which contribute to success at work. Therefore, it would be hard to classify such activities as leisure. However, the definition of leisure given by this theory assumes that all the unobligated time is intrinsically rewarding and posses the qualities typically associated with leisure.
Throughout my adult life, I have always regarded leisure as unobligated or discretionary time. In effect, work-related activities do not form part of my leisure. However, I always find that money has a lot of influence on the leisure activities that I partake. Nevertheless, I always look out for recreation opportunities that are available and relate to my interests throughout my community. Regardless, I wish I knew more of what my leisure interests are. In the future, I would like to meet people who have leisure interests that are similar to mine. The reason is because I would like to maintain regular active participation in more than one hobby.
Currently, I engage in limited forms of leisure and recreation, which I would like to diversify in future. For example, I do not engage in daily meditation and some form of self-thinking. Again, I find it hard to express myself through art, music, drama and writing. In addition, I do not engage in fun sports and active games and regularly plan them in my seasonal schedules. For this reason, I would like to be more active in leisure and recreation activities than I am now.
The second concept that explains how I regard leisure states that leisure is marked by some degree of freedom. According to this philosophy, leisure places great emphasis on perceived freedom of the activity and on the role of leisure involvement in helping the individual achieve personal fulfillment and self-enrichment.
This concept of leisure borders on a holistic view of lifestyle in that one’s life should not be fragmented into a number of spheres rather all the involvements form part of a whole in which the individual explores his or capabilities, develops enriching experiences with others, and seeks self-actualization in the sense of being creative, involved, expressive and fully alive.
This concept of leisure is the one that best mirrors my philosophy of leisure. Leisure should have relative freedom from external compulsive forces of one’s culture and physical environment so as to act from internal compulsion. In short, leisure experiences should yield a sense of total freedom; there should not be compulsion of any form. However, ideally, this is far from achievable because there are some activities that individual participates in that diminish the individual’s sense of intrinsic motivation and their sense of freedom.
Impact of the Assessment and Personal Recreation Philosophy
Taking the LSI assessment has helped me to reevaluate my view of leisure and recreation. It has helped me to understand my philosophy regarding the two terms, and the seriousness I devote to both leisure and recreation. For instance, I had never realized that my leisure and recreation activities are minimal and lack diversity.
Again, I had never realized that very few people around me know about my leisure interests and desires. For example, my best friend knows very little about my leisure interests and desires. In addition, although I always think that I live a balanced life, taking the LSI assessment proved that I value work more than leisure by far. This is because, sometimes, I cannot separate work from a sense of leisure. Furthermore, I tend to feel guilty for engaging in leisure and recreational activities when I have not completed some piece of work.
Nevertheless, I cannot blame my current view of leisure on how I was raised. As a child, in my opinion, play was essential and well-programmed. Therefore, if I lack playfulness, it has nothing to do with how I was raised. Although, as an adult, I feel that I give more value to work than leisure that notion has nothing to do with how was raised. That notion can be explained by my current recreational philosophy.
Nevertheless, my view of recreation and leisure is that both should involve an activity or an involvement that is voluntary and free from any form of obligation. In addition, recreation should be promoted by intrinsic motivation as well as the desire for personal satisfaction rather than the drive for external goals and the expectation of external rewards.
Moreover, recreation is not so much about what an individual does, or the reason for doing it; recreation is a state of mind, and it is the manner in which the individual feels about recreation that matters a lot. Lastly, although the primary motivation for taking part in recreation is usually seeking pleasure, there is also need to meet intellectual, physical and social needs. For example, there are some activities that provide “fun” of a trivial nature, and may require a serious level of commitment and self-discipline. In other cases, the recreational activity may yield frustration and pain.
References
Cordes, K. A. (2012). Applications in recreation and leisure. Urbana, IL : Sagamore Publishing .
McLean, D., & Hurd, A. (2011). Kraus' recreation and leisure in modern society . Burlington, MA : Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
