Work more, Play less
What are we going to do about this?
U.S. workers' leisure time shrank 20% last year, down from an average of 20 hours a week in 2007 to an average of 16 hours in 2008. During the same period, their average work week increased by 1 hour. Why the 3-hour discrepancy? Researchers at Harris Interactive speculate that stressed-out employees are spending more time at home checking their email and thinking about work – that’s not exactly work, but it certainly isn’t leisure, either.
Are you consumed by email at home? Is it hard to shut off your "working brain?" I believe we have to schedule our play time in to make sure it happens. We have to keep this time sacred or it will slip away. What do you do? Please share your tips by commenting here.
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Add to that, the number of employees who carry pagers and cell phones 24/7 because they are on-call for their agency/ company, etc., as I do, then there is little time that is safe from intrusion. Not only that, but our home phones have become a target for every charitable organization going, and that’s after having used the ‘don’tcall.gov’. The time I find most sacred is the time I spend in prayer and in worship each week—granted, you were asking about how one takes time for praying, not playing, however, when it comes to true rejuvenation, I believe that comes from above, not from more forms of entertainment. Nevertheless, hunting in Maine is another way to be completely removed from demands of work and is another route to communing with the holy in the midst of His creation….no cell phones allowed!
Beth Young