There are many important things in our lives:

Going to work, school, or to see your doctor

Household chores like cleaning and doing the laundry

Spending time with family

Your responsibilities are important, but leisure is too!

Leisure is free time when you can have fun.

• We all need time to relax and unwind.
• For example, we look forward to the weekend because that is when we can spend our time doing what we want.

You can spend your leisure time in many different ways.

If you want, you can spend some of your leisure time alone.

• For example, thinking about life, watching TV, reading a book, or listening to the radio.

You can also spend your leisure time with other people!

Another good way to spend your leisure time is doing activities in your community!

• For example, joining a sports team, taking an art class, singing in a community choir, or serving food at a soup kitchen.

Being active in your community is a good way to keep yourself healthy!

Participating in community activities can help you to:

• Relax and have fun
• Improve your health and fitness
• Make new friends
• Learn new skills

Being active in your community can help you meet new people.

These people may become your new friends!

Having close friends is an important part of maintaining good mental health.

• Learn more about the importance of friends and social supports in this presentation.

You can choose what activities you want to participate in!

If you like to play sports, you could join Special Olympics.

If you like to draw, you could take an art class at your local college.

If you like to go to the movies, you could plan a movie night with your friends.

To find out about activities in your community you can:

• Talk with your support providers and tell them what you want to do
• Talk with people at your Regional Center
• Check out this month’s Health Point: Finding Healthy Leisure (Fun) Activities in Your Community

You can make a plan with your support providers.

Your support providers and family members can help you to:

• Find an activity in your community
• Think about how you will get to and from the activity
• Decide if you want to go by yourself or ask someone to come with you

Remember, it is up to you to decide what activities you like.

You can choose what activities you will do and which people you want to have as friends.

Making choices about what is important to you helps you to:

• Be more independent
• Take charge of your life

It may not always be easy to take charge of your life.

Learning to make your own choices can take time if you have not had a chance to be in charge before.

• You don’t have to be afraid to say what is important to you.
• A good place to start is to try telling others what you think.

If you have trouble speaking, you can use:

• Pictures
• Equipment
• People who help

Your support providers are there to help you live your life your way.

You can talk to your support providers about how you want to live your life.

• They will help you reach your goals in a safe and healthy way.

Here are tools that can help you talk to your support providers.

You can use these tools to tell your support providers how you want to live your life and what activities you want to try.

• http://www.dds.ca.gov/Consumer/PDF/MakingMyOwnChoices.pdf
• http://www.dds.ca.gov/Consumer/StickerBook.cfm