Leisure or free time is the time spent when one is not working and not involved in any domestic activity basically for one’s own recreation. Since our childhood, we have been taught to classify our activities as work and leisure. Work consists mainly of all the things that we are expected to do and leisure everything else which we do for our recreation. We are of the notion that work is always productive, compelling and challenging, and leisure is all about be relaxed and accomplishing nothing.

More than often we are taught that both are mutually exclusive. I have a different take on this. In fact, most of the studies also support my argument. Recently, a study was conducted to find the state of mind at different points of time during the day using a brain scan and the study showed that people are happy and satisfied when they are doing something creative and challenging. And more than often, this happens when you are at work, which means at times work is also enjoyable and comforting.

The message I wanted to convey is that instead of doing nothing during our free time, choosing hobbies which are challenging and compelling will be a wiser choice. Mind you, increasing leisure time to make it more enjoyable isn’t always easy. This may sound backwards, since many people believe the purpose of leisure is to be easy. But sometimes the benefits of being active in your time off aren’t immediately apparent. There are a lot of leisure activities which require you to be creative. For starters you could start a craft, play a sport, and learn a new language. Think about this and I am sure you will have better results and feel good about yourself as well.