Maybe it was the fall of 2013. A middle-aged man with sagging shoulders visited the counseling office. In his mid-forties, he was included in the company's job cuts and continued to seek retirement. However, he could not quit the company without hesitation. Eventually, it was his routine to sit at a desk with no teams and nothing to do. It was delicious to die. It was because he couldn't control the disillusionment and despair, so he came to the counseling room. He asked me to help him. However, there was no significant difference in counseling and drug treatment. I was frustrated as he struggled.

Then one day, after canceling the reservation, he did not go to the hospital. I forgot about him. Maybe it's been about a year? I met him by chance at some venue. He said hello first. My face has been better than ever. 'Have you been hired by another company?' I was curious. After hearing the story, I was still attending the company.

By the way. There was one thing that changed.


"I'm still going to that company. I'm going to the workshop every weekend if there is a change, but that seems to have helped me."


# What is true healing?

He said he thought of the happiest moment in his life when he stopped taking counseling and took a walk. It was in the lower grades of elementary school. His house was near a woodworking station, and there were always scraps of wood next to it. From there, I made a gun with wooden children and played around without knowing the sun was going down. It was the most beautiful and happy time for him.

He wanted to make something out of wood. I immediately found a workshop to make living furniture. It was good from the first feeling. After that, I stayed at the studio all day long on the weekends. I could forget my company life for as long as I grabbed the tool and touched the tree. Often I forgot myself. That time gave him a breath like a desert oasis. He posted what he made on social media and people's reactions were better than expected. Even people who are interested in buying for gifts have started to increase one by one. The fear and frustratingness that was only a little bit faded away. For him, a better treatment than counseling or drugs was'woodwork'.

His brief reunion with him was enlightened. Above all, he told me that true healing is not reducing pain, but revitalizing. He also showed that healing is not something that experts can monopolize, but that daily leisure activities can also be healed.

# Why people buy and work hard

Since then, whenever I meet people, I talk about leisure. It was varied. Some people have nothing to do with leisure activities except for watching TV, but many of them are actively engaged in leisure activities while taking time to struggle. I asked these questions whenever I met them.

"Why do you learn ballet after forty?"

"Why can you buy more beautiful clothes and make them one by one?"

"Why do you play a saxophone without going home when you're tired after work?"

"Why aren't you majoring, so why don't you sleep and look at your philosophy book?"

"Why do you volunteer to take care of organic animals without taking a break on the weekends?"


People's answers were simple. "It's good!" replies with Lee Dong-sung. In fact, what else do you need to say! Whenever I talk to them, I can't forget the way they looked at me, saying their favorite activities. It's like the eyes of people in love. Twinkle There was a favorite activity, so their lives were full of vitality, and they were able to comfort themselves with the toughness of life.

# Ótĭum, active leisure that gives joy to my soul

I have interviewed many people since then, and active leisure activities are the foundation of life that cultivates numerous positive psychological resources such as happiness, joy, creativity, immersion, awareness, self-esteem I realized. And I wanted to express it in one word. I thought it was a kind of blasphemy to just say'leisure (time: time left without work)'. They weren't spare time, they were taking time to act diligently. I wanted to attach a beautiful language to it. Then I met fatefully with the Latin word “otium”.

This word has three meanings in the dictionary. First,'leisure'. The second is'time after retirement' and the third is'school work'. Ancient art activities include writing poetry, studying, discussing, playing, and appreciating. In other words, Otium used to mean free time, but on the other hand, it meant'leisure time to enjoy learning.' It can be said to be an active rest that recreates itself beyond a passive rest.

# What

happens when you meet Otium I have conducted in-depth interviews with over 40 people who have been active in the past few years. After encountering Otium, they experienced the following changes.


Now, our society is becoming an era that reveals the identity of the person as to what kind of leisure activities he does. In this era, leisure must be renewed.

If there is a little joy that I create in a life where everything is uncertain and unwilling, life would still be lively.

* Editor's Note : Moon Yoo-hyun's'Let's Live and Live' series tells you the real way to relax in the post-corona era


#In-it #in-it #quiet #let's sleep and live