Recently, it had occurred to me that a full year has passed since I started using a task manager. I thought it would be interesting to reflect on the evolution of how I manage what I need/want to do and share where I am today versus when I first set up the system I’m presently using. Not only has it helped me keep personal and work tasks on my radar; it has enabled my hobbies to continue progressing at a satisfying pace. With this context established, here are my thoughts on using a task manager (one year later).

How I Handled Task Management Before

From 2020 into 2025, there are a couple primary processes I used for tracking what I needed and wanted to do in any given day. I will explain and show what those looked like, along with why I chose not to keep with those processes long-term.

Process #1: Custom Daily Tear Sheets

The first task management process I had used was writing tasks on a custom daily tear sheet. This tear sheet included a section for the areas of life I wanted to focus on, tasks to support these areas of life, and other tasks to complete. While my preference is to use more analog methods whenever possible, daily task tracking with these tear sheets did not ultimately work for two reasons.

Firstly, there seemed to be a level of pressure to fill as many lines as possible every day. This created unnecessary, self-perceived pressure to do as much as possible all the time and took the fun out of spontaneous hobbying since everything was pre-planned and something to check off the list. Secondly, it was more difficult to plan further out in advance with these tear sheets. Perhaps I could have kept a handwritten master task list to pull a few-week-out tasks from, but as that list grows, it would become more difficult to manage and unsortable since it’s handwritten. I could only sustain this process for a couple years before realizing there was probably a better way.

Process #2: Tabled Excel Sheet

The next process I used for task tracking was with Excel. I set up a lean excel table that included a task category, project, task description, due date, and completed box to sort and filter by. It is important to note here that I quit tracking which personal activities I wanted to get around to in any given day; this sheet was only for tasks.

With this Excel process, I was able to map out every step I needed to complete for two major projects I saw from beginning to end. So, in that respect, you could say this Excel process worked. However, what it lacked was a more visual way of spacing out my workload and integration with my calendar for a more holistic view of everything I had going on for the day, week, and month ahead. That then brought me to…

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How I Handle Task Management Now

In January 2025, I thought it was time to reevaluate how I handle my workload and workflows. So, after asking for a recommendation from a trusted person I work with and doing some independent research, I landed on Clickup. I didn’t know it at the time, but this decision marked the beginning of a whole new way of managing my life.

The first tasks I entered into Clickup came from the Excel sheet I was working from prior, and I archived that Excel sheet from that point forward. It wasn’t until April 2025 until I took some time to plan a month or two out in advance. This I did whilst watching Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boy’s The Mystery of Witches’ Hollow (1977). This has nothing to do with it other than the fact than this is the exact moment I started planning for months ahead.

As the year progressed, I continued refining my Clickup configuration and bolting on features necessary to how I administrate my life. Some examples include integrating my calendar into Clickup, implementing an optional time blocking reporting mechanism, and setting up a panel where I could save notes, links, and videos to review later. It took a while to get my Clickup configured exactly how I wanted because it took several months to understand where I was getting stuck to then adjust my Clickup around these parameters. A year later from when I initially dove in, though, I have reached full contentment with this system and have proved its effectiveness time and time again.

As of today, I have tasks planned several months out for 2026 and some planned for the next couple years. This happened unintentionally over a period of time as I brainstormed across several different sessions and made my ideas actionable in my task manager. I plan to continue adding to my task lists whenever new ideas emerge and adjust task due dates as needed. It makes more sense to enter all known tasks into Clickup (even if they’re further out) rather than leaving these tasks on the table. That way, I have a more complete understanding of what needs to happen and then figure out how to make it happen.

There are some changes I’ve made to my Clickup since the original posting of my setup, but if you’d like to see how it’s configured overall, you can review my post How to Optimize Your Life for Sustaining Hobbies.

Lessons Learned

After one year of using a task manager, there are some core lessons I’ve learned along the way that are very much applicable to others as well. Here’s what those include.

It’s okay to have a long (if not a very long) list.

Not everything on your list needs to be checked off. In fact, it’s better that there are open items to complete. This means you have an understanding and plan for your next steps. If everything was checked off, what would you do next? The key is to keep your open items in rotation, meaning you are checking items off and adding new items to the list. The moment your list goes stagnant, your progress also goes stagnant.

Fun fact: I currently have 88 personal tasks and 258 work tasks pre-scheduled. The next steps are very clear!

Learn what doesn’t work until you learn what does.

Keep iterating and experimenting various approaches. The quicker you learn what doesn’t work, the quicker you learn what does. This is what I keep in perspective when refining processes and outcomes several times over.

Seek the best solutions to challenges, even if requires some learning.

When coming up with solutions, think in terms of good, better, and best. Good requires little to no learning but requires the most admin overhead. Better requires some learning and some admin overhead. Best requires more learning but the least (if none) admin overhead. Choose the “best” approach, even if it’s more difficult in the present. You will thank yourself in the future.

Final Thoughts

It took a substantial amount of time and effort to make my task management system everything I wanted to be, but all these refinements were super worth it. At this juncture, I have more time to focus on what I’d rather be doing (while still getting done everything I need to and then some) because all the core aspects of my life are systematized. And I have found that sound task and time management very much contribute to peace of mind, among many other factors as well.

I hope that, through my own trial and error, you found something actionable from this post to help simplify your own life and get around to your hobbies. If that is the case, let me know what that is; I’d love to hear it. More interesting hobby topics and updates are on the way, so be sure to stay tuned.

Happy hobbying!

At one point or another, we have all felt the pull to do something more interesting than what we’re currently doing. There are many situations that may bring this about. A common pastime often responsible for this sense of unfulfillment, though, involves doom scrolling for hours on end, where we know that we want to do something better while not knowing what that could be. The great news is, that “something better” is closer than you think!

Hobbies are commonly underutilized for making life more interesting, many times for a very simple reason: it is challenging to narrow down where to start. This can be in regard to which hobby to pursue and how to start once you’ve determined the hobby. In this post, we’re going to focus on the discovery of your hobby, as you cannot start on anything without pinpointing what that is in the first place.

The Two Parts of Hobby Discovery

To find a hobby and start on it, there are two parts you will need to broach in the discovery process:

1. Discovering what you’re deeply inspired by

2. Giving your inspirations the time of day to become your own hobbies

Let’s dive into these aspects so you can find the hobby you’ve been missing.

Part 1: Discovering Your Inspirations

The first part of hobby discovery sounds pretty straightforward, right? For some, however, discovering what deeply inspires them (as it relates to their own individuality) can pose quite a challenge.

