It is difficult for me, and presumably many people, to balance between work time and relaxation time. Whenever I return home and get all my assignments done, I enjoy entertainment such as watching movies or multiple episodes of a TV series, playing video games, or simply listening to music and surfing the Web. That is my favorite form of escape from stress.
I have gotten stressed out on multiple occasions throughout my life. This happens because I deeply care about fulfilling my responsibilities and getting assignments for school, college, or anything else done by their scheduled due date. That said, it can and has taken its toll on me in many instances. This is why I always look forward to having some kind of break, regardless of it being a long or short break, because hey – it’s a break nonetheless.
When I do take a break, I try to mix things up and balance between indoor and outdoor activities. My preference might be the forms of entertainment cited above, but I also enjoy certain outdoor activities. These include things like bike riding. I enjoy taking a walk around my neighborhood with my pet dogs. I enjoy feeding the birds around my front and back yard. I appreciate helping my mom water plants in her garden. Overall, I do try to challenge myself to do more outdoor activities. I’m aware how crucial exercising and experiencing the outdoors is, and I try to do as much of that as humanly possible.
Indoors, I enjoy reading in my spare time. It helps that reading books helps me expand my vocabulary and knowledge on certain subject matters. One of the books I’m reading right now is a book that is assisting me in improving my conversational skills. Being a person with autism, I sometimes struggle with asking people what their interests are and things about them because I’m so passionate about things I’m into. This makes me thankful I'm using this book called “How to Know a Person” during my spare time to improve on those skills. This book will no doubt help me continue to be an empathetic person and enhance my conversational skills, so I’m glad I read it in my spare time.
I also enjoy lifting weights at times to make my muscles stronger. But perhaps most of all, I use entertainment products as a form of escapism from the real world. This helps to bring myself up to speed on good and bad events that have happened throughout history; to learn about people of different backgrounds and to be educated about different countries and cultures; and to learn about how both the entertainment industry and the world itself has changed and evolved over time.
In a way, I’m an individual who lives in two distinct worlds: the real world and the entertainment world. While I enjoy the entertainment world quite a lot, being a fan of all-things entertainment (movies, television, video games, books, music, etc.), I also understand the importance of doing things like lifting weights, playing basketball, and going on bike rides in order to experience stuff in the real world. I’m not living my life in a bubble!
