“Leisure Phobia ” – A Modern Fear Of Leisure
The word “ociophobia” was coined by Rafael Santandreu, a Spanish psychologist. Loosely translated, it means “leisure phobia” or “fear of leisure”. It is one of the problems we have nowadays, which has taken hold without the world even noticing.
When people started flocking to the psychologist clinics because they did not know what to do with their free time, we began to see that there was a problem. They were obsessed with their jobs or careers, or they used these activities to avoid problems they did not want to face.
Nowadays, there are many people who start to panic when they have free time; or time that has no form of planned activity; or when they have completed everything they had to do and there is nothing to do for a long period of time.
How is it possible that we have developed a fear of leisure? Our parents and grandparents saw it as a gift, a privilege. Leisure was a time when one should rest. In any case, it never caused a problem. The exact opposite – leisure was something you longed for. What has happened?
This seems to indicate that it has become a form of mortal sin to be bored in our modern society. Those who have a fear of leisure also panic at the thought of getting bored. This seems to be a feeling they can not tolerate and literally creates panic.
People who feel this way become desperate when they think of doing nothing. They see leisure time as a serious threat. If we could draw what they feel, it’s like they have a big black hole in front of them that threatens to drag them down into an abyss.
When they are greeted by leisure, they begin to think that something terrible will happen to them. It’s like leisure time is something unknown and scary that they really did not want to confront.
The most visible symptom in people suffering from “leisure phobia” is anxiety. This anxiety shows up very much when these people are in a time pocket where they have nothing programmed. Then they have to meet their free time or if they are met by a weekend where they have no plans. This feeling of anxiety can increase even more before the holidays.
These people are strongly influenced by ideologies of efficiency and productivity. Their priority is success, and this comes before happiness for them. The worst thing is that they measure what they have achieved in quantitative terms and not qualitative ones. You often hear them talk about all the tasks or chores they have performed or how many goals they have achieved. It is very rare that these individuals mention the real reality or what it costs to achieve these things.
It is also quite serious that this type of person often transfers their lifestyle to their children. This type of parent enrolls their children in every course they can find when the children are not in school. They want their children to speak German when they are 10 and play the piano perfectly when they are 13.
However, they also teach their children to have anxiety. Unfortunately, these parents convey the notion that if you spend time without producing or learning something, it’s something awful.
Rafael Santandreu, the father of the concept of “leisure phobia”, says that we must learn to be more bored. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s not terrible to spend an hour looking at a wall and not thinking about anything. It is not only ok to do that, but also necessary. This brings balance to our lives. It’s good to work and be interested in something, but it’s just as good to rest and be bored every now and then.
Santandreu indicated that inactive senses are more productive. He also says that “the ideal proportion would have been 1 hour of business and 23 hours of leisure”. Remember that lions only hunt once a week. Also note that Cervantes wrote about his famous Don Quixote in his spare time. He did not get much from working as a tax collector. The results of his free time instead produced a linguistic treasure.
It would therefore have been good for us to regain our ability to look at landscapes as we walk through a city. We must slow down and go through life at a reduced pace. It is better to do fewer things with pleasure than to do many things with stress.
It is better that we use this short time we have on earth to love and create, rather than writing reports and following schedules. Fortunately, it is not a sin not to do something. Being bored is not a disease – the exact opposite. Not doing anything for a while makes us better people.
