The Requirement of Leisure for a Motivation - Essay Example

My Story on Leisure The old saying that goes like “Work without play makes jack a dull boy” could be one of the main drivers of an individual wanting to spend their time on a certain leisure activity. Leisure thus becomes among the most imperative parts of our lives. In this paper, we will define what leisure is and look at an example of a leisure activity I engaged in and the positive impact I derived from the activity. In addition, I will consider incorporating a number of theories related to the definition of the term and a deeper understanding on what leisure means in our lives. To begin with, leisure is such a word that cannot be defined by a single statement, as there is so much to it than meets the eye. It is thus agreed that the best way to really cover its meaning is to define it as an activity, as time, and as a state of mind. Leisure as time defines leisure as being free from obligations or duties that may be either paid or unpaid or tasks that are essential for our existence. Leisure time in this case is seen as residual time. While there are those who see all the time that they spend away from work is leisure time, the truth is only a small percentage of this time is essentially spent for leisure. Some of the time spared after work can be used to do other activities that are crucial to our survival, say eating or sleeping. As an activity, leisure does not entail life maintenance tasks such as sleeping or general house cleaning. Leisure in this case means the activities that we engage in for relaxation, growth, meditating, competition, engaging in certain sport activity, painting and so on. These tasks are not done for our existence but for fun. As an activity, leisure is solely dependent on an individual. As a state of mind, it relates to the above definition in that leisure is dependent on an individual’s perception of what they are doing and whether they perceive that to be leisure. Concepts that come into play here include perceived freedom or competence, intrinsic motivation, and the positive effect of the activity. Remember it is the above effect that helps the individual knows whether a certain experience was pleasurable to them. To elaborate a little on the above, we would say that in perceived freedom, the individual is free to choose the activity they want to engage in without any obligation to do so. In intrinsic motivation, the individual is not influenced by any external force to engage in a given activity and that such motivation comes from within. Perceived competence refers to an individual belief in whether the experience or level of competence they have on doing a given task is inherent to the challenge. The perceived competence is very important to an individual’s satisfaction. Lastly, positive effect as the final concept in leisure entails the pleasure that an individual has when they realize that they had control over a rewarding experience. This concept is the equivalent of enjoyment, which comes as a sense of choice. Several activities fit all the above given definition of what leisure is or is supposed to mean. If, for instance, we look at playing video games, watching movies, or listening to music, then all these are activities that describe leisure. Personally, I watch movies or listen to music during by free time (leisure time). During the weekend, however, I decided to move away from the norm, my norm, and try something different, I decided to do painting. Since my definition of leisure is taking my time to listen to some music or watch movies, painting was definitely a little more difficult as it required a certain ability to do so. To listen to music you only need the ears and for the movies, well, both ears and eyes. Painting, on the other hand required creativity and the ability to hold a brush and use the colors appropriately. This is the anti-structure part of leisure. I had visited a museum, saw some work from Picasso and several other painters, and thought I should challenge myself. Therefore, I bought a canvas, some paint, and a couple brushes. As expected, I did not just start painting since it was my first experience with such tools, I was used to crayon and pieces of paper, and although my drawing of a person some years in grade school could be mistaken with that of a yam, it was a good try then. I spent over twenty years trying to figure out where to start and in fact what to draw. Here, leisure as a self-as-entertainment gave me control of the situation. It was supposed to be fun so I did not have to overthink what I should draw. I was expected to use my mind for imagination and to escape to fantasy. That is what I did. In just over 3 hours, I had managed painting a stream running through a forest and a few mountains in the background. During the whole time, there was nothing else in the world that mattered. I was so drawn into the whole activity that I lost track of time, something that does not happen even when watching movies as I would constantly change them when am done with watching them during which I check the time left for the leisure activity. By the time I was finishing, I thought that I had spent just over half an hour drawing only to learn that I had been in the room for at least 5 hours. Although it was quite a challenge in the beginning since I was challenging myself with an activity I really have never engaged myself in, the balance between the challenge and the skills I thought I had was intriguing, and fulfilling so to say. The fact that I was not forced to paint meant that there were no pressure at all and the freedom of choice made the whole activity very rewarding. Lastly, leisure, as mentioned earlier, requires that the activity is fully coming from a motivation inside (Ryan & Deci, 2000). I had realized earlier that I fell in love with work done by great painters. When I held the brush for the first time, I knew that I was not wasting my time, as the influence was innate and not one that was fueled by external forces such as wanting to finish or to paint it so that I can sell and by myself a few stuff I needed. It was an activity that I was engaged to simply because I sought after a certain internal interest and the reward that came from rising to the challenge and indeed completing it. Works Cited Deci, Edward L., and Richard M. Ryan. Self‐Determination. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010. Read More