the Summer I rediscovered my Hobbies

For the past year, I have spent almost every waking minute devoting my time to other people — including the social media blackhole. I am twenty-one and I can barely recount moments I spent purely creating in the first year of my twenties. I describe myself as a creative and that has guided my choice of college, major, and career path — yet I am not creating. 

This summer, I decided that had to change. I cut things out of my life that were sucking the energy out of me, and I reallocated that energy into myself. I decided I would do something creative every day.  

This started out as a bucket list to either read, write, or play guitar daily. I quickly realized that wasn’t realistic, or at least in the way I had originally imagined. I didn’t like the idea of checking something off a list each day and I wanted to think outside of the box for how to be more creative — which is actually the whole point of what I wanted to achieve. 

Substack 

I downloaded Substack and each morning when I am getting ready for work, I will listen to a blog post to keep my wheels turning in the background of my thoughts throughout the day. 

Some of my favorite posts I read/listened to were: 

• Adult hobbies worth trying 

• How to get smart again 

• How to pay attention again 

• The slow media movement 

Subscribe to my Substack to support my journey! 

Podcasts 

When driving, I noticed I was listening to the same playlist every day and it got a bit repetitive. I was spending over an hour daily just sitting in the car when I could be learning, hearing new perspectives, and learning to listen more intentionally. Podcasts were my answer. 

Some of my favorite podcast episodes: 

• Let’s Talk Content Creation: Getting Started, Sustaining Influence, & Making Money at Any Size 

• Dealing with uncertainty in your 20s 

• 5 Habits of Great Conversationalists 

• You’re Allowed to Reinvent Yourself 

Arts & Crafts 

The problem with a lot of my creative hobbies is their connection to the internet. I am reading online blog posts on my phone, writing on my laptop, and watching YouTube book reviews on my tv. It’s too easy to get distracted from notifications, the next tab on your browser, and forgetting what you were doing in the first place.

The obvious answer is to switch to physical books and notebooks, but for some reason that seems like so much effort in the moment that I never pick it up and do the thing. I needed to do something so intentional that I forgot I even have a phone, so I brought out the old arts and crafts bin and stayed up all night when I was exhausted but kept awake through a creative rush.  

My first project was a cork board inspired by my friend for dorm decor. I wanted to make a collage of me and roommates for our senior year house. Something about cutting out human shapes from printed photographs and overlaying fabric and sentimental objects brings out the best in me.

Along those lines, I found oil paints and canvases in my basement. Now this is what fate is. I painted canvases for me and my roommate’s doors with each of our signature drinks on them! 

I live on my phone and work 8 hours on my laptop so doing something tactile and creating with my hands and without my brain is refreshing. I haven’t been in the flow state in way too long. 

Reading 

I “read” 5 book this year. I feel like a cheater saying they were audio books but in the argument of podcasts, I’m still intentionally listening to something and having thoughts circulate in the back-burner throughout my day. I read the Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante which is a series that reads like a memoir out of Naples, Italy, but is ghostwritten fiction. The mystery of that alone and Naples being my study abroad city made every word come alive.  

Learning a Language 

Along similar lines of an Italian paradise, I have kept up my daily Duolingo streak. I took two semesters of Italian, spent four months there, and now have a 182 streak I started when I got home. Reading a book originally written in Italian with references and phrases still untranslated reminded me how passionate I am in learning how to speak the language of a beautiful culture. If I had a super power, I would want to be able to speak and understand every language. As a writer, I think this is also important because I write creative non-fiction and I live to write about other people’s stories. So instead of dreading doing my 5 minutes of language-learning, I have reframed it into trying to understand other people’s perspectives — and that is a creative skill. 

Of course there are other creative things I have done this summer like writing songs, cooking, and appreciating the small moments, but I wanted to touch on a couple that stood out. I am so proud of myself for how I have been able to rediscover myself through my hobbies. Since being in my twenties, life has felt like an hourglass running out of time and the pressure to do everything right before it does. That isn’t the truth and is just my anxiety talking, but this is what I have done to combat that impending doom.  

Thanks for reading, especially because it’s been so long! Every word I write means something so thank you to those who pay attention. 

-Emma Claire