Blog Summary #2

Well, another month has gone by and it is time once again to summarize my blog.

In order to be leisure educated one must advance through seven different steps, according to Dattilo. At this point I think that I have only really acquired six of these characteristics.

First, I definitely can and know how to appreciate leisure. This is evident all through my blog. I understand what leisure is, what constitutes leisure, and how beneficial it can be to all individuals. Leisure is recreative and gives an individual a change of sorts from normal day-to-day activities. I am also very aware of myself in leisure, the second of Dattilo's characteristics. I know what I enjoy (concerts, board games, dinners with friends) and what my skills are, I know what leisure experiences leave me the most satisfied (often the ones that have also surprised me the most and were unexpected), and thanks especially to this blog I am quite consciously always reflecting on my past leisure participation. I have also become self determined in leisure. I demonstrated this when I took responsibility for my boring leisure life and make the choice to seek out activities that I know I love (concerts) and pursued them in order to make my leisure more fulfilling. Although not fully demonstrated through my blog, I have recently become quite assertive and stubborn about making sure I spend more time with my friends. It is something we always say we should do more, and it's usually all talk, but I am making sure it happens this time. Furthermore, I feel that I do interact socially during leisure. Nearly all of my leisure is social. Although I love spending time alone, I usually find it relaxing or productive. But most of my memorable and enjoyable leisure has been spent in social situations, whether with friends or near strangers. Finally, I feel that I have acquired the characteristic of making decisions about leisure because this one brings together all of the other elements like the ability to identify goals which I have done and displayed numerous times through this blog.

On the other hand, I don't think I am quite so good at the characteristic of using resources facilitating leisure. I'll have to work on this part, with the planning and matching and problem solving. Not my forte.

I definitely think that the language I've used through my blog demonstrates my values or attitudes towards leisure. I use really extreme language like "mayhem" and "so much fun" and "really very excited" to describe different situations and how I felt about them. Descriptions like that make my values and attitudes quite easily interpreted.

Finally, I don't think that I have really become any kind of leisure educator at this point. I am still working on assessing and fully figuring out my life (leisure and other), so I don't really feel ready to start educating others. I have been talking more about leisure and it's importance with my friends and partner and family. And so they are all getting exposure and information that they probably never thought about before, but I wouldn't consider that quite leisure educating because it is not through leisure and we don't do anything more than share information. But it's a step I guess!