LEISURE LETTER 4: JACK ADAMS' THOUGHTS ON LEISURE
MUSICIANÂ AND PHOTOGRAPHER, JACK ADAMS, IS A CALIFORNIA NATIVE LIVING IN NEW YORK CITY. WE RECENTLY ASKED HIM FOR SOME WORDS ON THE IDEA OF LEISURE. HERE'S WHAT HE HAD TO SAY.
THOUGHTS ON LEISURE:
By Jack Adams
We’re usually told that time is money. That we have to work full time at time-consuming jobs and that there’s not enough time in the day to get it all done. That we have to make it to the big time, and if our time gets wasted we’ll have to work even harder to make up for it. That time is of the essence. But what about after all of that passes? When you actually have the time to do whatever it is that you want to do? That down time, that spare time? That free time…ahh… is there any more beautiful a concept than that of free time?
   That free time has a name and that name is Leisure. Leisure comes when everything you needed to accomplish has been completed. There’s no more work to be done, no more to-do’s on the list; the only thing left to-do is whatever it is you want, even if that’s nothing. To ease into leisure is almost to achieve a zen state. A state where you can let go of the expectations that are put upon you and focus on what will truly bring you joy. A state where you can quiet the endless stream of voices in your head and shed the anxieties over what was or what’s to be. For a brief moment, you are the win-the-lottery, vacation-version of yourself, concerned only with the present and the bliss that exists therein.
Leisure is the luxury we afford ourselves to escape the everyday mundanity of our daily lives. It is the poolside Paloma we sip in order to soothe our subconscious. It is the shade of the cabana that shelters us from the sun. It is the regained grains of sand in the hourglass. It is the time we take control of, when we finally get to be who we are meant to be. And doesn’t that just sound Dandy?
Jack Adams
