Get A Hobby!
“When a habit begins to cost money, it’s called a hobby.”
-Everyone With A Hobby
We’ve all said this about our hobbies, haven’t we?
Usually, I say something like, “The difference between a hobby and a habit is that they’re both addictive and expensive, but your hobbies usually won’t land you in a jail cell.”
This is a good one, too:
“A judge will let you know, by the swing of his gavel, whether you have a hobby or habit.”
A day or two ago, I posted about how my awesome neighbor introduced me to gardening last summer, and how I instantly fell in love with it.
I’ve also told you about my Goals List.
Having specific goals is important, and I’ve shared my templates for anyone that wants to get started writing their goals.
Starting this blog was a goal, and has quickly become a daily hobby.
I’m committed to writing at least 500 words a day, and posting what I can about this starting-over journey.
Some days, 20-50 people read my blog, which is freakin awesome!
Some days, I’m the only one who reads what I’ve written. Ha!
That’s how it goes!
I also work two jobs, seven days a week.
(At the time this post was written.)
It sounds like I’m pretty busy?
Evidently, not busy enough.
One of the best things that happened to me in the “2020 Covid pandemic” was being stripped of all aspects and prospects of work.
You may be thinking, “Yeah, right!” but it’s true.
It left me no choice but to come to a couple of realizations:
- I needed to be humbled — and man alive, was I ever humbled.
- All of a sudden, it was crystal clear that I didn’t have any hobbies at all. All I’d done for the last couple of decades was work.
There is a really good chance that I was the most boring woman alive.
I worked a minimum of 12 hours a day, six days a week.
Boring!
Is it just me, or does anyone else want to learn to play golf? That just sounds like a good time to me.
Sunshine. Plaid outfits. A cold beer or two. Walking the course, chasing the little white ball.
Does it get any better than that?
Right around the time I filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, I started painting furniture.
It started with an old dresser that was falling apart. I knew I couldn’t use it for clothing anymore, but a few new screws and some paint and stencils later, and it’s turned into a great way to store the fruits, vegetables and spices I dehydrate.
Yep, I started making food smaller, too.
My dehydrating hobby is my former neighbor’s fault, too. (I say that with complete love and admiration.)
That crazy woman found an old Waring dehydrator, at the very first garage sale that we ever went to together for $5, and immediately informed me that I needed to have it.
Not knowing what it actually was or did, I soon found out that making food smaller is addictive!
So I started dehydrating everything I could get my hands on. Since my neighbor’s garden was producing so much, I had a lot to choose from.
I loved it so much that at one point I had my new (to me) dehydrator and my neighbor’s dehydrator going at the same time in my kitchen.
Constantly finding new ideas on the Facebook group page for dehydrating that I’d joined, I created my own unique blend of onions, garlic and jalapenos that I dubbed “Five Spice.”
I gave it to everyone in the group of JoAnn’s of friends, and have since made two more batches of it and shipped some of it back to that little Montana town.
It’s a HIT!
I dehydrated a ton of my cherry tomatoes, too, of course.
A friend surprised me by giving me a Tribest Sedona 9000 dehydrator — the Cadillac of dehydrators.
I frickin’ love that machine! Nine trays of dehydrating power!
For instance, today, I’m making beef jerky in there.
I use it all of the time, and the pups love the beef and chicken jerky treats.
They’re good for their teeth, and way healthier for my pups than the store-bought rawhides.
Back to the painting and refurbishing of furniture…
Paint & stencils go a looooooong way.
I repainted this dresser and added “The Neverending Story” stencils to it.
It kind of looks like the U.S. Constitution on there, doesn’t it?
I use it as both my dresser and my desk right now. It works perfectly for both.
Winding this up, it’s my particular two cents that we are each happier and healthier, if we have interests outside of work.
Who knew?
I know, right?
Whether it’s refurbishing an old piece of furniture or dehydrating food or gardening or building a blog site, find a few things that you love to do, and then — here’s the easy part — get off of your sofa and go do them!
Here’s a short list of hobby suggestions:
- Garden
- Paint and refurbish old furniture
- Dehydrate food
- Golf
- Kayak
- Photography
- Archery
- Hunting
- Writing (You don’t have to be Hemingway. Hell, I’m doing it.)
- Knitting
- Camping
- Scrapbooking
- Working out
- Dance/Line dance/interpretative dance
- Painting/sketching (Actually drawing things)
- Woodworking
- Cooking/baking
- Learn to play an instrument
- Brew your own brew
- Travel
- Learn a new language
- Running
- Quilting
- Blacksmithing/knife making
- Pottery
- Bird watching
- Collect something (stamps, sports memorabilia, spoons, etc.)
- Take up jiu jitsu
- Fly drones (legally)
- Build a website/blog
- Fishing
- Restoring cars/trucks
- Drawing
- Surfing
- Watercolors
- Off roading
- Parasailing
- Embroidery
- Acting
- Horseback riding
I was well on my way to 50 before I discovered how satisfying having a hobby or two is, and how mentally and emotionally stabilizing hobbies are.
You’re never too old start a new hobby.
Never.
More tomorrow,
-A