Hobby or Obsession

the things I enjoy

It’s a fine line between the two when we find something we love and absolutely enjoy just for the sheer pleasure of it.

A hobby should be something we use to escape the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives and the mundaneness of work, home, family, sleep, rise and repeat. A hobby is something we do for pleasure or leisure. After a recent discussion with my friend Missy; as I had no idea what to write this week. She suggested my new gardening skills. I laughed but she still planted a seed; pun intended. Which then of course had me looking back at some of my hobbies and slight obsessions over the years. I am sure you can relate and hope that as you read this you will look back or fondly think of your own hobbies over the course of your life. What where they? How did they play a role in your life? Do you still have the same hobbies or have they changed. Do you even have a hobby? If not this is your sign to get one!

When I first looked back, I immediately thought of rocks. When I was younger, I would go “rock hunting” with my Poppa. Now, I was in fact rock hunting and unbeknownst to me he was in fact looking for arrowheads in the Wyoming landscape. I just got to tag along and find pretty rocks. While my love for rocks still remains it also now presents itself in the form of crystals of quartz, amethyst, obsidian and so on….so yes, my pockets are still full of rocks and maybe I dabble here and there with my decks of oracle cards.

For the love of books and reading. This is probably my most beloved hobby as I can always come back to it and also know that its waiting for me when I need to shelf it for a bit and focus on other tasks instead of disappearing into the magic of books. My TBR list is extensive and complicated as is my taste in books. Not to mention the literal 1,000’s of books I have in my possession. See that fine line of hobby or obsession? I know there are worse things I could spend my money on but there is nothing like cracking the spine of a new book only to lose oneself in the pages, only to then leave it dog-eared and well loved. My readings have taken me on real life adventures to places I had one read about to actually seeing the places. Not to mention the 2.5 years I commuted and audio books were life. I listened to 43 books totaling about 440 hours in that time.

Now, if you know me and have followed along on any of my social media the past 4 years you would know all about my next hobby and passion. Cake Decorating. All because I enjoyed watching the holiday cake show and was convinced, I could replicate a cake. Turns out I couldn’t, and it would take many attempts and fails for me to get there; I would in time. This hobby would eventually lead me to make some sales which absolutely fucking delighted me and still does today. My love for baking cakes and treat making surpasses anything I have ever done. Might have been having my tiny assistant (my nephew) by my side which added a whole different level of entertainment to the process. It is an escape and being able to create something to share with others warms my heart in a way I never could have imagined. Yes, I still very much enjoy it and while I have recently been asked why I haven’t been baking. The reason being is the cost. I can not afford to just bake for fun and give it away. Sad but true but don’t worry you’ll see me in the kitchen soon.

As someone who uses her 2^nd amendment rights to protect herself. I enjoy regularly practicing in a safe and secure environment with other trained individuals who understand the equipment and the need to protect ourselves. This came when I was making that 3–4-hour commute in the middle of the night to get to work at 0300 and when our county was actively having riots. I needed to protect myself , as a single woman, these days even more so. I learned & now know I am capable of doing so.

Entering my garden era, or maybe just my Golden Girl era of being who I am and enjoying learning new things and trying new things. A year ago, in Montana my friend insisted I needed flowerpots and off we went to buy pretty flowers and dirt. Mind you I do not like touching the dirt not one bit. But I can say I did love how they looked and enjoyed seeing them grow. Now seeing them burn in the scorching heat not so much. But I have learned. As we entered this summer my friend Missy said I’ll help you and yes even touch the dirt, but she got me my own pair of gloves instead. We headed off to where you buy flowers only now, she encouraged me into a garden!! So now I have 3 raised beds of vegetables growing or at least she assures me they are. I did eat a snap pea and so far, I haven’t killed them all off. Plus 12 pots of assorted flowers. I am laughing as I just counted and the fact that they too are all alive and thriving and to be honest so am I for the first time in a while. So, every night you will find me out admiring and watering my new garden and flowers and then I will just sit and look at them all from my front porch chair. See I am in my Golden Girl era, if only I had a lanai! I am in fact obsessed with the Golden Girls.

These are the things that bring me pure joy, tranquility, and excitement outside of the everyday and the what’s expected of me or assumed of me. I hope that if you do not yet have a hobby, you will find something that brings you this feeling and enjoyment and do it just for you.