Modern life seems to demand that we take sides. Either join those proclaiming productive work as the only virtuous use of our time. Or aspire to the glittering social media visions of lives filled with nothing but travel, experiences, and indulgence.
Here’s my view:
You absolutely can and should strive to create plenty of leisure in your life. But choose to spend it wisely rather than fritter it away on bullshit
This is the path between the Scylla and Charybdis of the productivity fetishists vs the hedonists.
The productivity ethic misses the point completely. Work is not an end in itself. It’s simply a mechanism for ensuring your own survival and discharging your responsibilities to others. Once that’s done you’re free to indulge in the inherently human activity of play.
When people put work on a pedestal this is usually an overreaction against an overly frivolous use of leisure time. Or against people who are shirking their responsibilities.
But leisure doesn’t have to mean just binging the latest TV box set or getting hammered down the pub. There’s a middle way.
What is and isn’t “good use” of your leisure time?
This will mean different things to different people. It could be meditating… A creative project with friends… Relaxed, conversational mealtimes as a family… Walking alone in nature.
It could be a whole host of other things too. It could be none of those listed above!
But one thing it’s not is giving yourself a different set of tasks — like another source of work.
And sometimes — for a short time — you will actively choose something ‘mindless’ or ‘frivolous’. It might be exactly what you need to unwind after especially intense effort.
You’ll have to make your own personal value judgements here. But you’ll know if you’re cheating yourself through ‘junk leisure’ as long as you ask the question honestly and earnestly.