Phew, what a doozy of a week we just endured! You know what…when it rains, it pours! Do you ever have those weeks where it seems like everything is going wrong? It makes me wonder if everything really is going wrong, or if it’s just that one or two big stressors diminish my capacity to handle all the other small things that wouldn’t normally bother me, but since I’m already stressed, these small things feel catastrophic? Yeah, that has been me this past week.
Today I’m joining the Share Our Lives link-up to post about some of my creative outlets/hobbies! In a season of lots of children and business, it can be pretty easy to feel like I don’t have much time for hobbies. But when I really think about it, I actually do have lots of little hobbies that I fit in here and there! My favorite hobby is the kind of hobby that doesn’t cost much money or take too much time or space.
I’ve heard that if you work with your mind, you should rest with your hands. And if you work with your hands, you should rest with your mind. Or something like that. But what should I do if I work with both my mind and my hands? Teaching and raising kids is both a mental and physical job. I guess I just find snatches of time to rest both mentally and physically.
- I actually enjoy running, and it is my main physical outlet. I always feel good after I’ve gone for a run, even if I wasn’t happy with my pace or distance. It’s an endorphin boost for sure! I usually listen to a good podcast or two while I run, and then switch to some upbeat music for the last mile or so, so this also feels like a nice mental break.
- I love to cross-stitch. It’s a very relaxing hobby for me. I can’t sew anything else, but I can do the very specific counted cross stitch where the directions tell me where to put each stitch. I did so much cross-stitch in 2020 when I was so stressed with the pandemic and Theo’s job, and I’ve really been trying to work at cross stitching for at least 10 minutes every day this month.
- I love to read. I probably read too much. I read every day for at least 30 minutes!
- I know this sounds crazy, but IYKYK…I love to organize my books and book lists. This is entirely different from actually reading. I love finding book lists and adding to my TBR, and requesting books from the library. It’s a whole thing for me, and I enjoy it so much.
- I also love to journal and used to write letters all the time. I’ve been working my way back towards this habit by trying to send monthly birthday cards to family members. I love, love, love any type of notecards, writing pads, journals or paper products. They make my heart so happy!
- I love to just sit and chat with Theo. We cover all kinds of conversation topics and never seem to run out of things to talk about!
- Going on an adventure with my kids. I know that when we think of hobbies, we often think of something individual to do. But sometimes hanging out with my kids is just so much fun. We love finding new hiking trails or going to a festival or local street fair, or browsing through a flea market.
- If I have a week off work/school, I usually pull out a puzzle and really enjoy doing that!
- Of course, writing on this blog for the last 12 years or so has been a huge creative outlet for me!
- I enjoy listening to podcasts, and have so many podcasts on cue that I’m pretty sure I’ll never actually catch up!
I would love to hear if we have any similar hobbies or creative outlets!
I feel like that has been me this whole past month and I too am wondering if just lots of small things adding up or is it just one or two bigger things that make the small things seem worse? Am I just obsessing and making it all worse and maybe they’re all really not that big of a deal?! I used to love to journal and write letter too and while I’ve pretty much given up on sending birthday cards since I always forget until the actual day rolls around I have been making it a goal to send “just because” cards each month to at least a few people. I figure everyone loves some happy mail.