How to Start the Active Leisure Habit

Filling your free time with useful pursuits is a way of increasing your creativity, energy, enthusiasm, and sense of fulfillment from life. In this article, you’ll have the chance to explore various ways of filling your free time with useful and fulfilling activities.

There are many ways you can upgrade your leisure time, but it (1) ______________________. Unlike watching television or relaxing, opportunities for flow need to be structured in advance. It can sometimes require planning and always requires an initial push of momentum to get started.

Here are a couple ideas to get the ball rolling¹.

Make a plan for your free time. Spare time will only become useful to you if you’ve focused on (2) ____________________. Write down a list of the things you’d like to be doing in your time off. Look for activities and experiences that excite and energize you. Consider some of the following hobbies that youcan get started on your own: teaching yourself a new computer programming language, learning a new foreign language, graphic designing, amateur photography, learning a new type of dancing, making jewelry, cooking or baking, teaching private classes on something you already love doing.

Hobbies are useful because they (3) _____________________, improve skills, and to be focused, diligent, and switched on. Moreover, a hobby allows you to enjoy yourself as you immerse² yourself in the intricacies³ of it.Be sure to reach out to others in the same hobby so that you can connect and share ideas.

Change your approach to media usage. Turn off the TV and (4) ___________________ to use media in your free time. The Internet allows us to be in charge of the input that is circulated through media, providing you with ample opportunities for turning your free time into a useful means for getting out creative, practical, or informative messages that you’d like to share with the world.

Be active. Sports and exercise may be considered recreational, but they are very important because they help you be energized so that you may be able to accomplish more activities. Find a physical activity that will get you to move and provide a challenging environment. Not only will this (5) ____________________, but it will put your mind into a state of flow more easily than sitting on the couch.

Challenge yourself to learn a new language. This has always been a goal of mine. I’ve heard from many sources that it can be both challenging and enjoyable (6) _ ______________________.

Start a Project. One of my personal favorites is to get a new project going. To me a new project means finding out new things, rising to new challenges and reacting to new situations. Starting a project to complete something over the course of a couple months (7) _____________________. Go start that project you’ve been thinking about!

Nicole Willson

________________________

¹ get the ball rolling – начать что-либо

² immerse – погружаться, уходить с головой

³ intricacy – запутанность, сложность

Find the places in the text where the following phrases should go.

a) give you the opportunity to expand knowledge

b) keep you healthy

c) how you’d like to use it

d) requires effort

e) can be exciting and incredibly rewarding

f) to gain fluency in a non-native tongue

g) think about creative ways

SPEAKING

Outside of school and work, many people enjoy spending their free time on their hobbies. Hobbies can provide ways to develop our talents, relieve stress, and even get exercise. Look through the following list of hobbies and answer the questions below.

Hobbies for Children	Hobbies for Teenagers
· Playing computer games · Watching cartoons on TV · Taking up different sports · Reading · Playing a musical instrument · Looking after a family pet · Horse riding · Collecting things such as stamps, badges, postcards, pens, etc.	· Music (singing, composing) · Dancing · Indoor as well as outdoor sports · Adventure or extreme sports · Working out in a gym · Car or bike racing · Computer games or programming · Social Networking · Watching movies
Hobbies for Women	Hobbies for Men
· Fashion designing · Interior designing · Astrology, tarot card reading · Gardening · Yoga, meditation · Cooking and baking · Diet and nutrition · Fitness or working out in a gym · Taking dance lessons · Knitting, sewing · Jewelry making · Painting	· Sports such as football, volley-ball, etc. · Exploring different places · Computer programming · Surfing the Internet · Watching movies · Driving · Riding motorbikes · Mountain climbing, biking · Wildlife photography · Fishing · Indoor games such as chess · Carpentry

 

1. Do you do any of these hobbies?
2. Which one(s) is/are the most interesting to you?
3. What kinds of hobbies do your friends have?
4. How much time every week do you spend on your hobby(-ies)?
5. What are the benefits of doing something you enjoy every day?
6. Which new hobby would you like to learn / try or explore? Why?