My college life included a lot of sports and working out, spending time in the library and academic buildings, and knitting while watching TV or Netflix. The purpose of hobbies in our lives is often to get a break from what we do all day. With college, we don't "do" school all day but when we are in the academic zone we are highly focused and use our free time to not think about homework and impending death by reading and papers.
Hobbies are harder to have in a new place as an adult, especially if the hobbies were solo activities to begin with. The friends I once spent every hour with doing next to nothing but talk are no longer right there. Sure, I can turn on HLN and watch "Forensic Files" all day and knit an entire scarf but it isn't the same as doing it with my roommate, undisturbed all day. (PS- thanks Katie for joining that hobby. It always made me feel better that I wasn't watching weird crime shows alone.) In the same way, I went to track practice every day Monday through Friday for several years and could further develop my fitness and spend extended hours with some of my favorite people. Yes, it did take up a good chunk of time every day (and some days, a little more time than I bargained for) but the laughs I had at dinner after with teammates were a nice mental break before I went back to writing a paper or doing a reading assignment. Or the times Samantha and I totally avoided all responsibilities and would sit and talk through life for several hours at a time. Those times were great.
The longer I have spent in the "real world" the more my hobbies have changed. Sure I still hole up on a couch and binge watch a show while I knit, but I do it far less often because I have a dog that thinks she is part cat and will pick up my yarn and run around the room with it. Just yesterday I finished a scarf for my best friend who was coming to town. I've been working on that scarf since early September but because I can't knit around my dog, it made finishing the scarf increasingly difficult because we are together so much. Some of this is probably my own fault. Netflix and knitting are not social hobbies so they do not provide the level of socialization I desire after sitting in a cubicle all day with minimal human interaction. Also, I never bring work home with me so I don't necessary have to budget time for it each night. I spend my day looking at a computer screen and try not to come home and do it as well. I don't want to keep looking at a screen if I don't have to. I don't even really enjoy TV (with the exception of a few shows). If you're looking for new show to watch I highly recommend "This Is Us" on NBC, Tuesdays at 8PM.
My hobbies revolve around my exceptionally needy (some may say spoiled) dog. She needs daily long walks or she gets restless which isn't her fault. After walks she likes to play even more (yay rope and squeaker toys!) so I don't have a lot of extra time to spend focusing on a screen. Plus Pretzel has a knack for knowing when important plot points are happening in shows and needs to urgently go out and go to the bathroom. I have no idea how many important details I have missed with shows because of bathroom breaks. We spend a good chunk of time practicing commands as I try to teach her new skills and tricks as well. And every weekend includes a trip to a big dog park where she can run around and sniff as many plants and animals as she wants. She's pretty well known at the dog park mostly because she has a funny name and because she does very un-dog like things at the park like flail and run over other dogs. She makes all kinds of friends.
I have also taken to cooking and baking more now that I have a full kitchen in my possession. Thanks to sites like Pinterest I can look up recipes with about any main ingredient and scheme up meal plans for the week. It's one of the coolest parts about being an adult: the ability to eat whatever I want whenever I want. I read cookbooks for fun and try to learn new cooking techniques or ways to not cry while cutting an onion (so far little success on the second part of that). It genuinely is fun and a relatively inexpensive hobby.
And finally, I have this hobby of blog writing. Whether other people enjoy reading my blog I don't know. I have points to make and advice to offer. I hope people enjoy reading it and identifying with parts of it. People may not agree with everything I have to say and their lives may not match up with how I'm living mine. That's the other beauty of adulthood: free choice. I have decided how to spend my time beyond work and while my lifestyle may not be conducive to others, collaborating suggestions and ideas is a great starting point for growth. A different set of opportunities are available in adulthood that are not as easy to obtain in youth and college. It's part of the fun of growing up: changing and making new choices and self-discovery every single day.
Here's a picture of Buckingham Palace in London, England, to celebrate that I watched a 7 part documentary series on the Royal family. As close to an accomplishment as I've got in recent weeks.
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