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“Focusing on the whole person to maximize health and wellness for life.”

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Leisure for Baby-Boomers

As Baby Boomers age, we have more leisure time away from the stresses of making a living to provide our basic necessities of life for ourselves and our families, and more time to spend pursuing other activities. If we’ve had the blessing of financial abundance through a good-paying job along with good fiscal management, we can walk into retirement with the financial freedom to pursue all the activities and hobbies of our hearts’ desire and that we can physically and mentally handle.

Leisure time is described as “time available for ease and relaxation; time that is free from duties or responsibilities.” The average Canadian spends about 3 hours a day on leisure activities; this amount of time increases to about 4.5 hours per day as Baby Boomers begin to retire.

Purposes of Leisure

There are many purposes for leisure

• to de-stress from one’s day
• to build character
• to bond with others
• to give you a sense of self, and/or
• to refresh the mind and body

Types of Leisure Activities

According to a report entitled Indicators of Well-being in Canada, social leisure tends to make up the majority of activities for Canadians.

This takes many forms: it can be as simple as dinner with family or friends; going to the movies; playing cards or games; or playing or watching a game of hockey or tennis.

Social 

Because I try to live my whole person wheel in some kind of balance, I try to not over-socialize, but I find most of my social interactions are around food. Most of my friends throw pot-lucks to get us all together.

• Concerts
• Dancing
• Games (cards, board games, sports, etc.)
• Meals with family & friends
• Sports (Playing and watching)
• Theatre
• Travel
• Volunteering (locally and internationally)

Seniors at Leisure

Physical

Physical leisure can be a solitary or social activity depending on your preference. I tend to be solitary, so I generally exercise in the privacy of my own home. I occasionally go for a walk with a friend through our local parks in the summer. The purple links below are essays of mine on my favourite physical activities.

•  Adventure Sports (Rock climbing, skiing and surfing )
• Adventure Travel
• Aerobics
• AquaFit
• Bicycling
• Bird Watching
• Bowling
• Camping
• Fishing
• Football
• Gardening
• Geo-Caching
• Golf
• Hiking
• Hockey
• QiGong
• Skating
• Snowboarding
• Swimming
• Taoist Tai Chi
• Walking
• Yoga

Senior Couple Walking Hand-in-hand

(Photo Credit – Caring Hands Outreach)

Passive 

I admit to being a voracious reader, so I do spend several hours a week reading various books – from self-help, spiritual, motivational and a little bit of fiction.

• Crochet
• Knitting
• Needlepoint
• Read a book
• Sewing
• Use a computer
• Watch TV

“I was born with a reading list I will never finish.” ~ Maud Casey

Cognitive 

Cognitive leisure activities are those that stimulate one’s mind. Again, these can be participated in with friends or solitarily. When one participates with friends, we are fulfilling two of our needs, social and cognitive stimulation.

• Art
• Computer use
• Cooking
• Hobbies – collecting (stamps, coins, bottles, dolls, toys, cars, salt & pepper shakers, etc.)
• Learn a new language
• Listen to music
• Museums
• Needlework
• Painting
• Pottery
• Puzzles (word games, Sudoku, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, Scrabble, etc.)
• Quilting
• Reading (books, newspapers, magazines, articles online, etc.)
• Sculpting
• Taking Classes
• Woodworking
• Writing (poetry, books, journals, letters, etc.)
• Zoos

Man Sculpting

I’m sure this list is in-exhaustible! Please feel free to tell us how YOU spend your free time.

There are so many ways to spend one’s time. I know for me that I really enjoy activities, such as reading books and articles online; walking in the park; Aqua Fit; cooking (even though it can be considered a ‘have to,’ I really do enjoy planning, preparing and serving food whether it’s for myself or for a gathering of family and friends); going to museums, outdoor concerts and the theatre; and writing.

STANDARD DISCLOSURE: In order to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note, that I only ever endorse products that are in alignment with my ideals and I believe would be of value to my readers.

How do YOU spend your Leisure time?

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