Leisure is defined as freedom from the demands of work or duty. Everybodyneeds leisure in their lives, to balance the stress of work and life. Leisure helpsre-energize and relax people, so they can perform activities well in their lives. Peopleuse their free time (leisure time) in a variety of different ways; engaging in outdooractivities, entertainment like watching movies or television, or just having time tothemselves. . Another activity people enjoy doing is just socializing with family andfriends.
Leisure is an essential part of our lives, and the only problem with leisure iswhen can we enjoy it? In our society we have a hard time finding time to relax and takeThe amount of leisure time a person has can be related to the type of person thatcertain individual is. There are many factors in which you can take in account: age, marital status, gender, families, etc. These factors figure into the certain stage of apersons life. There are three stages, beginning, mid-career, and near-retirement. Thebeginning stage involves people from the ages ranging from 19-30 years old.
Theseindividuals are just beginning their careers and are striving to be successful. They spendmore time focusing on their job, trying to find ways to advance, and less time relaxingand enjoying leisure time. They compensate their leisure time for their careers. Mid-career stage includes individuals ranging from 30-50 years old. In this stage peoplehave been in their field for some years and are settled down with families.
In this time oftheir lives they will be looking for more leisure time, because they are going to want timeaway from work and time to be with their families. They basically know what theirstatus is at their job and now find time to slow down and start focusing on other aspectsin their lives. They might do this by cutting back on the hours they work a week. Thenear-retirement stage are individuals ranging from the ages of 50 and up. These peopleare on the verge of retirement and are planning what to do with the rest of their lives.
After their careers are over they are going to have nothing but time on they hands. At thispoint of there careers they are working lesser hours and responsibility at their job isdecreasing. This helps make the transition from working to retirement much easier. I made a survey and issued it to three people who fall into the three stages.
Thesurvey consisted of a variety of question like age, gender, occupation, wages, leisuretime, and activities. The first individual who took the survey fell into the beginning stage. This person is a twenty one year old black male. He is a full time student at Illinois Stateand workers part time as a life guard at a indoor pool.
He is not married and has nochildren. He works twenty plus hours a week and only makes $6. 30 a hour. He worksfive days a week, but sometimes takes morning shifts on Saturdays.
He consideredleisure as any time away from work and school. He said he does not get a lot of leisuretime, because he does not have any time to just relax. He has class all morning then inthe evening he works and comes home and studies. The only leisure time he has is overthe weekends. That time does not compensate for the stressful hours of work and schoolduring the week. The survey of this individual from the beginning stage has shown methat being a full time study and working part time, leaves basically no leisure time.
Also,shows how people in the beginning stage have no time to relax, because their schedulesNext I gave a survey to an individual in the mid-career stage. This individual wasa forty year old Black male. He is married and has four children who ages range fromnineteen to twenty six years old. He works construction and earns $40 plus an hour andworks 30 hours a week.
He said he has leisure and he uses it. He goes to bars withCO-workers after work some days, or comes home and socializes with his family. Hesaid his leisure time is any time with family and friends and away from work. He said heprobably spends three days during the week doing leisure activities for a few hours. Heworks to provide for his family so that they can enjoy life. He values his leisure time,because it take his mind away from all his responsibilities.
The final stage is the near-retirement stage. In this stage an individual is justabout to call their career quits. The individual who took the survey is a white sixty yearold female, married with three children. She is a nurse and only works twenty five hoursa week. when she not working she is working in her garden, or doing things around herhouse.
She considers that her leisure time and she says she has a lot of it. She said shehas leisure time everyday to either kick back and read a book, or just relax. She said shecannot wait to retire and go done to Florida and live on the beach. The main thing shesaid about retirement will be not having anymore stressful responsibilities she got fromOut of the three stages I have found out that the beginning stage is the moststressful and takes up a lot of your time. There is a positive, because it seems to getbetter over the years.
During the mid-career stage peoples focuses change, becausework is not the focal point of their lives. Families are getting started and that now shiftsa persons focus. During this stage, like I said before work is not the only priority, nowpeople are looking to take that vacation and taking shorter hours to be able to relax andspend time with their family. The near retirement stage is the best time to catch up onyour leisure time.
People are not working long hours, they spending more time doingother activities. In this stage of a persons life they are trying to finalize what they aregoing to do with all their free time. The stages basically go from no time to a whole lotof free time. Leisure is important in our society, because it helps people escape from theirresponsibilities of work or other stressful things.Bibliography:
