What to Do in Your Leisure Time and How to Make Use of It

Hence, it was necessary for us to invest every minute at hand and not to waste them, and what we call “leisure time” is nothing but an opportunity for a person to rearrange their thoughts, sharpen their determination, and recharge their energy to build and develop their capacities, skills, knowledge, and hobbies.

Unfortunately, nowadays, the lack of optimal use and investment of free time has become one of the most important social problems that contemporary societies suffer from, especially with the rapid developments that they are currently witnessing. Free time must be spent doing a specific type of activity that a person prefers over other ordinary activities, with which one feels contentment, pleasure, and happiness.

1. The definition of leisure time:

(McDowell, 1981) defines leisure time as “A time which is not allocated for anything specific, it’s not a time for work, but it’s a liberation from work and allocated for rest.”

And Aristotle defines it as “A state of existence in which human beings engage in the same activities.”

The Department of Knowledge and Social Sciences defined it as “The time during which the individual is freed from the tasks they are obliged to perform directly or indirectly for a certain wage.”

Stanley Parker says that there are three ways to define the concept of free time: 

The first method is called the residual method, which considers leisure time as the surplus time after work and other duties of life, such as sleep, food, and physiological needs.

The second method takes the activity that is practiced as a basis for determining the meaning of leisure time, as it does not care about the amount of time available; Rather, it focuses on how the free time is used.

The third method combines the two previous methods. It considers leisure time as a time free from work and other duties, and it is devoted to self-development, increasing information, and improving skills and abilities, or for relaxation, or increasing the individual’s participation in society and improving their relationship with the environment.

2. Leisure time characteristics:

• A specific optional activity aimed at relieving life stresses.
• Freedom from compulsory duties such as work duties and school duties.
• Satisfies human needs, such as social, psychological, and economic needs.
• It does not hold any ideological purposes such as political commitments, for example.

3. Factors that affect how you spend your leisure time:

1. Gender:

Both males and females engage in different activities. Each of them has different preferences which reflect their physiological nature. For example, males may tend toward physical activities, while females tend toward activities that take place at home or with friends.

2. Age:

Each age group has activities different from the other, so what children do cannot be done by an adult. For example, adults may turn to cultural activities, while children tend to learn a sport or focus on developing a hobby they love, such as drawing or playing on a musical instrument.

3. Academic level:

Educated individuals and those with academic degrees, for example, tend to choose activities such as reading, while others who have a lower educational level choose different activities.

4. Economic situation:

The individual's income and financial condition play a major role in choosing the activity that they do in their free time.

5. Individuals' interests and attitudes:

Every individual wants to learn what attracts them the most.

6. Characteristics of the community:

The nature of society, its culture, and the prevailing customs and traditions determine to a large extent the type of activities practiced by its members.

4. Types of activities that you can do in your leisure time:

1. Social activities:

Social activities develop the individual psychologically, mentally, as well as socially, such as celebrations, social games, and competitive games.

2. Cultural activities:

There is a variety of cultural activities that can be practiced in multiple ways, such as reading, writing, seminars, lectures, and debates.

3. Sports activities:

These types of activities are useful and fun at the same time. Examples of sports activities are boxing, athletics, football, basketball, swimming, and other sports.

4. Tourism activities:

Such as visiting historical and archaeological sites.

5. Activities related to nature:

Such as picnics and hiking.

5. The importance of filling your leisure time with activities:

• Practicing activities in leisure time reveals normal behavior of the individual and psychological stability, in addition to self-satisfaction, and it leads them to adapt to the social environment.
• It gives the individual challenging and ambitious opportunities.
• It gives the individual a chance to practice the things they love away from the pressures of work.
• It satisfies physical needs, such as doing sports.
• It explores hidden talents and the essence of the human mind.
• It improves the individual's relationships with their social circle.
• These activities may be an investment from which the individual could benefit financially.
• They may help shape or develop a future career.

