“What are your hobbies?” The question sounds like a halfhearted attempt at a first day of school introductory activity. For me, generic answers typically jump to mind first. I like to read and write, I like listening to music, I like hanging out with my friends. While these responses are all true, whenever someone asks me what my hobbies are, I undoubtedly throw out all the answers that provide the quickest escape to the question without further explanation. “Hobbies” seem trivial. “Hobbies” are something I have neither the time nor energy for. When I realized the majority of my personal dissatisfaction in life came from a lack of involvement in activities I truly enjoyed, I began to question the concept of "hobbies" from a different perspective. I asked myself, “What is something you genuinely enjoy doing? What makes you feel alive? When was the last time you did any of these things? Do you even know what they are anymore?”
For the past year, I have been working two jobs, more often than not hovering around 60 hours a week. I have lost most of my weekends to working doubles that typically equated to 14-hour days beginning with waking up at eight AM and ending when I arrived home after midnight. As a relatively healthy 21-year-old, I told myself for a year that I could handle this because I am young, and it is just a part of life. While this mindset is, for the most part, true, this kind of workaholic behavior has done a number on my mental health. When I come home at the end of a long day, I do not have the energy to cook for myself, which leads to an unhealthy diet of fast, cheap food. I do not have the energy to clean my apartment, which personally leads to a great deal of anxiety and an inability to relax in those precious few hours I occasionally get to myself. Perhaps the most destructive result of all is that I do not even have the energy to do the things I once enjoyed doing.
It isn’t always an extreme case. Sometimes you have a busy week and there simply isn’t time to read that book or finish that painting, or whatever it is that you’ve been meaning to do. When your busy week turns into a busy month, which snowballs into a busy year… you’ve got a problem on your hands. This is when things begin to spiral. If you don’t make time for yourself every once in awhile, it will take a toll on other aspects of your life including school, work, and even personal relationships. So much is expected of us in the world today that it is easy to get swept up in trying to please everybody except the one person who really matters--ourselves. This may sound selfish, but sometimes you have to be. Your own happiness has to be what you are living for--not money, not approval, not material possessions. If at the end of the day you are unhappy with the life you have created, you owe it to yourself to start creating a new one. The best way to do that is to commit yourself to hobbies that make you feel truly happy and fulfilled.
Recovery, in all forms, is a process. When you lose sight of your hobbies, as trivial as it sounds, you lose a part of yourself. It's important to remember that these things can be regained, with a little mindfulness and dedication. I have learned that adulthood means you have to make time for the things that matter. Yes, sometimes those things are going to the bank or grocery shopping or getting an oil change. Other times it is putting on your favorite record and doodling for three hours, or cooking yourself a delicious meal, or playing guitar, or expressing yourself through writing, or any number of other activities that positively contribute to your mental and emotional wellbeing. What your hobbies are, specifically, isn’t important. What is important is the ability to sit down at the end of the day and say “this is what I did for myself today,” and at the end of a year to look back with as
many experiences and as few regrets as possible. Find hobbies that make
you feel alive and pursue them relentlessly and passionately; you will
thank yourself later.
