TAKE UP A HOBBY
We only have so much time in this world. I’d like to make the argument that you should enjoy as much of that time as humanly possible. Yes, we have to work and sleep (approximately a third of our lifetime) and raise families and clean our houses, but there is always a little time we can devote just to things we like to do.
If you just do the same thing every day and are finding less and less enjoyment in the repetition, you might need a hobby. It should be something you love, but that serves no real or even practical purpose. It shouldn’t be a job, and it shouldn’t come with added pressure. For me, I run and I write; those are things I love to do as much as I can and I have no expectation of what they’ll do for me. I just like doing them.
You can have more than one hobby or you can really focus in on one thing. There’s no right or wrong answer as long as (and here’s where we turn this into a daily habit) you’re actively dedicating time and energy to something that’s only purpose is to make you smile. It’s an easy way to make your life even just a little better. It doesn’t even have to be a new hobby. I’d bet most of us already have one that we just ignore when life gets busy.
Write, do origami, play golf, fly seaplanes, make scrapbooks, learn an instrument, or any other thing that gives you more pleasure than pressure. Just make sure you’re not letting whatever that thing is fall to the wayside every time you feel a little overwhelmed by the craziness of life. Your hobby should be the pressure valve to ease that stress and shouldn’t be the disposable thing you toss when you need a little more time to finish something that isn’t going to matter once you’ve checked that box off your to-do list.
Make sure your friends and family know when you’re going to devote time to your hobby and that this time is important to you. It’s not something to be ignored because it’s something that makes you happy and if they truly care about you, that’s all they want for you. Hobbies are just as important as anything else in life, otherwise why are we doing all of the other shit we don’t enjoy?
For more Good Fucking Habits, visit goodfuckinghabits.com
