Ryan Holiday Quote on Leisure and Recharging Constructively

“[Leisure] is a physical state—a physical action—that somehow replenishes and strengthens the soul. Leisure is not the absence of activity, it is activity. What is absent is any external justification—you can’t do leisure for pay, you can’t do it to impress people. You have to do it for you.“
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 237)

Beyond the Quote (120/365)

Too often we associate “replenishing” and “recharging” with shutting down and binging. We finish a long stretch of work and we immediately resort to plopping down in front of the TV and mindlessly zoning out for a few hours to “recover.” And while it is okay to do that every now and again, what might be worth exploring is the idea of recharging, not by checking out, but by checking in to activities that engage you.

The idea of leisure, as pointed out by Holiday in the quote above, is that it’s a physical state, rather than a lethargic one, that involves an activity that’s chosen by you, for you, where all external justification is absent. You don’t finish a long stretch of work only to go home and immediately begin another long stretch of work—that’s not what we’re suggesting. Rather, the idea is to find a type of activity that you would do if the power was out, your phone was dead, and you were wide awake and uninterested in sleeping.

For me, that might be writing, walking my dog, practicing Martial Arts, or reading a book. For others, that might be yoga, house-work, painting, or even coloring. I know people who love to leisurely play sports, ride their bikes, play guitar, or practice piano. The idea is that what you choose to do is engaging the mind rather than numbing it. But, wouldn’t that further deplete mental energy? You might ask. Not exactly.

Enter Bill Watterson

Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, would draw to recharge. He once said, “Shutting off the thought process is not rejuvenating; the mind is like a car battery – it recharges by running.” And so, while doing work that you’re paid to do or work that you do for some type of external validation might drain your mental energy, doing leisurely activity that is specifically picked by you should replenish it—even if the leisurely activity is more physically demanding than the paid work.

When you do something that you don’t want to do, even if you’re getting paid—it’s exhausting. But, when you do something that you want to do, even if you’re not getting paid—you could do it for hours on end. When you’re connected to that state of recharging by “running,” you can quickly enter into a state of flow—one of the most beautiful states we can enter as humans. That feeling of being “in the zone” or being fully immersed with a type of energized focus, where you’re fully involved and completely enjoying the process of an activity.

While Calvin and Hobbes ultimately ended up being a huge monetary success for Watterson, that wasn’t why he set out to do it. He did it because he loved doing it. And I suspect that if his power was out, his phone was dead, and he was wide awake and uninterested in sleeping it’s exactly what he would’ve chosen to do on a given day too. Maybe this is the very reason why Calvin and Hobbes became such a great success? When you do what you love to do (and get paid for it) you never work a day in your life, right?

None-the-less, this shouldn’t be the reason you set out to do an activity. If it is, then you’d be doing the activity for the reason of becoming successful with it—aka for the money. That would ruin the process. The process should be reward. The activity should be the excitement. The leisure should be your escape. And as you continue exploring your interests, aptitudes, and abilities, pay close attention to which activities lead you into that state of flow. Not only will that state give you the most recharge, but it will give you a hint to what your Life’s Task might look like or entail. Stay woke. Good luck.