Seems that the line dividing work and leisure is thinning. More people are finding themselves dealing with work issues beyond the so-called the 7 day a week boundary.
This trend is being called Weisure - a phrase that blends the words leisure and work literally as well as figuratively.
Some who live the weisure life don't mind the blurring of roles while others struggle with it. Sociologist, Dalton Conley, who coined the phrase weisure, thinks that the trend is a negative one. "We lose our so-called private sphere. There's less relaxing time to be our so-called backstage selves when we're always mingling work and leisure." Conley believes that economic anxiety is at the root of the weisure lifestyle. Financial concerns appear to be driving many of us to bend and blend work and home life - and even vacation time.
Though some people can balance weisure, others struggle to find time to relax. The fallout of this new way of living and working is the loss of precious down time, with research showing fewer people taking actual vacations. It appears that the lack of adequate rest, nutritional fuel and emotional breathers - what are often called personal recovery strategies, are at the heart of the weisure crisis. As Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz demonstrate in The Power of Full Engagement, managing energy, not time, is the key to health, happiness, and life balance.
If you're someone who is bending and blending work and leisure, know that stress and burnout can lead to weisure stress. If you can't learn on your own or through talking with friends or colleagues ways to manage this new way of living, talking with a mental health professional can offer help.
