Apparently, 73 per cent of those asked on HobbyLark if they have hobbies answered "no". It feels good not be alone. But before you feel sorry for me, there is hope. According to various Pinterest and Google'd articles, I actually do have hobbies - reading, writing/blogging, hiking, meditating, running/exercising (eh, not relaxing!), baking/cooking/canning, camping, organizing (also not relaxing) Wow, I didn't realize my life is one big hobby!
All kidding aside, I found a couple of things I would love to become a hobby. One of them is to learn calligraphy. I'm not particularly artistic but calligraphy seems like something that I can be good at. Handwriting in style seems relaxing. Another pursuit I want to take seriously is gardening. Every year I marvel my husband with plans of planting bulbs, vegetables, flowers and trees (to double as a privacy fence) in the backyard. Every year I marvel at the fact that I still haven't done it. My dad had a green thumb. I'm not sure yet what thumb was given to me since all my plants are hardy and require very little intervention save for the occasional watering and pruning.
If there is one thing, though, that I have done a lot in the last twelve months it was going to the movies. With all the Marvel movies alone I think the theater made a lot of money from my brood. I also saw Star Wars (the latest of the saga), Christopher Robin, Crazy Rich Asians, and The Incredibles. I'm sure I'm missing a few more. Come to think of it, with our Amazon Prime, Netflix and On Demand subscriptions I have logged in a lot of screen time. I'm feeling a little bit more relaxed now seeing as I do have a movie hobby!
What about you, do you have time for hobbies? If there is something new you could learn as a fun pursuit, what would it be?
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I think "hobby" has become "creating stuff" so if you don't create, you don't have a hobby. Everything you said is a hobby though. I think of hobby as something you don't have to do but want to do (and usually make time for).
ReplyDeleteSuch fun movies this past year for once and more coming up Nov/Dec. I usually don't go to the movies, and I've gone at least five times in the last year, probably more because I can't remember.
Woodburning definitely relaxes me, and I've only recently returned to it. I enjoy walking, reading (when I can focus), cooking - when it's for fun and not necessity. With the new house, I want to do an herbal garden again.
I think with the high value placed on efficiency and productivity, hobbies are becoming one of those things we do to add to our checklists. So I wasn't shocked to see that 73 per cent of survey takers say they did not have a hobby because the lines are being blurred. Even I have to be careful to separate necessity from what's truly enjoyable and to a certain degree "mindless".
ReplyDeleteAfter ready Peiper's book "Leisure: The Basis of Culture" which is a 1930's examination of Leisure as an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters a capacity to perceive the reality of the world. I say that stepping outside our usual occupations, we can take ourselves off-line to contemplate, to create and to just be. But we are so goal oriented. Even in reading, having goals to hit in reading so many books annually, run so many miles per day/week/month, etc that even hobbies can seem full of toil. That said, I love writing. I write pen-to-paper letters to people. I also never tire of futzing with the decor and function of our living spaces and hope to chart out my first English garden this winter to start on come Spring. And I hope to approach it as a process to savor and enjoy learning from, not a race. But as a wife, mother, home educator and daughter/in-law to two widows who live several hours away, my extra time is limited. The spiritual and corporal works of mercy seem my primary occupation so loving that cross in each present moment is what I strive for. Hopefully my hobbies complement this and my last end.
ReplyDeleteI have to remember to enjoy the process! The funny thing is, for all its rigors, this is how I feel about running. I love the whole process (even the first mile, which for me is always the worst hahaha).
DeleteThe art of letter writing is becoming a novelty. I heard Fr. John Riccardo talk about how he has all the letters his mother wrote him. I would like to do that for my kids.