Leisure is not only important, but necessary, as it spawns boredom: a noun that describes a state of being wherein one is not entirely sure what to do with oneself.

My school year, where I taught at two separate high schools for both semesters, has come to an end. I have made the decision to take off the summer as opposed to serving, making lattes, or pointing to the correct isles, as I have done every single summer since grade eleven. Luckily, I've secured a year-long contract for the 2014-2015 year, and feel financially secure enough to not work (with some budgeting, of course).

Popular critiques of North Americans are that they (we) focus too much on exhausting our entire being at work so that when we have time for leisure we spend it sleeping or in front of a screen eating starchy snacks. This is not "leisure," it is recharging: allowing our bodies time to slow down enough to get sick to then return to work having learned nothing, done nothing, and continue on repeat.

I'll admit, throughout the entire school year, any time devoted to "leisure" was exactly that: falling asleep in front of a TV show at 8:30pm and catching up on housework, with the occasional recreational bike ride. While I do not see how I could have accomplished the year in any other way but to completely exhaust my mental capacities to the point of passing out on the couch at 8:30pm most evenings, teachers have a career where there is time to do more than just take your lesson planning and grading to the in-laws over the Easter break (then scolding yourself later for playing Settlers of Catan when you could have been getting ahead), during the summertime.

While I have not faced open critiques when my reply to "what are you doing this summer?" is "taking the summer off," I have felt three things:
1. guilt for not heaving ho and working alongside my fellow brethern
2. critique, but a derisive and sly critique, on my "lifestyle choice" from the instigator
3. the responsibility of explaining just how amazing and brilliant my summer will be since I have "the ability" to take it off

I find myself having to defend myself: Well, you know, during the school year I was pulling 10-12 hour days and, so, you know, if I didn't take the summer to catch up on, uh, things, then I would be burnt out. And we have so much to do at home, you know, with renovations and the like. Yard work, oh, yes, you should just see the yard. Basically I'm gaining money by staying at home so we don't hire it out. And I'll spend half the summer just prepping for next year anyway, to avoid those 10-12 hour work days.

And while I understand we live in a culture that does not allow people to just take off two months of the year in the only time of near-constant sunshine and shorts weather, and I am not stating that people should quit their careers, I am saying that there is something wrong when a person cannot simply enjoy leisure in its three exquisite states: business/task-oriented on things that would otherwise never be accomplished; devoted time to things one loves to do (camping, reading, painting); and boredom.

Boredom spawns creativity, reflection, and a pursuit of something to do or someone to meet, with the absolute joy of living at a slower pace, where keeping the speed limit doesn't seem so ridiculous, people's oddities become amusing instead of annoying, and drinking coffee becomes a pleasure and not an avoidance of a slouchy and headache-filled afternoon.

Leisure is not laziness, it is breaking routine in order to align our sights on things that are important to us; it is going beyond simple replenishing into thoughtful exploration. 

It's likely something to do with my age, something to do with my spiritual longings and beliefs, and something to do with an education that taught me to critique what is around us, but the mainstream culture is so empty and so longing for pleasure that it seeks it out in such ridiculous ways. Without time to for leisure, for boredom, I may never have taken the time to figure that out.