6. How to invest in your leisure time:

• First of all, organize yourself. It is known that human behavior is the result of the interaction between internal processes or forces and the influences of the environment surrounding the individual. Self-organization means that you have to define your thoughts to achieve your goals; Set clear, realistic, and achievable goals, choose performance strategies, evaluate your work, and determine the time needed to complete each goal.
• Start with easy things, such as tidying up (arrange your room, your clothes, folders on your computer, and books in your library). When you need to use any of them, you will find a suitable working environment.
• Restore your relationships with the people around you, with your family, friends, and even distant acquaintances.In addition to maintaining a healthy relationship with your family, one of them may give you an idea that could improve your life.
• Keep reading, for reading is a means of knowledge. Through reading, you learn everything new and interesting. So, start reading for fun, and choose easy stories, then as you continue to train your brain to learn and accept what’s new then move to advanced levels of reading and upgrade your choice of books to read; That way, you will make good use of your time and protect yourself from neurological and brain diseases such as Alzheimer's.
• Learn a new skill. Get to know yourself and know what you like. You might like music, painting, writing, or other hobbies, and even if these talents don’t match your potential don’t worry, with determination, you will be able to learn what you love.
• Develop yourself in your field of work, whether you are an engineer, a doctor, a teacher, work in carpentry, or a student, you must get better in your specialization. Nowadays, we live in a world full of rapid changes, which we must keep pace with to catch up with the developed countries. The world today is in your hands, and you can learn what you want the way you want.
• Learn a new language. The ability to communicate and speak different languages is the key to success in your life. There are a lot of apps that can help you do this. You must first choose the language and then search on the internet for an available curriculum online. You can also find books and magazines in whichever language you want, as this will give you a quick and better result.
• Gain new knowledge by taking a course, or you can enroll in an online course if you want to stay at home.
• Learn a new profession and work on mastering it, as it may be of great benefit to you.
• Participate in the activities that occur in the community, and join the work teams of charities. Helping others and being an active element in society will gain your self-confidence and motivate you to continually develop.
• Pray to God. You must count on God in everything you do, but the pressures of everyday life make us forget to pray, so make your free time an opportunity to strengthen your connection with God.

7. Having more leisure time:

• Make use of the time lost, like the time when you wait for transportation and such.
• Follow the 20/80 rule. Doing 20 % of the activities achieves 80% of the goals. In other words, doing a task might take you a month while it can be done only in one week.
• Remove unnecessary and useless tasks.

8. General tips for filling your leisure time:

• Be positive and enjoy what you do.
• Review your old habits and give up anything that doesn’t benefit you.
• Plan your day ahead and prioritize to avoid procrastination, which means leaving the most important tasks and doing unimportant ones.
• Don’t distract yourself by doing more than one task at once. Finish one task after another and make sure each one is completed.
• Don’t let others interrupt you while working.
• Read your plan and goals whenever you get the chance.
• Don’t forget to regularly evaluate your work and see what you have achieved.

Conclusion:

To summarize, time represents your past, present ,and future. Life is not measured by working hours alone, but also by leisure time. So, make your free time a factor that reflects positively on all areas of your life and leads you towards creativity. Then make the following quote a motivation for you to reach success “Do not say I do not have enough time; You have the same number of hours in a day that was given to Albert Einstein, Michelangelo, and Leonardo Da Vinci”.

Sources:

1. Ibtisam Bint Said Abdullah Naji Al-Amoudi, Managing the children’s leisure time in the Saudi family in the city of Jeddah.
2. Ben Mouloud Karima Charki Kulthum, Abuse of leisure time and its relationship to Internet addiction among university students, University of Ahmed Deraya Adrar, Algeria.
3. Haidar Tariq Kazim, Investing Leisure Time for University Students, Faculty of Education, University of Babylon.
4. Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al-Sadhan, recreation: its motives, restrictions and application in the prophet’s era.
5. Fathi Bukhari, Leisure Time in Society. A Philosophical Vision, El Oued University, Algeria.