After quickly glancing over my blogs I noticed something kind of…funny. My first few blogs started off very happy. They were all about my boyfriend and I, or all the leisure opportunities I had, etc. Then they got more and more depressing as time went on. My free time seemed to disappear and was replaced with studying, working, and getting sick. I can’t help but feel like my lack of leisure had something to do with school…haha.

I also noticed that I was not using any of the terms from the course in the earlier blogs, now I try to put as many as I can into on sentence. (kidding, of course). But it’s not that I’m placing fancy words from the book in my texts every now and then only hopping that they will improve my grades…I actually have an understanding of what they mean and how to use them (at least I think I do).

At the beginning of the course I was confused about the concept of flow. I think I used the word once or twice in the very beginning without knowing exactly what it meant. Now I think I pretty much have it down pact! By continuing to write in my blog and studying for the midterm exam I was able to gain a better understanding of what it was. I knew that it was the balance between challenge and skill, but only because I read it in the book. Now I finally realize the meaning of it! J

I noticed that the blogs have helped me in other subjects as well because I am using words that I never used to use before to express my leisure opportunities or constraints to leisure.

I understand that there needs to be a healthy balance between boredom and anxiety, challenge and skill, free time and obligation time, etc. This knowledge will help me schedule my time better so that I never feel the need to stress due to something that could be avoided.

I am quite pleased with this blog question because during the past 5 summers I have worked as a coordinator for the Pierrefonds Day Camps and I love finding new and exciting way to integrate children with special needs into our camp. Not only do I absolutely adore my job but I also hope to work with children, who have disabilities, as a profession one day.

The leisure activity that I am going to write about is one that interests me very much; art. I will adapt it for people with a physical and cognitive disability, as well as for someone of a different cultural background.

I’ll begin with the physical disability and the illness that I am choosing is multiple sclerosis. I realise that there are many stages to this illness but I am not fully aware of the capabilities one might have during the stages so I will generalise based on what I already know about MS.

Art can easily be adapted for people with disabilities; all it takes is a bit of determination and creativity. It is important that people with this illness continue to use his or her mind, even when the body becomes difficult. There are some very simple adaptations that can be made when it comes to art. Here are a few examples:

• Someone who can no longer hold a paintbrush may be able to paint by placing it in their mouth.
• When someone who has MS can no longer stand in front of a large canvas to paint, a simple adaptation would be to switch to a smaller one.
• An individual who has trouble seeing color due to the illness can begin to explore using black and white paint.

Even the art materials can be adapted to meet the needs of individuals who suffer from multiple scleroses.

• Palettes: use plastic bowls that can be easily held and not so easily spilled as painting palettes.
• Paper: tape or clips paper to the table if an individual needs more stability while drawing.
• Paintbrushes: if he or she has trouble grasping the handle, it can be built up with tape or foam for an easier grip. Or a Velcro strap can be attached to the brush and then looped around the person’s hand.

An individual should not be denied of a leisure experience due to their physical incapability. There is always a way to adapt an activity so that everyone, no matter their condition, can participate and gain from the leisure experience.

Up next is the cognitive disability. I have worked with many autistic children in the past and I am aware of the many benefits art has to offer, therefore I will choose that disability to discuss. A “normal” art lesson can be adapted for individuals with this disability by using a variety of different instructional strategies such as verbal, visual, guided discovery and peer teaching. (Part of “learn to interact socially during leisure” in the course book).

I believe that art can help a person express his or her feelings and emotions in a non-verbal, way which is very helpful when dealing with someone who has autism and might have trouble communicating.

Not only does this activity provide people with a leisure experience but also an overall improved quality of life.

(I feel like I’m writing far too much for this blog so I’m going to skip to the next subject. I could go on forever! Lol)

Last but not least is adapting the activity for someone of a different cultural background. Art is a fantastic way for people of different ethnicities to feel a sense of support and acceptance (If they are doing it with others). It can be easily adapted by encouraging people to express their cultural, religious, etc, beliefs using the art material. I think that in this case it would be more useful to focus on adapting the art so that it becomes more of a social experience for the individuals rather than an expressive/creative one. Producing art with others allows oneself to develop social competence through interactions.

