Rest should be more than simply not working.
The Roman philosopher Cicero spoke of ‘otium‘, a kind of leisure devoted to reflection, study, art, and the cultivation of the soul. Aristotle saw it as a necessary condition for the good life. For the Stoics, it wasn’t laziness, it was liberty in its most meaningful form: time used well, time aligned with purpose.
But in our modern world, how easily we let our free hours slip away. Weekends blur into background noise. Evenings disappear in the glow of a screen. We arrive at Monday already drained, unsure where the time went.
And yet, the time was ours.
Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” What are we spending our precious hours on? Are they filled with anything that nourishes us, grows us, even just brings us real joy?
This isn’t about guilt. It’s about possibility. You can take control of your leisure. You can write. Learn. Build. Walk. Wonder. Connect. You can shape your time into something beautiful, even in small ways.
So today’s prompt:
When was the last time your leisure time truly restored or inspired you?
If you had just one free hour today to spend on something meaningful, how would you use it? What’s stopping you from doing that now?
Happy journaling.
Dave Bawden is the founder of This Journaling Journey, where he helps people (especially men) use journaling to rewrite their personal myths, reconnect with meaning, and define success on their own terms. He writes at the intersection of self-authorship, narrative identity, and everyday philosophy.