There is no shame in currently not knowing what your personal sources of inspiration are, but there is immense value that can come from understanding this for your hobbies (and your own personal development). In other words: take this step seriously. Your hobbying will benefit in many ways.

Where to Find Inspirations

There are so many ways you can go about becoming inspired. One way is experientially, which could include spending time in nature, traveling, or checking out new places and/or events. You could also find inspiration visually, which could include sights from your surroundings, media such as movies and books, or discovery engines such as Pinterest. The same applies to sound, if you are deeply moved by music or pitch frequencies (such as singing bowls, wind chimes, etc.). Or perhaps you find yourself inspired by smell or taste.

Inspiration is highly sensory, so be present and observant of this various information. Your unique way of processing and making sense of the world around you is your superpower.

What to Do with Inspirations

Once you start to have an idea of what you’re inspired by (which is an ever-evolving process), you can begin to use that understanding to inform which hobby you’d be interested in pursuing. Forget whether or not you think you can learn how to do it; just focus on what moves you right now.

If you are drawn to intricate European cabled sweaters like I am, as an example, perhaps consider knitting. Or, if you’re moved by the sound of Native American flutes also like I am, why not learn how to play the flute?

The goal of this step is to look at one of your inspirations and make it actionable. To determine what you can do to live out your inspiration. It often helps to make a list of your inspirations or to create an inspiration board, that way you have either in front of you to serve as your jumping off and initial decision point.

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When to Act on Inspirations

With knowing what your inspirations are and pinpointing which hobby corresponds with those, you can then start determining what your first steps would be if you were to actually start that hobby. Perhaps you are inspired enough to get started right now, or perhaps you’re still not completely sold. Either way, sit tight for a second and do not buy anything yet!

It is important that you understand what you are getting into before launching right into your hobby. To have a broader overview of what your hobby entails and what you need to know (and/or buy) to get started, consider watching/reading some beginner videos and articles. Develop a basic understanding of what the core concepts, techniques, and tools are. Perhaps join a forum to ask questions to others who are also getting started or have experience with this hobby.

Some of you reading this post may find yourself amped up about your hobby and eager to live out your inspirations at last. Or, perhaps it’s the opposite where you find yourself reluctant about whether you’re cut out for the hobby. Continue reading for the missing piece you need to hear.

Part 2: Developing Your Mindset

Becoming inspired and finding your hobby is half the battle for starting the hobby. The other half is believing you have what it takes to actually do it. Doubting your abilities often translates into a lived outcome: preventing yourself from starting the hobby and thus never seeing what you could have otherwise achieved.

No one who is considered a “master” in their respective discipline was excellent when they first started; it takes months and years to start seeing the fruits of these labors. But the goal doesn’t always need to be mastery; proficiency for your own personal enjoyment is certainly enough.

Once you pinpoint a possible hobby, you must “realize” the gain (just like you would by selling shares of a stock. But this is not investment advice!). In this example, though, your mindset is the means for actualizing the benefit (your hobby). Here are some important principles to adapt for this.

“I can put my mind to anything I’m inspired by.”

You are only limited by the belief that you are limited in your abilities. Of course, there are some hobbies that are more expensive than others, but there are several hobbies that are accessible to just about anyone. You can definitely find a hobby that matches up with your inspirations in one way or another. You just need to get creative and give it a chance. Don’t stop before you start!

“Just because I’m not a natural doesn’t mean I can’t improve and excel in the future.”

Going back to the statement about the “masters”, it takes persistence, patience, and time to get good (especially great) at anything. It is important to avoid becoming discouraged in the early stages and to see these initial challenges as part of the learning process. Everyone starts with the fundamentals early on before they are able to produce incredible results. Have fun with the process and laugh when tangles happen; you can start to appreciate these moments down the line and wonder how you managed to mess up in that way after sticking with it for a while.

“I can start something new at any point of my life.”

It is all too common to hear grown adults say, “I wish I could have learned how to [name the hobby]”. There are inherently going to be hobbies (specifically, more physical endeavors) that present more of a barrier to entry for certain ages than others. There are also many hobbies that you can start at any phase of life that require a little learning but are accessible otherwise. Avoid becoming that adult! You can start on just about anything, regardless of age, if you work up to it.

Start Discovering Your Hobby

Colorful days await with the discovery of your hobby. By finding your inspirations and developing your mindset, you will be well on your way to starting your hobby beyond the initial discovery phase.

Once you decide what your hobby will be, be sure to check out Hobbyisms’ library of posts on getting started. You will find a wealth of insights on taking those first steps when you are ready to embark on this new journey.

Happy hobbying!

Recently (as in mid-March), I traveled 100 miles from home to stay at a remote hunting lodge. Deer hunting season is November through December, making that the time when this lodge is at peak occupancy. There are many other activities that take place at this lodge throughout the year, but it seems that I timed my stay just a bit prior to some of those starting back up for the year. All of this is to say that while there were some other people staying here aside from my husband and I, that it was a quiet and secluded experience (which, for me, was awesome!).

Although our stay was a short getaway (Saturday afternoon through Monday morning), I thought it would be interesting to reflect on the experience, share moments that stood out to me, and what I will carry forward from it. With that established, here is my reflection.

Peak Activity: UTV Driving

When my husband and I arrived, we first got checked in and headed over to the UTV barn shortly after. This was the first time either of us rode (and drove) a UTV. We listened to the safety and instructional briefing and then hit the ATV trails.

According to a welcome packet I found in the lodge’s recreation room, there are 60 miles of trails on 1,500 rolling acres. I believe some of that was sold to a private owner, but needless to say, we covered a lot of ground in that UTV. A lot of steep, sloped ground, I will also add! It was impressive that we were able to make it up and down those hills in the UTV, especially with some mud from a recent rainfall.

There were times where we’d stop driving for a bit and take it all in. It was a sunny, 56-degree day, and there a nice lake between some of the trails. A few other ATV riders were on the trails that day, some of which were going pretty fast and doing donuts. That was interesting to spectate from a distance. There was also someone who must have been going too fast whilst hitting a rough patch and jumped ship from their ATV, which ended up sideways. I almost missed it because it happened so quickly; they were fine and it was funny to watch.

We were out on the trails for a couple hours, driving mostly at a cautious speed to avoid losing control of the UTV. There were a few times my husband goosed it a bit when we were in a flat area, and those times were extra fun. This was an enjoyable experience, and one that I would definitely do again.

