The Pursuit of Happiness

I read a post from another blogger this morning on what he referred to as the fear of missing out. It seemed to me to be the antithesis of leisure. The post referred readers to another post by a mental health professional of some sort on how this fear of missing out on something more entertaining or interesting is bleeding into many personal relationships and how technology, whether it be the call waiting of 25 years ago or the twitter feeds of today, perpetuate this fear. A right relationship with the concept of leisure might be a decent tonic for such an affliction. But, in the United States, we often speak of the pursuit of happiness, but not its achievement. It is ingrained in our founding documents. The fear of missing out would seem to be the pursuit of happiness taken to an unhealthy, but possibly not unexpected, extreme.

What is Leisure?

Examples of the elements of leisure abound, as in some of my photographs from previous posts: a walk on the beach with family, a libation to lighten the mood and make hearts glad. But, what is leisure really? It is not idleness; it is not the absence of activity:

"Leisure has had a bad press. For the puritan it is the source of vice; for the egalitarian a sign of privilege. The Marxist regards leisure as the unjust surplus, enjoyed by the few at the expense of the many. No body in a democracy is at ease with leisure, and almost every person, however little use he may have for his time, will say that he works hard for a living - curious expression, when the real thing to work for is dying...we mistake leisure for idleness, and work for creativity. Of course, work may be creative. But only when informed by leisure. Work is the means of life; leisure the end. Without the end, work is meaningless...leisure is not the cessation of work, but work of another kind, work restored to its human meaning, as a celebration and a festival."

R. Scruton
March 1998

Leisure

The first gin & tonic of the season:

Definition

How many of us every really stop and ask ourselves, what do we want?

The answer often comes down to a matter of money. We often want simply more money. But, what would we do with more money if we had it? Would our material acquisitions simply expand to fill our budget? Mine always have.

Would it not be better to define what we want before searching for ways to make more, as those ways for me have always involved more and more work for the sake of work. I now make more money than I ever have in my life, and I seem to have less of what I want.

Definition is the key. What is it we would do with more money? Establish definitions first and we might find we need much less money than we think.

Definition

Not at leisure

A three hour meeting...

Not at Leisure

This time tomorrow I will be not at leisure...

At Leisure

While so much of my life is spent not at leisure, I find myself currently at leisure. I am with a friend at the beach. We intended to fish, but 30 mph winds have thrown a kink into things. Beer and conversation must suffice.

I believe that we should banish the term work in favor of a negative version of leisure. "Not at leisure" will do for now.

Come Monday I will be not at leisure. That sounds better, less permanent, than work.

Distraction

Distraction can be a wonderful thing...in moderation.

But, it is stating the obvious to point out that we are totally inundated with distraction of both the wonderful and the soul-draining kind. Today has been full of the soul-draining kind for me, and I am contemplating elimination.

Focus helps.

I find myself even more committed to Leisure, and I slept a pleasant eight hours again last night.

Eight hours

Is blogging a catharsis? I composed my first blog post ever yesterday evening and slept a sound eight hours last night. Coincidence?

Why now?

My name is Mark. I am 43 years old and for nearly all of the last 23 years I have worked in the typical postmodern fashion. My employers have always valued presence over productivity. I now have what many would consider a decent job as a “C” level administrator in public higher education. I am half way to retirement and comfortable. I have a beautiful wife and three wonderful children.

But...something is missing.

I spend most of my days with people who, while they are all decent folks, are not the people I want to spend my days with. I live in a place where my family has lived for generations, but I feel no ties to the place.

I would rather work smarter and less and enjoy more leisure with the people I love.

In nine days my wife will loose her job to a merger. Though it is not a financial disaster for us, we are using it as a motivator for some positive change.

The Basis of Leisure is my story of that change.