Leisure is fundamental for those who work

McKenna Snow
MSMU Class of 2023

(6/2023) This semester, I think more than any other, I learned the importance of leisure. Overall, I don’t think our culture really knows how to rest. But, I think our culture is aware of this, and we are beginning to gravitate towards solutions. I think this interest in true leisure, at least for my generation, is reflected in various trends I’ve seen on social media: the slow-living trends, thrifting to combat fast-fashion, and tons of baking and DIY trends.

But I think we still don’t truly know how to rest yet, because even though we are leaning towards these good things, we fall too far in the opposite direction of the workaholic world, and land somewhere in a field of idleness and laziness. This is evident from the self-deprecating jokes about how we scroll on Instagram and Tik Tok for hours, accomplishing nothing, how we reward ourselves with snacks after writing the title of our essay that hasn’t been started beyond that, and how we can nap at any given hour of the day because we never get adequate or consistent sleep.

Real rest is crucial. Not fake rest. Not scrolling for hours. Not napping, most of the time. Even that doesn’t count. In my last semester at college, it became clear to me that real rest is a fruit from a well-balanced and well-ordered life, not a haphazard attempt to ignore my work when I absolutely could not afford it. I had to make resting as much of a priority as making time to get my work done. Thus, not letting my work rule my life made me more free to put it down when a friend wanted to hang out, go for a coffee run, or go for a walk. It made me more free to be with the person in front of me, so I wasn’t always in a rush to get to the next assignment or thing. I took things one day at a time, and enjoyed and loved that day for what it was. Some days, that meant more work than others.

And some days, that meant more "wasted time" just listening to my friends who were having a hard time, or getting to know my freshmen residents who I was the RA for. But it was never really wasted time. These people were the most important part of my day, and because I was willing to participate in leisure, I was free to love them to the best of my small ability. I got to know so many amazing people because of this. I didn’t want to brush people off because I had so much work to do, since there never was a day I didn’t have work. But I was free to occasionally put it on the back burner of my life’s stove on a low simmer, making the home of my day smell quite good because the work was now infused with a true sense of where it sat on my list of priorities. People, friends, God came first.

On days when I was extra busy or had more work than normal coming up, I tried to make time to pray even more, because it was only through grace that I was able to get it all done. I would pray for the grace to be a good student, and go from there. I knew God would carry me through my studies and the many essays I had to write. And I knew that if I was generous in giving my time to the moment or person who God put in my path, He would be generous in return with the graces to help me catch up on all that work I let simmer.

Ultimately, it was God Who taught me true leisure. He showed me that it consists in many things, such as resting with Him in prayer; going to Mass daily became one of my breaks from all the work. Hiking up to the grotto in between classes was tiring physically, but spiritually it was refreshing and uplifting. Participating in the Praise and Worship Holy Hour in the evening on Wednesdays—my busiest day of the week—was also a place of great rest and joy. Wednesdays started early and there were virtually no free hours of the day by virtue of where all of my weekly meetings ended up, but I still chose to go to the Holy Hour at the end of it to replenish my soul.

And I found that true leisure also consisted in prioritizing favorite hobbies of mine such as horse riding. Through a wonderful story for another time, I was able to take horse riding lessons with Mike this semester, and it was a wonderful break from the constant classwork and Mount responsibilities I had. I was free to delight in the task at hand—trotting the wonderful thoroughbred horse Wesley around a gravel arena—and to leave my homework simmering again. I’d come back to it later, ready to pick it back up with, hopefully, as much enthusiasm as I brought to my leisurely activities.

I learned this semester that it is crucial to put time into taking breaks; and that, taking breaks actually still looks like participating in activities. True leisure is not idleness, but a partaking in the creative gifts that God has given me. He has given me the capacity to delight in the many wonderful things in life, and so I choose to do so. I choose to delight in attending Mass, in playing guitar, in going for walks, and in riding horses. I choose to delight in putting my work down to get coffee with a friend, and to hear the story of the person in front of me. This is where true rest is found, and it is where I am filled up, so that I may more fully give to those around me, and to the work that is always at hand. The truth is, there will always be work at hand; the secret is that sometimes, the work can—and should—wait. Delight in the world and people around you, and do creative things. Let the aroma of healthy work-life balance simmer, and the home of your life will smell all the better for it.