Getting Settled: Accommodations

After our UTV drive, we spent some time relaxing in our lodge room. The room was adorned with wooden walls, flooring, and bedframes, wildlife décor, and an on/off fireplace. All of this created a very cozy and inspiring ambiance, and I got to finally experience the winter comfort environment I had always wanted to.

As stated earlier, this lodge is in the middle of nowhere. Between that and essentially being the only guests in this lodge, this made for a very quiet and peaceful stay. The recreation room had everything from puzzles to billiards, blackjack, games, and books. I felt very at home in this room and the lodge as a whole.

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Interesting Moments: Mealtime

A unique aspect of this hunting lodge experience was mealtime. Once a bell sounds, guests can then take a seat in the dining room. Guests who stay at the lodge are seated at long tables alongside other guests whose accommodations are on the same level (with four tables in the dining room). Food is set on the table ahead of time, a prayer takes place, and then guests can help themselves to the food on the table. The food itself was phenomenal; it was homecooked, country-style American cuisine. These mealtime experiences were reminiscent to the family meals I had at my grandparents’ home when I was young.

The first dinner we had at the lodge, we were seated with three other groups. One group was a party of four who traveled from New Jersey to go coyote hunting. They were friendly and made small talk with us and the rest of the table. This was the first time they had stayed at the lodge, but they had done many other hunting trips elsewhere. From the way they were talking about some topics amongst themselves, they kind of sounded like they were in the mob (or maybe just very well off financially). Which is WILD to say, but you know when you have a conversation, and something just sticks with you a certain way? Chatting with people (who were at the same dinner table) during breakfast the following morning, they also got the same impression. We will never know!

Mealtime the second night was also interesting. Most everyone had left since it was Sunday, so it was just me, my husband, and a father and son from Chicago who came to go hunting for two days. This was an interesting conversation, and we talked about everything from hunting to book writing and publishing, bread, pop culture, and other miscellaneous interests. Mealtime, overall, was a memorable part of this trip.

Pass Times: Knitting, Walking, and Relaxing

Originally, my husband and I were going to do a sporting clay course the following day, but 1. The magazines required for my husband’s firearms are illegal in the state and 2. It was supposed to start raining quite a bit (and it did). So, this ended up being a pretty relaxed day.

I spent the morning finishing the cable knit beanie I was knitting, which I planned to wear on the drive home since it was to become very cold. Then we went on a walk around the property to enjoy the warmer weather (while it lasted) and get some movement in. I spent the latter part of the afternoon chilling in the jacuzzi tub and writing in the recreation area with my word processor. I continued writing by the fireplace after dinner, and we played a game of checkers before relaxing some more.

The morning of our departure, I woke up in the middle of the morning to the sound of powerful gusts of wind. I looked out the window once it became light outside, and there was snow on the ground! My picturesque winter lodge experience was complete.

Final Words on This Experience

This getaway was just what I needed to rest and rejuvenate. Sometimes it’s nice to experience a change in pace and scenery; I know I certainly did here.

This is somewhere I’ll definitely be returning to again; it may be one of my favorite places now. In the meanwhile, I will continue using my hobbies as a conduit for recreating the inspiration I took from this lodge and look forward to the next time I can stay and hobby here.

Happy hobbying (and adventuring)!

Imagine this: you finally found the motivation to start your hobby. You acquired some basic supplies, set some time aside, and began finding your flow in the process. And then… you hit a roadblock. You don’t know how or what to do to continue forward, you must make a decision that determines your next step, and you have no idea how to proceed. You then set your hobby aside, thinking you’ll come back to it later… but you never end up doing so.

This scenario is all too common when it comes to encountering roadblocks with hobbies. Just like anything else, it is much easier to give up than continuing to work through the challenge(s) at hand. Prematurely giving up on your hobby, however, inhibits it from blossoming into its true potential and can make it more difficult to come back to.

To overcome roadblocks, it is important to first understand the root causes that often lead to quick quitting. One cause is avoidance. It takes much less effort to dodge something that is difficult than to confront and troubleshoot it. Another cause is ease. It is, evidently, much simpler to opt for less intensive options than it is to choose the more difficult courses of action. Keeping both ideas at your forefront can help as you work through your hobby obstacles. With this established, here are the concrete steps you can take to overcome these hobby roadblocks.

Write Down All Your Questions

Before you decide to give up on your hobby, put your work down and take some time to pinpoint where you are stuck. Does your outcome not look correct? Did something become tangled? Do you not know how to do a technique necessary for your hobby project? These are a few example questions that may help you determine the current condition of what you’re working on, and what led up to this point. Write an answer down that explains what the actual roadblocks are.

Once you know which roadblocks you have encountered, then begin thinking through specific questions that pertain to working through them. If there are multiple variables involved that could be responsible for these issues, make a list of every one you can think of. Not every roadblock you encounter will be that layered, but ensure your overall list is as complete as possible. This provides a solid foundation for what your next steps will include to stick with it.

Prioritize and Narrow Your Focus

Now that you have a strong list that informs what you need to do next, it then becomes important to prioritize where you plan to start. Don’t start working through your priority just yet; just make a point in this stage to isolate it.

If there is a particular task or two that is a logical starting point, make that your highest priority. Some tasks aren’t always contingent on being completed in any particular order, so if that’s the case, pick any task to begin with.

Regardless of how you choose to prioritize where to start, it is important to select just a couple tasks at a time. This ensures you can really direct your focus towards those and bring those to completion to actually start overcoming the roadblocks.

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Find Time and Space to Concentrate

With your first (and possibly second) priority established, it then becomes essential to set some time aside in a quiet space where you can focus deeply. You can either schedule a time block that serves as your troubleshooting window, or bring yourself here on your own time (read What to Do If You Never Finish Projects You Start to determine which could be best for you). Either way, show up for yourself to work through the roadblock you’re encountering.

It is also important, as previously mentioned, that you find a quiet space for this. This means no distractions that can derail you from troubleshooting where you’re currently stuck. While external noise can certainly be a distraction, the largest distraction is oftentimes phones. If you need to watch a tutorial video to work through your hobby roadblocks, be super mindful of how you’re using your phone and consider temporarily blocking distractions (read How to Eliminate Distractions to Get Somewhere With Your Hobby for suggestions on how to do this).

Establish Concrete Steps to Address

With time and a quiet space to focus within, you can now take that priority (or two) you established and break it down into smaller steps. This makes something that seems insurmountable become much more manageable to execute (especially if you’re prone to giving up quickly).