Art can also be adapted to help people with various cultural backgrounds by recognizing that their feelings and problems are not unique, it replaces a sense of isolation with connectedness.

In conclusion, I believe that art can be adapted to meet the needs and desires of any group. Its benefits are endless and those who have a difficult time with self-expression can truly gain from this activity.

After every hour that I studied I would take a 15 minute break to do anything I pleased. I couldn’t do too much in 15 minutes but it gave me enough time to clear my mind and grab something to eat before getting right back to the books.

It is currently only 3:00pm so I still have a fair bit to go but I am not at all tired, stressed, or agitated. I must say, it is going very well

I set a goal for the day as well. I have 23 chapter to study for my final exam and I would like to get at least half of them done by the end of the night. It might be a late night but the goal that I set for myself is definitively not unrealistic, which helps a great deal.

Wish me luck!

I went to the gym for a bit after lunch because I knew that if I tried to sit down and study when I was that energetic nothing would have gotten accomplished. The gym is a funny thing for me. I enjoy going, but only for a certain amount of time before it becomes less of a leisure experience and more of an obligation. I’m good for the first half hour but then after that everything pretty much goes downhill because I realise that I’m in a stinky room with a bunch of strangers who I don’t know. I don’t understand people who love going there.

I made a small list of the pros and cons of going to the gym…maybe it will help me understand why some people feel the need to go every single day.

Pros:

• Helps maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• Motivation to push oneself further. (self-determination)
• Possibility to achieve flow.
• Provided you to set goals and challenges.
• Improves quality of life.
• Form of relaxation (for some, not for me. Lol)
• Increases self-esteem.
• Socialization (if you go with a friend or if you know people at the gym)
• Etc…

Cons:

• You sweat (in my case, a lot!)
• Become self-conscious when you see other guys doing something that you cannot.
• It takes effort to leave the house when you are already tired from a day at school.
• It’s expensive.
• There are always annoying guys who spend half their time checking themselves out in the mirror rather than exercising.
• If you forget your Ipod then you have to listen to the grunts men make when they lift weights. (SO annoying!)
• You are absolutely exhausted at the end of the workout.
• Possibility of getting sick from all the equipment everyone touches (I am not a germaphobe in the least but I think it’s a valid criticism nonetheless).
• Etc…

After looking through my list, I find it sort of funny how most of the pros are generally related to everyone and the cons are mostly intrinsic feelings that related only to me. I don’t even have to glance at it again to see that the pros outweigh the cons by quite a lot…

But I suppose everyone finds leisure in different ways…am I right?

I spent most of the weekend doing “passive leisure activities”, such as watching television, going for walks, reading, etc. It feels amazing to not have to worry about anything for the next little while. It’s a shame that this feeling comes so rarely.

Yesterday I baked a dessert for myself and my brother. ME!?! BAKING!?! That is something that I never do but now that I have no immediate obligations I feel more inclined try out new things that might please me.

I think that it is very important to have goals and challenges every single day because they keep you on track but at the same time I feel that it is equally as important to have a “me day” every once and a while. In general, I find that people are far too busy working or running around and they don’t take the time to simply relax and reflect. There needs to be a balance. (Such as the balance between boredom and anxiety in the optimal arousal chart.)

I think it will be a challenge for me to keep studying for the following two weeks because I’m already in the mindset that I finished school for the semester. I’ll have to prioritise and schedule my time so that I don’t leave my studying until the last minute and then start to panic…again. Why is it that students (I’m generalizing) leave everything until the last minute, fully knowing that it is much easier to do a little bit every day instead of rushing to finish something the day before it is due? We have all done it and yet we never learn (and by “we”, I really mean “I”).

