March 7 2019

Finding Time for Hobbies

Do you have hobbies? Do you make time to enjoy your hobbies regularly? Maybe you are like so many others who wish they could fit in the time for their hobbies but just don’t know where to find the time.

A few years ago I decided to find help with finishing the crochet rug I had started in a class but then got busy and put it away to finish later. The problem was that when later came, I couldn’t figure out how to pick back up where I left off. I decided to take it to my family’s Thanksgiving gathering and ask my Aunt Mary if she could help me figure out how to finish the project. She wasn’t used to crocheting with such a huge hook, but the stitches are still the same and she took one look and knew it was a single crochet stitch, but I had no clue back then. She got me started and I kept going until it was finished that day. I decided then and there that if I was going to crochet I would have to do it regularly so I wouldn’t forget again. I didn’t start any other crochet projects for a long time, and by the time I did want to do another rug, YouTube was a thing.

YouTube is amazing for teaching you practically anything you want to learn and you can rewatch or pause and step your way through the video as often as you need to until you know what you are doing. If one person’s way of demonstrating a crochet stitch doesn’t work for you just look for someone else demonstrating the same stitch.

So you are wondering no doubt if I am completely off topic or if I am going to share ideas to help you find time for your hobbies after all.

1 Find Events to Attend

When I started that second rug, it went well enough but the rug ended up looking like an infant-sized basket instead of a flat rug. I found a group that met once a month at my local library that would offer help if needed and let me meet others who also knitted or crocheted. You can read about How I Learned to Crochet if you like. I found two more groups that all meet once a month for about two hours. I rarely crochet at home, but I look forward to meeting up with these three groups of fellow yarnslingers and this means I can get about three hats a month crocheted for charity if nothing else.

2 Give Up Social Media 

Now don’t panic and start throwing things. You might just want to give up one form of social media for a month and see how it goes while still using the others. Maybe you could just declare an hour or two a week a social media free hours and use that time to work on one of your hobbies. We could all stand to cut back on the scrolling through our feed thing.

3 Find a Friend and Make a Hobby Date

Maybe your hobby is running or swimming or trying new flavors of ice cream or scrapbooking. I bet you have a friend who also enjoys this hobby or would like to get started. Make a date and do only hobby-related stuff. If you don’t have a friend who enjoys the same hobby, see number 1 above and make a new friend.

4 Teach Your Hobby

Maybe you need to make a little extra so you have a part-time job. Maybe you just want to share the love of your chosen hobby with others. Either way, you could teach it to one person or sign up to teach a class. You get to share something you love and spend time doing it at the same time.

5 Hobby While You Wait

Maybe you want to find more time to read, knit or draw. These are all things that could be kept in a tote bag or backpack specifically for those times when you find yourself waiting at the doctor’s office or the pickup line at school. You can also do these things while sitting and watching

6 Find a New Hobby

If you are finding it hard to fit your current hobby into your schedule, maybe you need to find a new hobby that is easier to fit into your schedule. Be open to trying new things.

7 Find Common Hobbies

If you have hobbies in common with those you are already spending your time with, you can all hobby together. Maybe the family could go hiking together on weekends? If you are looking for something you can do with others, look into Letterboxing or GeoCaching. Both are fun ways to explore your area and get a little exercise and fresh air.

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December 18 2016

​When you can’t find time to write…

Make a writing date with someone else who needs to write, go to Panera or some other writing-friendly place that doesn’t mind if you hang out for a couple of hours. Take out your notebook and pen, laptop, tablet or whatever your writing tools of choice are and do word sprints together. Mix it up, start with some short 5-10 minute sprints then do a longer one, maybe 25 minutes. Have a goal in mind. Maybe your goal is writing and editing an entire blog post, or writing your holiday newsletter, or a short story or article.
Have a goal and set aside some time to write with other writers. Make it a regular writing date.
We started a group after NaNo last year and we meet every Thursday night at a Panera (we rotate amongst a few local ones on an odd schedule) and we write. I get my dinner and eat it then I won’t let myself eat the 99 cent pastry I always let them talk me into until I have written at least 500 words for the night. Some Thursdays we have just 1 or 2 of us, sometimes we have as many as 8. It is sad when I am the only one to show up, but I have made the comittment to show up and write and I just do the writing sprints anyway, then maybe during the breaks between sprints, I grab a drink refill or read some in whatever book I am currently reading. When we have more people, we can chat and catch up between sprints, but during those sprints we write.
Our Thursday Nights Writing @ Panera Group has a closed Facebook group page just for us where we can post the events, let each other know which of several Paneras we are meeting at that week and also post who is going to be able to get there and who will be elsewhere that week.
Being part of the Thursday writers group has made all the difference in making me into a year-round writer instead of a November only writer. If you don’t have local friends, make a virtual date and meet via Skype, or Google Hangouts or FaceTime or whatever. Hold each other accountable, show up and write. It works. For me, writing is a group thing. I used to get really down after November because all the hype of NaNoWriMo was over and I needed that energy to write, having a regular writing date each week has made me keep writing in my life throughout the year. Make no mistake, I don’t write with the frenzy or frequency during the rest of the year that I write during November, but the meetings of fellow writers once a week means that no matter what else is going on in my life during the week, on Thursday, I will take the time to write.
Basically, everyone has time to write if they want to write. You may easily find excuses as to why you have no time, but they are just that…excuses. I have dragged my computer to work with me in November and written while I ate lunch during my 30 minute lunch break. Give an honest look at how you send your time. Do you watch tv? Are you on Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, YouTube or Twitter? Do you check your emails. Chat on the phone, text back and forth with friends? Read the newspaper, magazines or books? You can choose to do these things or you can choose to write. Not writing is a choice you have been making, I guarantee if you REALLY want to write, you will find a way to do so just like you find a way to do other things you want to do. If you have to, carry a notebook and pen with you into the bathroom and multi-task for 10 minutes a day. Ok, you’re right, I shouldn’t have gone there. My point is you CAN find time to write, you just have to want to write.
The real question here is, what are you willing to give up or cut back on to MAKE time to write? Think of all the time you would have to write if you gave up making excuses and just do it!  
Category: Family, Learning, Organizing, Planning, Writing | 1 Comment on ​When you can’t find time to write…