To determine if your steps are small enough for you to actually complete them, take some time to reflect on what you came up with. If it genuinely seems like your steps are manageable enough that you would start today, your next steps are probably small enough. If it seems like the next steps are a large leap with where you are now, see if you can make them a bit smaller to start somewhere.

It is important to note that you can only go so small with these steps and that you will need some level of motivation to get things rolling. But, you can at least start working through roadblocks by starting with steps you can handle.

Make Progress One Step at a Time

Now that priority one (and possibly two) are broken down into feasible milestones, you must now start working through those one by one. Don’t half start one step and then move onto another step; focus on completion. Focus on troubleshooting where you’re going wrong if you’re having trouble reaching completion.

If you find yourself losing focus and becoming distracted, come back to the step once you’ve regained focus. Focus on achieving one small victory for each step each time you get around to your hobby, even if you don’t yet complete the step itself.

With enough well-directed focus and troubleshooting, you will figure out what you need to do, even if it takes a bit of time. Allow yourself to achieve these small victories and stick with it. Not only will your consistency and persistence enable you to achieve the priorities you had originally established, but you will become more confident in your abilities overall.

From Roadblocks to Full Speed Ahead

Once you become more adept at working through roadblocks that arise with your hobby, it will become much simpler to address these overtime. Follow these five steps to continue sticking with your hobby when the process becomes tough and avoid falling into the trap of avoidance and ease along the way.

It is important to remember that a “roadblock” does not mean a “dead end.” Oftentimes, you just need to try a couple (or few) approaches to navigate around it. After that, you can continue cruising along and enjoying the hobby that you saved from hitting a dead end before it truly started.

Happy hobbying!

I always find that there are so many aspects to appreciate in all the seasons. With the arrival of spring, I have also found myself reflecting on this past winter. Winter is when I spend much more time indoors, which means I direct extra time toward my creative projects (rather than going outside often).

I thought it would be interesting to share all the hobby projects I did this past winter, as there were many of them. There are also some stories with these projects, so I will share those too. You will very quickly see that I have no idea how to become bored!

Knitting

Christmas Stockings

One of aspects I enjoy about all the seasons is seasonal decorating. Since I am an avid (and intermediate) knitter, I thought it would be interesting to cable knit Christmas stockings for my husband and I. It took from the beginning of November through mid-December to complete these. It was a slow and intricate process, but we now have unique stockings for the month of December.

Gingerbread Man Tree Ornament

After completing the stockings, I knew I wanted to make something gingerbread man related since I had brown yarn in my fiber stash. So, I created this little guy and think it turned out nice. Knitting takes a lot longer than you’d think it takes, so it took me about three hours to make this ornament between knitting, stuffing, and sewing. We now have our first tree ornament, though!

Baby Hat and Booties Set

Whenever there is a baby shower coming up, I always enjoy making baby knits for the soon-to-be newborns. This time, I knit these cute little baby booties and headband set. This probably took me three hours as well, and I think this makes for an adorable gift for a baby girl.

Sky Feather Sweater

With Christmas and little knits out of the way, I was ready to get back to making sweaters again. From the end of December through mid-January, I knit this beautiful top-down wool sweater that has cable motifs down the middle front and back, along with cables down the sleeves. This is definitely one of my favorite sweaters I’ve knit to date.

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Avalanche Sweater

I was originally planning on making a cable knit scarf with the yarn I knit this sweater with, but turns out the yarn I purchased would make the scarf much wider than intended. So, I found a sweater pattern that matched the amount of yardage I had for the scarf and ended up making another top-down wool sweater instead. This sweater has a lace knit motif down the center front, along with cables on either side of the center motif. This sweater I knit in a week (most of it during a single weekend, though) and is evidently much simpler in comparison.

Fair Isle Headband

Ever since fair isle knitting some Halloween décor, I became super excited about fair isle knitting accessories and garments. I have always liked the classic fair isle snowflake design, so I decided to knit a snowflake headband with the leftover green and red wool I had from the stockings. Evidently this isn’t super high contrast, but I am pleased with how it turned out and look forward to fair isle knitting more.

Around Town Sweater

This is the latest sweater I knit, which is also now one of my favorites. This was knit from bottom to top, with a different construction method compared to the other sweaters I’ve knit. What intrigued me about this sweater is the various textured sections, which makes it an interesting sweater design overall. It only took me from about mid-February to mid-March to make this; it really wasn’t as complicated to knit as it looks!

Music

Writing Two New Songs

As mentioned in my post Hobbying in a Season of Change, I wrote two songs in the month of January. Sometimes there is a melody or harmony in my head that I just don’t have the words for yet, and these two songs were instances of that. But, the lyrics finally emerged and matched exactly what I originally envisioned for the songs. It’s amazing when that happens!

Completing a Song Composition

For one of those songs mentioned above, I had initially created a song composition in MuseScore (prior to writing the lyrics) that made the song sound exactly how it came to me. I then finalized the score with the lyrics once written to make it a complete proof of concept. Listening to my final compositions is one of those things that brings me the most joy.

That’s Most (If Not All) of Them

There may be a few odds and ends I forgot to mention in this post, but that’s a summary of just about all the hobby projects I did to get through the winter. There are more sweaters I plan to knit and more songs I plan to write this spring, but I am making a point to get outside more this season and enjoy the weather as well.

On another note: I have topics mapped out for Hobbyisms through the end of August, so I can say for certain that there is a lot to come! If there are certain topics you are interested in seeing or learning more about, be sure to let me know; I am listening.

Happy hobbying!

Have you found yourself thinking about the hobby you want to get around to, but find yourself stuck as to where to start or continually self-delay where you know you need to start? If the answer to either scenario is yes, there is a good chance you have found yourself in a “rut” with your hobby.

Ruts can look different for many people. As previously indicated, some ruts involve knowing what you want to do, not knowing how to do it, and thus not doing it. Other ruts involve knowing what you want to do, how to do it, but still not doing it. There are other shades of “rut” as well. But thankfully, there is a similar path you can follow to address this inaction (regardless of which scenario applies to you). Here is what you start doing today to begin working your way out of your hobby rut and get back to doing the hobby you enjoy.

Become Inspired Again

To exit a hobby rut, you must first recall which aspects of the hobby inspire you. Consider what had originally drawn you to the hobby and why you wanted to do it yourself (or had already started to do so). Pulling from my own hobby examples, I found myself drawn to particular types of cabled and fair isle sweater, poncho, and cardigan designs, and I became inspired to learn how to hand knit those for myself. I also found myself moved by particular vocal performances and sounds and became intrigued about learning healthy vocal technique to support and enhance the music I was already creating.

