Although leisure and recreation are universal terms, most everyone has a different perspective on what it means to them. My personal view is any activity that I do purely for enjoyment. It’s time that’s not devoted to any type of work, responsibility, obligation or self-care. It provides pleasure and it’s time spent doing anything I want to do.
Chris McCandless and I view leisure and recreation very differently, yet with some similarities. Chris left society and went “Into the Wild” for solitary contemplation for his leisure. I am not a loner and therefore, hanging out with my friends playing a pick up game of basketball would be an activity of my choice.
In comparing how we are similar, I would have to compare myself to Chris before he left society. We are alike in that we both lived under the influence of the American society and followed through with working toward being productive citizens by pursuing our education and maintaining within the guidelines of expectations. We were both strong-willed and determined, had leadership qualities, physical endurance, and a firm idealism of what we wanted out of life. Most important, we both had an inner self-drive to work toward attaining our goals.
In terms of the type of leisure, I tend to like active leisure and doing things that exert energy. Generally, my active leisure would be playing a game of pick-up basketball, baseball, football, or going for a bike ride. Chris also seems to like active leisure such as hiking and somewhat hunting. I say somewhat because hunting ends up being more of a compulsory activity for Chris as he needs to hunt to survive. A passive leisure activity for me would be talking on the computer and for Chris, it might be reading or perhaps carving.
Chris really wanted to go “Into the Wild” and live free from society and all the materialism. Therefore, socializing certainly wasn’t one of his leisure activities. He wanted to create a personal frontier, free from everything and everyone and that’s why he didn’t bring anything with him that anyone would be able to identify him by while I, on the other hand, like to socialize within my own group of friends and would consider it an important leisure activity.
Chris McCandless and I view leisure and recreation very differently, yet with some similarities. Chris left society and went “Into the Wild” for solitary contemplation for his leisure. I am not a loner and therefore, hanging out with my friends playing a pick up game of basketball would be an activity of my choice.
In comparing how we are similar, I would have to compare myself to Chris before he left society. We are alike in that we both lived under the influence of the American society and followed through with working toward being productive citizens by pursuing our education and maintaining within the guidelines of expectations. We were both strong-willed and determined, had leadership qualities, physical endurance, and a firm idealism of what we wanted out of life. Most important, we both had an inner self-drive to work toward attaining our goals.
In terms of the type of leisure, I tend to like active leisure and doing things that exert energy. Generally, my active leisure would be playing a game of pick-up basketball, baseball, football, or going for a bike ride. Chris also seems to like active leisure such as hiking and somewhat hunting. I say somewhat because hunting ends up being more of a compulsory activity for Chris as he needs to hunt to survive. A passive leisure activity for me would be talking on the computer and for Chris, it might be reading or perhaps carving.
Chris really wanted to go “Into the Wild” and live free from society and all the materialism. Therefore, socializing certainly wasn’t one of his leisure activities. He wanted to create a personal frontier, free from everything and everyone and that’s why he didn’t bring anything with him that anyone would be able to identify him by while I, on the other hand, like to socialize within my own group of friends and would consider it an important leisure activity.
We are also very different in that Chris was unprepared and unskilled for what lied ahead in Alaska. He didn’t take the time to learn what he’d need to know to be successful. Before I ventured off to an area unknown, I’d be sure to be better prepared if I expected to survive. I think Chris tends to be more book smart with little knowledge on what is necessary to stay alive. As I said before, “he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth” and didn’t have to think about things like this and he didn’t use his head. I think I’d have better insight on what I was up against and plan accordingly for the adventure. I’d be proactive in my leisure adventure by being better prepared. This trip may have started out as something Chris wanted to do for leisure, but ended as a stressful situation where Chris had to fight for his life and proved he wasn’t able to endure his leisure activity.
