Importance of Recreation

Recreation is very important for one's mental health.  For those of us far enough in our recovery work is very important as well.  I spend a fair amount of time doing my work.  I do a 15 hour shift every Tuesday.  Work for 3 or 4 hours on Wednesday morning.  I spend 2 hours in the CMHA office every Monday and Friday.  Plus I spend  a few hours working in my office at home.  I also spend a lot of time working on my blogs and web sties.  I keep pretty busy with my work.  Work is not everything though.  I need to take time out for recreation, rest, and relaxation.  That is important for my own mental health.

For those of us who are not able to work recreation is even more important.  We all need something to do to occupy our time so we just don't sit around and dwell on our illness and problems in our lives.  Keeping active gives us a routine in our lives.  We can engage in activities that we do alone by ourselves such as reading, playing computer games, watching a good movie, etc, etc.  It is also very important to engage in activities that involve other people.  We need contact with other people.  We are meant to be social creatures.  Being alone is not good for our mental health.  There are lots of options for being active with other people.  We can engage in team sports, go to the gym to work out, go to a movie with a friend, etc, etc.

For me personally I have a lot of things I do for recreation, rest, and relaxation.  Some of my activities I do alone and some I do with my wife.  My solitary activities include playing computer games, doing research, doing fun things on the computer, listening to my favorite music, and playing the guitar.  My wife and I do things together as well.  When we can afford the gas Kim and I travel together, we go fishing together, we go out for supper quite often, we go on picnics together, we go to the social activities of the SSNS, and when other things come up we do that together as well.  I have a well balanced life which is very important for my mental health.  If  I just worked all of the time that would not be very good for me and if I just did recreation that wouldn't be good either.  We need to find balance between work and recreation.

If you work try to set aside time for recreation, rest, and relaxation.  Work isn't everything.  If you don't work try to find things to do to keep you occupied, and find social activities to engage in.  If a person doesn't work this is very important to their mental health.  So, if you work try to find that recreation time and if you don't work try to find recreational activities to engage in to help improve your mental health.