There are so many ways to document your life and get to look back on how you felt and who you were at different times. I’m partial to pictures (see my recent post about photo organization), journaling, and, of course, blogging!
I’ve been reflecting on how I spend my time and making sure that I am incorporating fun and engaging activities. It made me think of a post I wrote back in 2015 (when I was 20 years old), and let me tell you, it reads as quite melodramatic now. It’s all about “learning I’m more than my resume” and I start off with a not so humble brag about what a hard worker I am and how I sacrifice so much of my time to things that will make me appear accomplished to other people.
While I think that was true of younger Alyssa, and to an extent is still true now, I’ve also realized that I’ve gotten much better at leaning into my hobbies for the joy of them and that enjoying how you spend your time does not take away from its value. Basically, I’ve learned how to put this into perspective and care less about how I appear to other people.
Today I want to share how I enjoy my hobbies and make sure I spend time on things that fill me up – and how you can too!
Let’s get real
First things first – I had to be honest with myself about what I really enjoy spending my time on. I know I love to create, but nothing physical and I’m no cook. I know I love to read, but I don’t want to struggle to get into the material.
What do you know that you love that you try to turn into an “accomplishment”? What do you know that you absolutely don’t enjoy that you force yourself to do anyway because you think it looks good or is what you are “supposed” to do?
It’s only by getting real with yourself that you can then begin to allocate your time to what you’ve found will bring you joy! And it may take some experimenting to find out what that is, but you can at least start by accepting that every free hour does not need to be filled with something you could add to your resume.
Pencil it in
Whether you live by your calendar or are more of a to do list person who fits things in whenever, I’ve found it’s important to intentionally allocate time for your hobbies. Otherwise it can be all too easy to find yourself with free time and spend it looking at social media or engaging in activities that don’t actually fulfill you.
My main hobbies are blogging, podcasting, reading, and running around Manhattan to go to events, shows, and museums with friends. Each month and week I take a look at my calendar and plan out time to engage in all of these activities (except reading – that is so engrained in my daily habits that I don’t have to think much about it to make it happen).
I don’t go crazy and plan it down to the minute, rather I look at my schedule and see if I have a fair amount of plans with friends and make note of a morning or afternoon each week I want to spend on creating.
You can experiment to find out what type of planning works for you, but just make sure you aren’t leaving it up to chance.
Reflect and adjust
Now you know what they say about best laid plans…it’s important to take a look back and see if you followed through with your intention to spend time on your hobbies. This is where keeping a calendar can especially come in handy. You can take a look at the past month or two and see if you dedicated time as you intended, reflect on how you felt, and adjust going forward.
So often we focus on tracking our goals, but I’ve learned it’s important to track your enjoyment too to ensure that your everyday life is what you want it to be.
How do you make time for what is most important to you? How do you make sure your hobbies are cherished?
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