I missed a couple of days of work last week while recouping from my yearly cold. It’s interesting, you would think that being off from work would allow you time to catch up on “lazy” activities – reading, watching movies, video games. This time, however, my body just wanted to sleep. I am sure that rest is what I needed, however, I just felt like I was wasting time.
I have never been much of a sleeper, even when I was in elementary school. Before my father retired, our paths would often cross at 5 a.m – his day was just beginning and I would on the couch engrossed in a book, trying to squeeze every possible minute from the previous day. Now that I am older, the hobbies have expanded, while time devoted to them has decreased. Part of me wants to cry, “STUPID WORK!” Fist raised to the heavens, just imagine the time I could devote to things if I didn’t have to work. The more adult, more grounded part of me, however, reminds me that I really enjoy both of my jobs – full-time at a library and part-time at a video game store – and that I would probably be miserable without them. Granted, the weekly hours devoted to working ARE significant, but the real problem may just be that I have too many hobbies.
Let’s go over the list, shall we!
- Games. lots and lots of games, of both the video and tabletop variety. I also have a never-ending backlog like a MF’er.
- Cooking…and eating. If I’m being honest, I probably enjoy eating more than cooking and I love trying new foods and restaurants.
- Learning languages (I studied Spanish in High School and Russian and Japanese in college. I am known to sometimes have the odd habit of buying completely random language learning books and software. What?! You’re telling me that I can learn Swahili in just 30 minutes a day? Sign me up!
- Traveling. Can you locate it on a map? Then I want to go there.
- Knitting and crocheting. I am pretty good at crochet, my knitting could use some work.
- Geocaching
- Writing
- Going to concerts and live theater
- Reading. Did I mention that my to-read list just topped 500?
- Watching movies. I pretty much want to see all the movies.
To make matters worse, I am an impulse hobbyist and I am always looking for something new to try. I often laugh about the time my sister and I took cake decorating classes and I improvised and turned my “cute” clown topper cake into a crime scene complete with blood red frosting (let’s be real, clowns are creepy). Or the time we took sewing classes and I learned that it is impossible for me to cut in a straight line. My tote bag remains unfinished. The awkwardly shaped pieces (closer to rhombuses than squares) shoved into finished portion, their only hope is that one day they will be attached and completed.
My whims have always abundant and often fleeting. When I was 5, I took break dancing lessons. I was obsessed with skateboarding for a good portion of my middle school years. More recently, my coworker was almost successful in convincing me to try out for roller derby. For a month, I was obsessed with trying out a raw diet (I’m pretty sure I still have the a food dehydrator on my Amazon wishlist). I blame my spontaneity, I blame boredom. At least there are not many repercussions to these whims. Sure, I might have an abandoned bin of scrapbooking supplies and a pathetically lonely yoga mat, but meh. Luckily, I am able to laugh these things off. I just know I will be able to turn to my sister (my partner in crime), one day and be like, “Hey, remember when we tried to learn Krav Maga? HILARIOUS.”
So here’s my dilemma. How does one find time to do all of the things they love? Do you schedule time to do specific things or do you live impulsively and just do what you’re feeling for the moment? Have you ever had to give up something you enjoy because you didn’t have the time to devote to it? What would you do with more time?