I find the idea of inspiration (and what causes it to occur) to be so fascinating because, essentially, any sensory input can contribute to it. So, as you’re evaluating your hobby and getting back into it, come back to your early sources of inspiration for that hobby and remember why you’re doing what you’re doing (which especially helps when your hobby becomes tricky). Then you can start to amplify that inspiration with the concrete measures that follow.

Establish Your Next Steps

Here is a preliminary stage where you may find yourself challenged. It is one thing to think to yourself that you’re going to start at last; it is another to establish what the next steps are. Depending on what your hobby is and what it requires, you may find that this is simple and that you don’t need to do much (if any) planning. If this is the case for you, that is great; go on and start your hobby! I have observed from my own experiences and with others, though, that this tends to be a large inhibitor when the hobby is new and whomever is starting from ground zero.

When planning your next (or first) steps, take some time to do so before you attempt to start taking action. You will be much clearer on what you need to focus on if you have a clear roadmap of at least the next 2-3 next steps for your hobby. If a next step involves answering a question, be sure to list that as well. You can resolve uncertainty of where to start by planning your next steps, and then use that to begin working through your uncertainty of how to start.

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Give Yourself a Chance to Start

Here is a secondary stage that often makes a hobby drop off again. You could have the most well-thought, clear list of next steps for your hobby, but you will find yourself in the same hobby rut as you did before if you don’t give yourself a chance to start on it.

There are many ways you can give yourself a chance to start. This, first and foremost, includes redirecting where your time goes. You need to put some amount of time toward your hobby to work your way out of a rut. I say “some amount of time” here because if your hobby rut is derived from uncertainty of how to go about your hobby, then you will most certainly need time to learn the techniques that will make your hobby a more enjoyable and relaxing experience.

Hobbies are often discontinued because of the learning curve involved. You will need to overcome this if you are inspired enough by your hobby to want to stick with it. Other ways you can give yourself a chance to start include eliminating distractions, scheduling some time blocks where all you focus on is your hobby, and perhaps making some optimizations in your life that create more space for your hobby.

Pinpoint Where You’re Stuck

A tertiary stage that will really put you to the test is pinpointing and working through roadblocks you encounter with your hobby. It is much easier to let your hobby come to a screeching halt when you get stuck rather than facing these challenges head-on. You will need to confront roadblocks along the way, however, to exit (or prevent) a hobby rut.

The most manageable way to work through the discomfort that occurs with roadblocks is to take it step by step. Start by writing down questions or uncertainties about your hobby that are inhibiting you from moving forward. Half the battle is understanding where you’re stuck. Then you can prioritize what makes sense to focus on first and begin incrementally working through these roadblocks. Be resilient with your hobby and actively choose to stick with it even when the process gets tough. You will thank yourself for pushing through the temporary discomfort you experienced.

Choose to Do Your Hobby Anyways

No one actively chooses to enter a “rut” of any sort, but it can certainly seem much more attainable to fall back into familiar patterns as opposed to challenging those. In regard to your hobby, the only way to break this cycle is to pick somewhere to start and dive right in.

Become inspired again, evaluate your next steps, carve out some time, and get unstuck. Once you clear these hurdles, you will rediscover just how fun it is to hobby and may even find yourself welcoming the occasional challenge.

Happy hobbying!

Today’s post on Hobbyisms will be the densest topic I have covered thus far. I typically like share insights that can help others find, start, and sustain hobbies, along with the projects I am presently working on. But I would like to get a little more personal here and write about large shifts that are happening in my life and tie it back into my hobbies. I will now proceed to do that.

Between 2024 and 2026, I have undergone what I consider to be my first major cycle of life changes. This includes becoming an aunt of two, getting married, and two grandparents (one soon to be) passing within two months apart. New family members coming into my life, and family members who I knew since the beginning of my life exiting life themselves. New chapter opening, others closing. Seeing the circle of life come full circle.

I have had a challenging time finding the words to describe what my internal experience amid all of this has been. It was even challenging to write that sentence (and this one too) because I’m still trying to figure out how to translate the most subtle thoughts, feelings, and undertones into words that depict what this experience has truly been like. It has seemed like every word carries weight, at least as the one writing and living this story.

There are a few phrases I have settled on over the last couple weeks that describe how I have internalized all of this. “Season of change”. Evidently, part of this post title. This phrase summarizes what this life cycle is in a nutshell. “Riding the wave”. In reference to how I’m doing mostly. There have been highs and lows, times where I have had significant creative inspiration and times where it really hits me that I’ll never see my grandparents again. I’m just allowing myself to experience all of it and ride it out. “It’s part of life”. How I’m internalizing death and grief. I think acknowledging the natural cycles of life can help us internalize these hard realities in time. Grief is still present, but the process moves along rather than becoming stuck or stagnant. And I would want to grieve anyways, in the sense that I cared for my loved ones to the degree of feeling those kinds of emotions with their passing.

I think the passing of all but one grandparent has had a sense of weight for me because of just how many impressions they left on my life. Both sets of my grandparents had quirky personalities, rich heritage and values, beautifully decorated homes that were the backdrop of many of my early childhood memories, and gave my sister and I experiences that were formative to who we are as people today. I have reflected on many of these memories lately, and I feel so fortunate that I was able to experience everything I did with my grandparents. It’s just surreal that this chapter of my life has essentially come to a close. It’s also surreal to think about how there are people who aren’t yet even in my life who I will know longer than I did my grandparents (specifically, my future children). A natural law of life, yet one that makes me emotional every time I consider it.

Going back to the impressions both sides of grandparents left on my life, though. It is the little details I remember seeing growing up that carry forward into my own personal interests and even some of my hobbies today. I always felt at home at my grandparents’ homes, which included quilts and woven blankets, cross stitch art, and other historical relics. Both sides of grandparents farmed and/or kept their own gardens and cooked dishes native to where they grew up. And the historical events I attended with my grandparents created imprints that still serve as inspiration to this day. Of course, there are interests and inspirations that I stumbled upon my own as well, but I would say that many do derive from those smaller details that I remember growing up.

