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Life is busy. Adulting is stressful. Free time is precious.
Since going from full time uni to full time work, I have found my previously study-filled afternoons/evenings/weekends to be a bit more generous in time allowed to chillax. At first, this foreign concept of free-time was somewhat daunting. After 14(ish) years of the ever present feeling of "you must study right now", it took some time to actually learn to chill.
But, I can now say, that 3 months into this newfound freedom, I am a pro at winding down and embracing hours of unscheduled nothingness. And no... I don't mean by binge watching all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls in a week (which is actually possible with minimal loo breaks and sleep).
Most of the below are actually done on your lonesome, however, I do encourage social interaction with actual humans every once in a while. These ideas are more along the lines of "I've been with people all day at work and kinda need to switch my brain off without gluing my eyes to a screen" kind of thing.
And please note, that I do enjoy quite a few random, creative activities despite being rather mediocre at them.
Journaling - I was slightly-ashamedly that twelvie who wrote about how unfair it was that she couldn't colour her hair at the age of 13 and how Sally had said such appalling things about her new school shoes. Luckily, I've become less of a sulky, drama-queen in my journal entries as this rekindled love has given me an outlet to blurt out the jumble in my brain, list things I'm grateful for and write devotional thoughts and revelations. I highly recommend if that sort of thing isn't too weird for you.
Blogging - This new hobby of mine, is much like the above but gives opportunity for my more creative juices to be channelled in a semi-productive way. Tbh, you really wouldn't want to be reading my journal entries.
DIYing - Ever since I was a wee one, I have loved craft/drawing/painting etc. but never really been all that fab at it. Recently, after an extended hiatus in this terrain, I have rediscovered the therapeutic nature of making something with your own two hands that doesn't actually look hella ugly. -I learnt how to knit and am in the process of making a pale pink circle scarf.
-Adult colouring books suck because the intricate patterns hurt my eyes and require less shaky hands than I can offer. BUT...I do still love the infantile activity when colouring in Disney Princesses or settings from "A Place To Call Home" (that one was an immediate purchase...)
-I recently purchased some uber cheap watercolour pencils and have been having a bit of a play.
-Polymer clay beads are a quirky craze that I couldn't resist. When trying to find a birthday present in Spotlight on the weekend, I stumbled upon Sculpey clay in all it's colourful glory and decided to give bead making and baking a crack. Two days and 30+ handmade beads later, I'm a little addicted! (keep your eyes peeled for upcoming posts!)
Makin' moozic - As an unprofessional musician, playing the uke and having a lil' sing is a wonderful way of taking a breather. You simply can't be grumpy or stressed when jamming out!
Move - I'm not going to lie... I don't love hardcore exercise. My heart is perfectly fine beating under 100 beats per minute thank you very mush. But guess what?! You don't actually have to run up and down a field or near-upchuck to get those lovely endorphins and toned core! Pilates/yoga/stretching do such great things for my physical and mental health and I kinda love them. Yeah, 12 year old Bec! You actually do exercise for leisure these days.
So next time you get home from an exhausting (or similarly a rather average) day in the office/classroom/whatevs and plonk your toosh on yet another seat to lol at Gina Linetti's sass or get fed-up with Rory Gilmore's ever evolving love life, maybe give a second thought to some of the above hobbies of mine.
Actually, don't let me tell you what to do. Just pls don't OD on Kettle's Camembert & Fig chips (bit too specific?)
Bec
P.S. All of the above can be perfectly accompanied with a cuppa (...maybe less so for the last one...that could be problematic)