In this episode, I am sharing 2 lessons my kids taught me in 2020 about having a hobby for ourselves.
You can listen to the episode below or keep scrolling to read the blog post.
2 Lessons I Learned About Having a Hobby
I feel like 2020 gave us a lot of lessons. And I always say my kids are here to teach me about myself and just about the world. The way they see the world is just amazing.
But last year they taught me 2 things in particular about having a hobby. Of course that’s cross stitch and reading for me. But these lessons can apply to any hobby you might have.
Lesson 1
My youngest is absolutely obsessed with Sleeping Beauty the Disney Princess.
It was her birthday in the summer and we bought her Sleeping Beauty on DVD.
Fast forward a few weeks and she was asking if she could watch it again. It was summer, though, so our days just kind of got away with us. We were so busy in the garden, going on walks, going to the beach, etc. Basically doing as much as we could just to keep them busy and outside a lot of the day.
One night I was reading her story and she just kind of did this, “Ohh.” She is so dramatic and hilarious with her expressions and sounds.
I asked her what’s the matter? She said, “I wanted to watch Sleeping Beauty today, but I can’t now because today has gone.” I nearly cried for her because it was like her first little taste of regret.
I don’t think I will ever forget that moment; I think about it all the time.
But I told her, “It’s okay, we can watch it tomorrow or the next day or the next day, we have a long time until school starts again.”
Regrets
It got me thinking though; how many times do we actually say that to ourselves? “It’s okay if I didn’t do it today because we have tomorrow. And, oh, it’s okay if I didn’t get it done tomorrow because I have the next day.” Eventually, a year or two years go by and we still haven’t done that thing.
So, my lesson from her is that if we want to do something, try our hardest to not put it off until tomorrow.
And how that relates to your hobby is to not let your day get away from you. Don’t be busy with all these other things that you forget to do that one thing that you really want to do… and you probably need to do. Don’t forget to do the one thing that really fills you up and brings you so much joy to your day.
Don’t get to the end of the day and think, “Oh, I really wanted to work on some of my cross stitch projects today, but I can’t now because today has gone.”
How many of us go to sleep ending the day like that? And that is not OK. We have to try and make time for ourselves and our hobby every day.
There is no perfect time
On an episode of The Purpose Show, Jammie Baker was saying about how we save things for special occasions. For us who cross stitch that can look like, “Oh, I’ll do that when I’m on holiday,” or “I’ll do that when I have a break from work.”
But Jammie said something amazing; “Your whole life is a special occasion.”
And it’s so true. We can get so lost in the day to day of life that we forget that this is our special occasion. This is how we spend the majority of our days and the majority of our life. We can’t keep waiting, like, “Oh, when I’m on holiday or I retire or I have a break from work, then I’ll really work on my projects and my hobbies and do things I love.”
There is no perfect time to do things that fill you up. You have to learn to do your hobby every day so you don’t go to bed regretting not taking time for yourself.
Lesson 2
My eldest also taught me a lesson… almost every single day of 2020.
He is seven (going on 17) and when he was about five he became obsessed with football. I’m talking, like, you can ask him anything about any football match that’s happened in the past two or three years, and he will be able to tell you about it.
So, because of this obsession with watching it, almost straight away he started playing as well.
Determination
He now goes out to play football every single day. He never misses a day unless it’s snowing. But he does also try to play in the snow as well. He will go out in the rain, the wind, the sun.
There’s no question about it. Even if I mention that it’s a bit cold and windy outside, he just doesn’t care. He doesn’t let anything get in his way of playing his football every single day.
And it just makes me think, again, he’s not waiting until the weekend when he can play for hours and he doesn’t wait for his training on a Tuesday night. He just plays in the garden whenever he can.
As soon as he comes in from school, he’ll get changed, go straight outside in the garden. When he’s in school he’s playing football on the field on his lunch hour and during his breaks.
Why are we not more like that as adults? Why do we not take on some of that and think, “No, nothing is getting in the way of the thing that I really want to do today.”
He is so determined that he is doing that every single day. And I love that he has that fire in him to take that time every day to do the thing that he loves. His absolute determination in this gives me such inspiration.
Ignite your spark
But where does that go for most of us when we grow up? Where does our drive and spark go? I have my theories about what happens to it (a post for another day though, maybe).
We all need that excitement back in our days to just wake up and think, “I get to do something that I love today.” Even if it is just for a small part of the day.
And that spark is in you. I don’t think it ever fully goes out. I think it sort of goes to a smoulder and we dim ourselves down a little bit. And now we need to give it a little bit of oxygen, kindle it a little bit, and just light it back up.
I’m so passionate about this. I talk about it so much, but when I look at my kids I just think, “Well, if you can do it, why can’t we all do it.” If a seven-year-old can remember to take the time for himself every single day, I don’t think any of us have any excuse either.
If we know that our hobby will fill us up, give us energy and make us a better person (because a fulfilled and energetic person is always better than a drained and tired one, right?) then we need to take the time for it.
It’s essential!
So, they are the two beautiful lessons my kids gave to me and taught me in 2020. And I’m sure they will carry on teaching me many more lessons in 2021.
I hope this just inspires you to take some time for yourself today and just remember that you are worthy of that time and you deserve that time, and you have that spark inside you. And I hope this helps to brighten it up a little bit and gives you a bit of fire.
Related blog posts
- My cross stitch and reading routine
- Making cross stitch a habit
- How to cross stitch more in your days
- When do you cross stitch?
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