It’s been interesting to observe how my hobbies have interfaced with my life during this time. When matters were more intense in late January, I took a break from my hobbies when visiting my grandpa for a few days before saying my final goodbye. I became active with my hobbies again after returning home, using knitting in particular as an activity to redirect my mind toward. And out seemingly nowhere, I also experienced a creative surge with my music, which gave me another aspect to find joy in during this difficult time. I have since taken time to tune back into my inner world and write about the underlying factors making me emotional. I think it’s important to feel it out and “ride the wave” as I stated earlier, but I do find comfort in taking inventory of my thoughts to further process what it is that I am experiencing.

These major life changes have definitely made me think deeper into what life is and what the purpose of it is. This evidently becomes a philosophical matter that differs from person to person, and it never hurts to mull over that for a bit to ensure the actions you’re taking today align with what you believe at the highest level. Make your life one that you have zero regret about when looking back on it.

Seasons of change are part of life as are the four seasons of the year. There is so much to appreciate within all these times and changes.

There are many factors that can subtract from getting around to hobbies. One that is most commonly and consistently experienced, though, is digital distractions. We are all well aware of just how addictive technology (specifically, smartphones) can be, whether hours of doom scrolling result from recurring compulsions or platforms that inherently have infinite feedback loops by design. Yet, even with this understanding, very little is done (in most cases) to redirect time in ways that are much more meaningful.

If you want to become more serious about your hobby and live a more vibrant life overall, a logical place to start is to reclaim time that is currently (and overly) misdirected. Here are steps you can take to accomplish just that.

Step 1: Identify the What and Why

Before you start cutting distractions, I think there is importance in assessing what your largest sources of digital distractions are and why you have attachments to them. Sources of distractions, for instance, may include social media, streaming platforms, browsing the internet, and/or downloadable games. Examples of attachment reasons may include curiosity, boredom, inspiration, envy, and/or escapism. Or, maybe there is no “why” at all and the time directed toward digital distractions seems quite robotic and detached.

Take some time to think through these two questions, perhaps writing your thoughts down to process this information with more depth and clarity (highly recommended). The intent here is to understand the root causes so you can confront the issues head on whilst working on your hobby. If curiosity takes you down every digital rabbit hole for hours on end, for example, redirecting that curiosity into a hobby results in channeling time into your own project instead. Same goes for boredom and envy; you are essentially solving a deeper problem and achieving a worthwhile outcome all in one.

Why this matters, on a larger level, is that you’re more likely to cut back on digital distractions and sustain this approach if you understand the underlying behaviors behind this digital distractedness and take active measures to correct it. Take the time to determine the “what” and “why.”

Step 2: Determine the Extent of Distraction Cutting

Once you have a clear idea on which digital distractions are consuming excess time and why they are, you can then consider how you will approach digital distraction cutting for the sake of your hobby. Here are a few methods with varying degrees of detachment.

Tier 1: Silencing Notifications and Clutter

This approach involves putting your phone on do not disturb mode so notification sounds are not audible when you’re working on your hobby. To mitigate as many distractions as possible, recommended action also includes deleting apps not in use, minimizing which notifications display on your lock and home screen, and consistently keeping your phone in the other room when you’ve set focused time aside.

Tier 2: Time Limitation

A secondary approach you can take involves limiting how much time you are able to spend on certain apps per day. You can go about this a few different ways (depending on how aggressive you want to be about this). This includes setting an alarm that notifies you to close the app, configuring a setting with a third-party app that locks you out of the app after a certain amount of time has elapsed with the ability to edit the setting, or configuring that same app lock without the ability to edit that setting until X amount of time has passed (meaning, if you don’t want yourself to be able to access X app beyond your allocated allowance for a week, month, or year).

Tier 3: Full Logout and App Deletion

Want to detach from particular digital distractions altogether? A more nuclear option is to logout, delete the app, temporarily deactivate your account, and/or delete your account. Any and all of these approaches can help with cutting back on digital distractions, but you may find the approach you take is based on personal preferences and the extent of your aptitude for change.

Bonus: Black and White Mode

My favorite approach for decreasing digital distractedness is keeping my phone in black and white mode 100% of the time. Not only is it easier on the eyes, but eliminating the color also makes everything look much less compelling and flashy. That in and of itself keeps me off my phone to focus on my hobbies more. If you haven’t tried this already, it works wonders.

Step 3: Hold Yourself Ruthlessly Accountable!

With measures in place to keep the digital distractions at bay, the final (and ongoing) step is to stick with it. Staying off your phone to work on your hobbies instead takes conviction and discipline. It is much easier to succumb to digital distractions when every app is optimized to seize your attention. However, it is much more fulfilling to redirect that same time into a project that brings genuine enjoyment and a sense of mental engagement.

Remain mindful of your “whys” and actively choose to redirect time into your hobby anyways. Rebel against the digital distractions draining your time and hold yourself ruthlessly accountable. Your hobby will figuratively thank you.

From Distractions to Deliberation

Elimitating distractions to make actual progress with your hobby involves intention and resilience. You may still find yourself getting distracted more than you’d like, but acknowledge the progress you make along the way and continue to be persistent. Your resolve and motivation will strengthen as you consistently allocate focused time for your hobby. And, soon enough, you just may realize that you are in the flow of it and that it simply feels great to be hobbying… without anything else to go check.

Happy hobbying!

Welcome to the fourth installment of my hobby journey series! In this post, I will now write about my singing journey. This is the shortest journey of all my hobbies, as I started taking singing seriously in February 2025. Nonetheless, I would like to share what I have accomplished thus far and where I plan to take this hobby. Continue reading to learn just that.

The (Many) Prior Years of Singing

Singing is another activity I have always found enjoyable and inspiring. My early (and continued) inspiration for singing is Amy Lee of Evanescence, and I listened and sang to a lot of their songs growing up. What drew me to her singing voice particularly was the rich, full, and emotive qualities of it. Everything I start at one point or another is because there is a strong source of inspiration behind it. It just took me a while to get to that point with singing.

As I started writing my own “official” songs (probably towards the beginning of 2019), I practice sang and performed many of those at open mic nights. Mind you, I knew nothing of actual vocal technique, so my vocal outcomes were inconsistent and sounded strained. Maybe I had an okay performance here or there, but there is one particular time when I freshly wrote a song and forgot how it was supposed to sound. I messed it up pretty bad when performing but did get all the way through the song. I remember overhearing a young gal commenting to one of her friends “that was tragic.” That’s just something I laughed off because, at the very least, I had the courage to get up there and ride it out, which is the most you can do when things go wrong.

