Calling all parents! What are your hobbies? How often do you get to partake in said hobbies? Do you feel like hobbies are a form of self care? Why or why not? Yeah I'm putting all the questions up top instead of saving them for the end because I want you to answer them first, read, and then see if your answers are the same at the end. Speaking only for myself, I have this sense that before I can take care of myself everyone else needs to be taken care of first. Like it drives me nuts to see my husband make himself some lunch while our daughter sits at the table and he sits down to eat and I'm standing there looking at him like HELLO...ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE HER SOMETHING TO EAT? Y'all that man will test my patience like no other! Not only will I plate her food first and make sure she is eating before I do, I make sure that she has everything that she needs before I attempt to do anything for myself. Unfortunately she is at the age where she has the attention span of a squirrel and unless someone is playing with her, she will find me.
Before having my daughter, I would have said that working out was a hobby but now I consider it part of my health therefore it needs to be a priority. Put your mask on before helping another with their mask kind of thing. You know what I mean?
When I think of hobbies, things that I love and enjoy doing I think of the following, in no particular order:
Hiking - love it! I love to explore but during the spring it's too wet to go out and in the summer it's too hot so we haven't really gone since we moved to Virginia in the summer of 2015.
Reading - I'm such a slow reader but I love the feeling of a book in my hand and turning the pages. I'm hosting Twilight Saga book club and we start reading in October. If you want to join check us out here.
Singing - no one really gets to hear this.
Dancing - oh boy...can't remember the last time I just cut loose!
Baseball - pandemic...enough said.
Crafts - I enjoy various crafts but I can't freehand. I need patterns. I've completed a 30 square crochet afghan, a 30 square knitted afghan, I'm currently working on a 30 stripe crochet afghan and I have a few cross-stitch projects in the works as well as a Diamond Painting.
I kind of just answered the first two...kind of. Of those activities I listed above, reading and crafts get the most attention (hello...pandemic). I work on my afghan when I get my materials and usually can have the stripes completed in a few days depending on the level of difficulty. I also try to read daily...but this has been a struggle the last couple months that I have been struggling with my sleep. Do I feel like my hobbies are self care? Yes. Don't get me wrong. I love a good Epsom salt bath or a bath with my favorite CBD bath bomb but someone I admire once said something along the lines of taking a bath or a shower alone doesn't count as self care, it's called hygiene. I get what she means. It's rare that I get to shower in peace. I either have a toddler in the shower with me or I managed to get in my room and lock the door and she is screaming at the door and I have to hurry to finish (and I don't do this if my husband is gone so don't come at me).
All that to say that I do consider my hobbies to be self care. I cherish 10, 20 or 30 minutes of uninterrupted time to read, dance, do a craft project without having to keep my daughter from ripping the pages out of my book or running away with my scissors or pattern. I consider a quiet evening walk by myself a form of self care because I'm not out for time or distance but just taking it easy and just enjoying my surroundings and having the time to think or listen to an audio book.
I don't know if I've made my case for hobbies being a form of self care but I want you to scroll back up to the top, review the questions and see if your answers are the same. If you leave them in the comments, even better!
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