Are you struggling to find time for yourself?
Or even if you have the time, you don’t know what to do. So you end up scrolling on your phone with Netflix on in the background.
As adults, many of us have forgotten what we found joy in.
We are so focused on getting through uni, getting into the workforce and then hitting the ‘adulting’ markers that we forget to stop and explore what fun looks like for us.
Sometimes it’s really hard to list hobbies that aren’t movies, TV shows and books. Those are great hobbies but often we have so many unexplored ones that never get to see the light of day.
Recently I started tennis lessons.
Why?
Because one of the wonderful women I do Pilates with plays tennis. I noticed that whenever she spoke about it, I was envious. Envious that she had the time and headspace to go every Friday morning to a group session. I sat with this and I remembered how much I enjoyed playing tennis as a kid. How much joy I got from my lessons or even just taking my racquet and ball to the local park with a wall and playing by myself. I remembered that in my 30’s I loved playing squash every Saturday with a friend.
That glimmer of envy was able to open up the door to rediscovering a hobby.
Sometimes that’s all we need. A glimmer.
It might be hanging out with your friends at an arcade or Royal Show and remembering that you loved playing those games as a kid.
Or dancing at a wedding and remembering how much you loved dancing and creating routines as a kid.
It might be listening to a friend talking about an art class that makes you lean into how much you enjoyed art projects at school.
From that glimmer, we can play with an idea, which makes the idea bigger and bigger until we find a way to make it fit into our lives. Then because we love doing it, it’s easier to keep going when we are tired or busy.
To me, this is a big part of self-care. Rediscovering things that bring us joy and then slowly adding those things into our everyday. Things that light us up and are naturally fun, exciting and motivating. Things that get added into our lives and stay added for a long time because they are important to us.
So next time you see someone doing something that gets you envious or creates a longing in you – take note. When you do something as part of another experience but you notice how much you love it – take note.
Then play with the idea, let it grow and allow that desire to lead you into adding that hobby into your life.
It will make your days brighter, fill your capacity cup and give you more life-work balance
