IS READING ACTUALLY THE MOST INTELLECTUAL TYPE OF LEISURE?
Leisure is free time away from work, education, and business. Day by day, we undergo some activities. These activities are either productive or not. Once we have free time from all those things, we do what we want. Lots of activities can be done during this time. These activities include serious discussion or analysis, traveling or sightseeing, or reading. All these activities are productive. The question remains; which of these activities is the most productive? Reading or Travelling? Most people argue that reading is the most intellectual type of leisure. Relax and enjoy as I enlighten you on this issue.
According to Wikipedia, reading is the complex cognitive process of decoding symbols to derive meaning. Reading as a leisure activity is not about your reading academic works. During your leisure period, you need to rest your brain. Though, tasking your brain a little won’t damage your brain. You can do that with reading. You can read a novel, a book about religion or a personal development book. Reading these books will furnish your vocabulary. You will have more words in your vocabulary. I remembered my college days, we were given a book to read and note down new words. Thanks to those “big” words, now I have more words at my disposal. Just fix a suitable time for yourself and revel in new words.
Reading is like an exercise of the mind. It develops the mind. Playing golf or sightseeing in your leisure time is good. But, tasking your mind to understand a book makes you know your limit and overcome that limit. It boosts your listening skills. When you read a book, you are indirectly using your mind to listen to the words of the author. You tend to understand what people are saying excellently.
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Whenever I am reading, I notice one thing. I tend to imagine what I am reading. The first day I was reading How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and he was referring to some real-life events, I was creating the scenes in my brain. It was fun doing all those things. This boosts understanding and creativity. You will be amused at the rate in which your brain and mind work.
Reading is a form of learning. An author writes from his experience so that readers will learn from it. A book is like a record of the journey of the author. An example is a book titled Way of the Turtle by Curtis Faith, this book involves trading of stocks. The book entails the whole journey of how Curtis Faith became a legendary trader. If a trader reads that book he will learn from his experiences and mistakes. You can’t learn all these by sitting and watching movies all day.
Furthermore, reading gives you new ideas. Reading influences your lifestyle too. Notice a reader will always do something special than a non-reader. Let’s say two people work in the marketing sector of a company and they both get a 14-day leave. Worker A goes to a beach with his family. On the other hand, Worker B sits in her library engaging herself in a book about marketing. When they both resume back to work, Worker B will have an upper hand than Worker A by employing new methods of marketing. And, mind you, they both enjoy with their respective families. With that, she has become better.
Come to think of it, purchasing a book is cheaper than you traveling to enjoy your leisure time. You purchase a book from a bookstore at #2,000. You sit comfortably on a chair in your living room or veranda of your house. You are ready to mine the knowledge in the book. Another way is visiting a public library, borrow the book for certain days or read it there. Cost-effectiveness is ensured! Reading is less financially, physically and timely demanding.
Reasons, why reading is the most intellectual type of leisure, are listed above. Mind you, I am not saying other leisure types are bad. Sometimes, I enjoy my free time discussing with friends, traveling, seeing a movie or two and so on. Reading boosts your brain, gives you self-confidence and relaxes your mind.
What are your thoughts on the topic? Do you agree? If not, feel free to tell me what you think in the comment😉😉. You can also take it a step further by sharing the article after reading. Thank you.
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