or work for creativity.

At the moment I am reading my friend Paul's book.

It is called The Pathless Path.

The Pathless Path is about finding yourself in the wrong life, and the real work of figuring out how to live. Through painstaking experiments, living in different countries and the goodwill of people from around the world, Paul Millerd pieces together a set of ideas and principles that guide him from unfulfilled and burned out to the good life and all of the existential crises in between.

Within the book Paul quotes German Philospher Josef Pieper when Pieper pointed out in his writings that "people mistake leisure for idleness, and work for creativity."

And in the moment, this specific quote hit hard for me.

Why?

Because yesterday Erin and I went to visit a daycare (we are currently touring different daycares/pre-schools to see what types of environments currently exist for our future son to THRIVE in.

You know what shocked me...

How a lot of these places talk about setting the children up for "success in school, career, and life."

Which sure... setting kids up to "win" is of high priority.

Fuckingggg hellll thoughhhh what ever happened to children just being children?!?!?!

What ever happened to LEISURE?!?

In today's world not only do we as adults/parents lack leisure time, we are now stripping it away from infants/kids.

We are thinking years ahead for them to "set them up to win" in the game that we find our adult selves playing.

But what if the current game we are playing is fucking stupid and slowly killing us?

Why are we not changing the game, instead of indoctrinating our children into it from the time they born.

To explain further, I will dissect the difference between leisure and idleness, which I believe society has massive confusion around.

Leisure, as opposed to idleness, is defined as the state of being free from the demands of work or duty.

It's the time you have available to pursue your hobbies, interests, and passions, and to relax and recharge.

Leisure is an essential aspect of well-being, as it allows you to disconnect from your daily obligations and engage in activities that bring you pleasure and meaning.

Idleness, on the other hand, is defined as a state of being lazy or inactive.

It's the absence of purposeful engagement in any activity, and it can lead to feelings of boredom, un-fulfillment, and dissatisfaction.

.

.

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To me, leisure has always brought me an intense feeling of meaning and purpose to my life.

While idleness, feeling stuck in an unfulfilling routine, like a robot... has had massive negative effects on my mental and physical health.

And this whole daycare touring has me realizing that from the time we are born... we are are putting our youth into a 7/8/9-5 routine disguised as areas for "growth" ... yet they exist more so as comfortable norms than they do as growth habitats.

This is where I will ask you...

Has the growth in your life occurred during times of comfortable routine? Or has it occurred during exploration and adventure?

If I were to answer this myself, the response would be almost all my greatest lessons were taught to me from exploration, adventure, and the opportunities that LEISURE granted.

Acknowledging this, I now have a more clear lens on the approach Erin and I want to take with our little guy.

And I am hoping with your acknowledgment, you too seek to find more leisure in your life, and grant yourself more opportunities to live a fulfilling, adventurous, and creative life.

Immediate action is the key.

Go block off some time on your calendar this week and label it LEISURE.

#thriveon

CJ

p.s. I am grateful for all the people out there who serve our youth. I want to be clear that my frustration is with the systems currently setup, not the hard working people who dedicate so much time and energy to serving young minds.