A Mock Singing Demo

As my music journey indicated, there were a few unintentional hiatuses I took when it came to music as a whole. Inspiration struck in 2022, though, when I helped some of my company’s book authors publish a poetry book on addiction and trauma. One of the authors of commented how it would be neat if someone wrote a song to promote the book, which got my wheels turning.

Soon after, I remember knowing exactly what I wanted to name the song, and the song nearly wrote itself the same morning. I then created some basic complementing background instrumentals in MuseScore and recorded myself singing the song as a proof of concept for what I came up with and had in mind. Seeing their reactions after listening to the song made me want to get it recorded and see this mini project through to the end. I just told them it’d be a bit since there were some minor tweaks they wanted to make to the song progression and because my voice needed some work.

Now and then, my boss and I would see one of the authors at the restaurant they worked at, and I’d give them a progress update on the song. For a while there was no progress at all, but I reassured them that I’m still serious about doing this and that it’d start once my singing voice could do the song justice (even though they were so appreciative that I even got as far as I already had).

Starting Vocal Training (and Where I Am Now)

It wasn’t until February of last year that I actually became serious about learning healthy vocal technique. The years prior to that were all about enhancing and completing my song compositions for my first album concept (eight years in the making), which gave me plenty of new vocal parts to eventually try. When I originally became serious about learning to sing, I had no idea where to start since this was new territory for me. So, I watched several beginners’ videos to determine the best place to begin.

The first vocal exercise I did was for finding and encouraging the throat to stay open. My throat was quite tight at the time, and it took a bit before I could figure out what it felt like for the throat to open and how to keep it open. Next, I ventured into finding my vibrato, which I almost thought was a lost cause. Turns out I just had a tight tongue, which I proceeded to do vocal exercises for. I then worked on the ee, i, and ah vowels, which are the most closed off vowels that tend to sound most strained. I also confirmed my jaw tension was fine.

Here is when vocal training started to get a bit interesting. My next stumbling block was correcting strained and pinched high notes. For a while, I thought the issue is that my larynx was jumping and that I needed to keep it more stable. What I figured out several weeks later is that I needed a better understanding and implementation of breath support.

I was doing some breath support exercises as part of my vocal training, but I still needed to figure out how much resistance was too much resistance and figure out the best way to inhale to ensure even support. This I figured out around two months ago. I then ventured into vocal mixing to address pitches that originally sounded strained (mostly because I was attempting pitches in chest voice that should have been in head voice). A year later, I am now focusing on embouchure (mouth position) to achieve tonal fullness, along with practicing songs I find inspiring that have various levels of difficulty to continue building vocal agility.

My Vocal Aspirations

Once I get to a point in my singing where I achieve the consistency and command I am looking for, that it when I will consider the next steps for getting my first album concept recorded, along with the song I wrote for the poetry book. I look forward to the day I record my music after all these years.

In addition to the vocal techniques I am practicing right now, I would like to venture into more specialty techniques this year. My first and foremost priority, though, is to ensure I am singing in a way that is healthy and will sustain my voice for years to come. Techniques I want to learn and incorporate into my own music is kulning (which is an ancient form of heard calling in Nordic countries), harsher vocals used in hard rock and metal, and kargyraa throat singing (if my voice is capable of figuring that out).

Having more versatility with my voice will enable me to further experiment with different vocal sounds to include in my music, and I think it will also unlock new aspects in my creative process for how these songs initially come about. I am excited to see where all this leads and what my music looks like going forward.

An Ever-Expanding Journey

Thank you for reading my singing journey! I hope you found it inspiring enough to revisit (or find) a hobby that serves as a source of inspiration in your life. I may not have singing updates as frequently, but it is something I am continuing to practice pretty regularly.

This will probably be my last hobby journey post for a bit, as it takes a long enough period of time and enough trials and tribulations before something can constitute as a “journey”. Stay tuned for updates on all the hobbies I did write journey posts about, along with side quest activities I try along the way. Who knows; you may even see some journey posts from George soon.

Happy hobbying!

Today I became 25 years old, which is not only a number with a sense a weight – it marks the beginning of my mid-20s. I thought it would be interesting, to this end, to share 25 valuable lessons I’ve learned in my 25 years of existing.

To pull together this list, I referenced the “21” list I created when I turned 21. Much of what I wrote then still resonates today, and those are the first 15 lessons in this list. There were also points that I have enhanced perspectives of; that is just part of growth, development, and more life experience. Thus, the remaining 10 points are from my four years older (and wiser), 25-year-old self.

Here are some key lessons I’ve learned:

1. Don’t make things harder than they need to be

2. If you don’t have a reason for doing what you’re doing, stop what you’re doing

3. Your life is entirely individualized to you, so value what you have

4. You never know what the person standing next to you has gone or is going through

5. You will, inevitably, have to decide between trade-offs

6. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable; the most fulfilling results happen here

7. You will have to make decisions and solve problems to get anywhere

8. You can either crumble under the pressure of life or accept and rise to the challenge

9. If there is no plausible reason to object, then don’t object

10. You’re better off owning up to your own shortcomings than attempting to pass the blame

11. Be a cheerleader when you recognize the efforts someone has put forth

12. Carefully prioritize what needs to happen and when

13. Have a plan, but be ready to pivot too

14. Realize that you can’t do it all by yourself

15. Keep all (figurative) doors open unless they create unnecessary chaos

16. There is almost never a good enough reason to overexert for any reason and anything

17. Haste really does make waste; slow down a bit and really think ideas and steps through

18. Sometimes making progress starts with answering questions

19. Be responsible in all your roles, but laugh and have fun too

20. The only person you’re actually competing against is a past iteration of you

21. Making mistakes is part of the process; learn from them and vow to never repeat

22. Reciprocal relationships start with putting others first and being selfless

23. There are often simpler ways to go about something; think critically and pursue those

24. A little bit of time consistently well directed can really compound overtime

25. Life truly becomes abundant when you stop reaching and straining and start adhering proper support and then ascending

Here’s to 25 (and Beyond)

I hope you enjoyed this list and found something valuable to mull over. It’s been an interesting (but, more importantly, rewarding) 25 years, and I look forward to all that is next for my life and hobbies.

Happy hobbying!

Welcome to the third installment of my hobby journey series! In this post, I will be writing about my music journey. This is a topic I’m extra excited to write about since I’ve been a bit elusive about it on Hobbyisms thus far. Continue reading to learn which music undertakings I’ve embarked on, what is currently in progress, and where I’m planning to go with it.

