Media Clipping — Fri, Sept.19th, 2008 NovaNewsNow.com

Are you working more and enjoying life less?

Along the way growing up we’re taught not to waste time, to keep busy and remember that idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

All this concern about how we pursue our lives has contributed to countless inspirational and sometimes witty quotations:

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.—Annie Dillard

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that the stuff life is made of.—Benjamin Franklyn

There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.—Brian Tracy

The premise is often that we are wasting time if we aren’t producing something. That can create a lot of stress in life, and keep us from enjoying those roses we pass by

GPI Atlantic is releasing a report on Tuesday that compares the number of hours Nova Scotians work every week and every year with trends in their free time. It also looks at which Nova Scotians are most time stressed, and at who has more free time and who has less.

GPI, by the way, stands for Genuine Progress Index and it is concerned with more than just how many widgets we produce, a pretty limited way of looking at our social existence.

Here’s one more quotation, this one a fresh one by the GPI study’s lead author, Dr. Andrew Harvey of Saint Mary’s University: “Free time is the only time we have to do what we want, not what we have to do—to pursue our interests and enjoy our lives.”

The report should make interesting reading, not least because it tries to put a dollar value on free time, based on the value that free time has as a buffer against stress and as a condition of physical and mental health and wellbeing.

There was a news story this week that many commuters in Canadian cities would happily take low pay in return for briefer commutes. (I keep that in mind as I drive my block and a half to work.)

The GPI report also looks at how Nova Scotians spend their free time –watching television, socializing, reading, playing sports, going to movies, and eating out at restaurants. And what are the trends in these activities? Are Nova Scotians watching more TV and reading more than they used to, or less?

There is also a breakdown of free time and leisure time activities by sex, age, work status, marital status, age of children, and time of week to find out which groups are doing which activities and for how long. And it examines major changes over the last two decades in male-female work and free time patterns.

How do you thing you fare in this? There’s been lots of evidence in recent years that people have to run harder to stay in the same place economically. Do you think free time is being lost and does it matter to you?

Free time is one of 20 core components of the Nova Scotia Genuine Progress Index, says the study, because it is one of the most basic conditions of wellbeing and quality of life.

The full GPI Value of Free Time report will be posted at 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at www.gpiatlantic.org

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