ANYWAY, now that I have so little to do for school I can fully enjoy my free time. Today was the first day that I haven’t done any homework in quite a while (I don’t really consider blogging as homework…) and it was AMAZING! I got to catch up on all the things that I couldn’t do because of school. I read a bit, cleaned the house, went Christmas shopping, etc. Even though I had a very busy day it was still fun because I was doing things that I wanted to do as opposed to things that I was obligated to do.

As in all, it was a very stress free and pleasant day

It was great! The kids were very excited and I was full of energy because I haven’t been out of the house in so long. Work is definitively leisure for me, ever when I get “upset” at the children for not listening or fooling around. I know that they are just kids and I did the exact same thing as a child.

As soon as I left the school though I because feeling ill, and I still had to go to another school for two hours. I arrived at the school and tried very hard to keep a smile on my face, it was quite the challenge. I am usually someone who can stay motivated and positive in just about any situation (autotelic) but today it was barely possible to stay in the room. I managed to last until the end of the two hours and keep smiling while the children got picked up by their parents. After leaving the school I sat in my car for several minutes simply breathing in and out…in and out… needless to say, the second half of my day was NOT leisure.

Tomorrow I’m off to another clinic in the morning. The second one this week! (the smiley face is sarcastic).

Thanks for reading!

I love trying new things and discovering hidden interests or talents in places where I never thought to look before. I try to find a balance between leisure and obligation time because I find that if I focus primarily on school or work then life becomes quite a drag. On the other hand, if I go out with my friends all the time and forget about school then it is not benefiting me at all in the long run and I become very anxious when trying to catch up. I believe that it is best for my mental and physical health to find a proper balance between the two.

I’ve learnt over the past while that I enjoy spending my leisure with other people, I enjoy socializing with friends and/or family. It is very rare that I will sit down and watch the television by myself when I know that I can go out and see my friends.

I feel very privileged to live somewhere where we have an endless amount of opportunities available to us. I feel that I am somewhat responsible to take advantage of these resources and use them for all that they are worth. For example, I am not very good at skating and I don’t particularly enjoy it but every winter my friends and I will go to the 1000 building downtown and skate indoors. Even though I feel like a fool on the ice, if I decided not to go then I know that I would be missing out.

I am quite self-aware in my leisure; I know what I can or cannot do. I know that I can paint but not through a football, and I can make an excellent grill cheese sandwich but I know nothing of computers. That doesn’t mean that I will stay away from electronics though…if anything I’ll push myself even further.

I can be persuaded very easily into doing things but I am not someone who can persuade others. I would have to say that I am mostly motivated by the things around me. For instance, if I see someone drawing on the corner of a street downtown then I will want to go home and draw. Or if my friends want to play frisbee then I’ll go ahead and do it. I suppose it is safe to say that I am mostly motivated by external factors. Basically, I’ll try anything if I can do it with others (Socialization).

Before I left to go meet my friend I glanced through the course book to see if there was anything I should keep in mind throughout the day. I came upon the page with the model describing the characteristics people have when preparing to participate in leisure. I thought that my new experience today could relate very well to “be aware of self in leisure”. It said on page 97 “Encouraging participants to reflect on past experiences can enhance awareness of self in leisure”. I enjoy art…photography is a form of art…I should be able to enjoy photography.

I didn’t simply want to go out with my little camera and start taking pictures. I wanted to a “real” camera! I wanted to actually know what to look for and how to move the lenses! So I went over to my friend’s house and he showed me how it was done. Chris (my friend) has a $5000 cannon camera and he is incredibly talented with it. That camera is going to make him famous one day…I just know it!

After an hour of him explaining to me how to work the camera, he let me leave with it. The rest is history!!!

I am proud to say that I definitively achieved optimal arousal at certain moments today. Sometimes the buttons were a bit overwhelming but once I got a feel for the camera it was all smiles from then on. I can honestly say that there was not a single moment when I was bored. I am quite satisfied with my leisure experience.