Recently I have not been reading as much as I would like. I say recently, it has been going on for ages, months really.

It’s partly because I keep finding other hobbies that I’m interested in pursuing (and there’s nothing wrong with that). I just feel like I don’t have enough time for any of it.

I’m just not entirely sure where to start when it comes to organising my life. I’d like to make a schedule, but I also know that I’m not the kind of person who can stick to a schedule of my own making.

How do I fit in time for all the hobbies that I want to do, when I work 40 hours a week, and I always feel tired from work?

I want to get a new job anyway. I have been looking, but I’m also not entirely sure what I’m looking for. I want to change my career. I just don’t know what I want to change it to.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about hobbies, not work.

I’m thinking that I mostly just need to start small. There’s some hobbies I can do a little bit every day, and there are some that I can do each week. I guess I just have to prioritise.

I can try starting with reading for maybe 20 minutes a day. I’m so out of the habit that I don’t want to overwhelm myself. If I can keep it up then I’ll increase the time.

Other hobbies I am interested in:

• building models (I have done some modelling kits, but I’m interested in making my own things)
• Pokemon TCG (collecting, and maybe playing the game again)
• drawing (used to draw a lot of portraits, I’d liketo practise my skills again, and just improve in general – maybe find something to draw other than faces)
• writing (maybe, I haven’t done it in a while)
• Magic The Gathering (bought a deck recently and I’m just beginning to learn how to play)
• Warhammer (bought my first set last week, I want to paint them soon. I have zero clue about the gameplay, hahaha)
• running (I started this about two months ago, and I’m really enjoying it. It always feels challenging, but it makes me feel good about myself)
• cozy gaming (Animal Cross, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Paleo Pines, Sims 4 – that kind of thing. I can happily spend ages doing any of these games, but it feels like I’m wasting my time when I could be doing something productive)
• learning Spanish (just using Duolingo at the moment, but I want to learn more in-depth. I learnt Spanish in school, but stopped in 2010, and forgot a lot of it)
• oh, and also blogging (haha, that would be the one I forget whilst writing a blog post)

I can’t tell if that’s a lot of hobbies. It’s too many for me to complete every week. The running I can do three times a week. I have been consistent in this since June (I think, I don’t really remember). But I’m really pleased with my consistency, and I want to continue with it. It has become part of my routine now, so it’s not too difficult to do it. And it only takes an hour to get ready and do the run.

So that’s one hobby sorted. I think I find it easier to plan for it based on the day I’m going to do it rather than the time. So I know I’m going to run on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Then on the day I can just choose to go out whenever I’m ready for it.

As for my other hobbies, I don’t really know when to fit them in.

I used to read a lot more when I had a commute to and from work. I walk to work now, so I’m not really able to read on the journey (well, I can read and walk, but I only get about ten pages done, it’s not as productive as spending an hour on the train reading). I’ve tried reading when I get home from work, and find that I’m too tired. I’ve tried reading on my lunch breaks at work, and find that I get too distracted by other people, even when I have headphones on.

Maybe it’s just not something that I can do on work days. But then on weeknends I end up trying to do everything else that I haven’t been able to do during my work week.

I need to think about that one a bit, but I’ve been struggling to find the right time for reading for a couple of years now, and I don’t really know what to do about it.

Another hobby I have somewhat sorted at the moment is learning Spanish on Duolingo, because I get a notification from the app every day, and then I usually do it straight away. It only takes a few minutes to do one lesson, and I feel like I’m remembering a lot of stuff that I learned when I was in school.

I think a large part of my problem is that I want to feel “productive” with my free time, which is ridiculous, because hobbies are meant for enjoyment. It shouldn’t matter if I achieve anything, so long as I’m having fun.

I’m just very overwhelmed with life at the moment. I don’t know how to make time for the hobbies I enjoy, so I end up wasting my time scrolling on social media or playing dumb games on my phone. I don’t even want to do either of those things, so I don’t get why I always end up doing them.

Some of the hobbies I mentioned earlier I haven’t even done for months because I don’t know how to make time for them.

I have some time off work soon. I want to spend some of that time organising my personal space, getting everything tidy and clean. I think that will make it a more positive environment. But I can also use this time to get back into the hobbies that I enjoy. Maybe I’ll just pick two or three at most so I don’t get overwhelmed. If I can do each of those hobbies for a bit while I’ve got about a week to myself then it might encourage me to do them again more on weekends.

Basically, I currently feel like th only time I have for doing anything fun is on the weekends, because I work four days of ten hour shifts each week, so by the time I get home I’m just exhausted. So I usually spend one of my three days off resting and recovering from a busy week, another day doing laundry and preparing for the coming week, which only really leaves me with one day to enjoy myself.

So, for my week off work (it’s a Wednesday to Tuesday) I am going to:

• choose three hobies I want to focus on
• choose which days I’m going to do each hobby
• keep up with running on my regular running days
• make time for job hunting (and choose which days I’m going to do it)
• and give myself time to rest and relax

I don’t want to put too much on my plate for that week, otherwise I’ll end up doing nothing. But I’ve been looking forward to this time off for a while now, and I really want to make the most of it.

I’m probably going to have to think on this hobby situation more. I think it will take time for me to come up with a good solution, but all I can do for now is keep trying, and making sure that I’m doing my hobbies for enjoyment rather than to appear productive.

We’ll just have to see how that time off goes.

Until next time,
Love, Bobbi. Xx.