My Early Experiences with Music

I have loved music for as long as I can remember. Music holds a special place for many of us, and there are many experiences I had with playing instruments and writing original music growing up. It started with playing the viola in the fifth grade (which I incidentally use in much of my music now), loosely teaching myself how to play the piano, and singing in a choir class for a year or two. Then life became dark and difficult in my teenage years, and I wrote songs about some of the hardships I experienced. None of these were conscious decisions where I thought to myself “I want to pursue music”; these are just activities I found myself gravitating toward and doing.

It wasn’t until later in high school that I started spending more time in nature and had my first “official” songs come to me. I say “official” because these are songs I actually plan to do stuff with and have written down. The first song came to me as vocal impressionism for the chorus (by this, I mean a short melody where the pitch of the vowel changed a few times to bring the musical phrase to completion, thus a melody). This initial sound concept is still in the song today, and it is what I constructed the rest of the song around when I wrote the lyrics and came up with a composition for it.

From there, I continued writing other songs for what soon into a fleshed-out album concept. I don’t recall exactly how those other songs came about because the whole process came so natural and surprisingly quick, in my case. In my writing journey post, I mentioned how I wrote poetry before writing songs. It was in this period that I ended up pivoting entirely from poetry into songwriting. All of this sets the groundwork for how I started becoming serious about music and what steps I took from there.

The First Compositions

2020 is the year I started working on my first compositions. By compositions, I mean notating sheet music in a computer software to create a proof of concept for how I envisioned these songs (I use MuseScore). The first compositions were very rudimentary, as I was very new to all of this. I decided to set this project to the side for a bit, which ended up being a year.

When I came back to this project again in 2021, I took a crack at that vocal impressionism song and made it a bit better. Playing it back, it made me cry a bit because it is a very beautiful experience to take an idea from your head and hear it with your own ears. That was also not the final form of that song, but I put it to the side for what ended up being another few years while working on other projects I deemed as priorities at the time.

Enhancing the Compositions

In 2024, I was ready to pick the project back up yet again and found a music theory book on archive.org that explained essential music concepts such as harmony, melody, intervals, chord progressions, etc. I took notes on this book and used my expanded understanding of music to not only standardize my scores’ notation, but take the scores to the next level. I spent the next few months experimenting with various harmonic intervals, coming up with new melodies for the instrument parts used in the compositions, and breathing new life into these songs.

Words cannot describe what this album means to me and what I experience when listening to the finished proof of concepts I’ve created. If it seems that I’ve been a bit guarded about the contents of this album, it is because putting my heart and soul into it has made me careful of what I want to disclose before releasing it. The first thing I will do after it goes live is share the specific inspiration and vision behind it. I will be more than excited to do so!

Spontaneous New Songs

Last year, as I was working on these compositions, there were a variety of new melodies and lyric lines that came to me. This can happen when I’m at home, in the car, or just about anywhere where my mind is free to wander. When lyric lines emerge, I never really know what to make of them; I just make note of it and let the song piece itself together in its own time. That is what makes my music folk as well, I believe; my process involves letting the music come to me, rather than me trying to ideate the music. It may take some time for the song to fully come to me (as was one of the songs I finished composing in early 2025), but it comes to me nonetheless.

But back to these new songs, though. There were six or seven I wrote and composed this year, all of which hold equal or more weight than even the first songs I wrote. I started experimenting with new sounds more and have a strong handle on the concept of this album as well. It is, again, truly wonderous to see an album start to come to life and be everything you envisioned it would be and more.

Learning How to Sing

The next critical milestone in my music journey is continuing to strengthen and have more command over my singing voice. I will write a separate post specifically about my singing journey, but I will touch upon it here since it does impact my next steps for seeing my albums through.

I began taking healthy vocal technique seriously in February 2025 and have been practicing vocal exercises every week, a few times per week. Right now, I would describe myself as a beginner+ when it comes to singing, as I understand most of the critical concepts but still have a ways to go in terms of readying my voice for recording. Singing is one of those pursuits that is ever-improving, rather than having that moment where you’re like “I can sing!” and having nothing else to do to improve upon that skill. So, I plan to spend more time working on my voice and achieving more consistency in specific areas to improve how my end recordings sound. Once I am more comfortable with my singing abilities, then I am ready to start making preparations to record from there.

An Unexpected Offer

As of the VERY DAY I am writing this post (which is few weeks sooner than it is actually going live), I received an unexpected offer that completely alters the trajectory of when I thought I’d be able to make this happen. I never had a formal timeline on when I thought I’d record my first album, but a new connection surfaced out of an entirely different matter that could make this come to fruition much sooner than I thought.

Today, someone who has their own independent recording studio offered their space to me to create my own recordings, which is absolutely surreal. You really never know who you could encounter and in what ways you could possibly collaborate. For this reason, I always keep an open mind and see where the conversation leads.

Final Reflections and Thoughts

As everything in this post has indicated, music plays an important part in my life. When I was evaluating in 2024 what I wanted to keep and toss from my life, it made me realize how far I had deviated from music. I vowed from that moment on that I would never again forget how important making and playing original music is to me.

There are a couple miscellaneous mentions I’d like to make before wrapping up this post. The first is that, to date, the instruments I have include a keyboard, two Native American flutes (A minor and G# minor), tank drum, balalaika, ocarina, and, more recently, a bass guitar for George. I plan on continuing to get better at playing the flutes since they are necessary to my albums. The next is that I used to play the piano and tank drum at past open mics. I sounded a little rough, but I had fun with it; I hope to do more open mics in the future.

The Beginning of the Journey

Thank you for reading my music journey; I hope it has inspired you to find and pick up a hobby that you are equally as passionate about. Starting doesn’t necessarily mean doing the actual hobby today; it could mean figuring out what your first steps are and where you need to start. Take some meaningful step toward your hobby today; there is no better time to start.

Happy hobbying!

Having a hobby to get good at over a period of time, in my opinion, is one of the most rewarding ways to direct time. From creative, physical, intellectual, hands on, and beyond, there are so many possibilities as to what we can do to channel time in a meaningful way. Yet most people find themselves stumped when it comes to how to find a hobby, how to get started, and how to stick with it overtime.

Whether you are someone who is looking to get into a hobby or figure out what you can do to be more consistent with your existing hobby, I have provided my top five pointers in the post that follows. These I have learned (and have continued to practice) in my many years of “hobbying”, and warning: you will need to put in the effort to get anywhere with this. But I can assure you that if you choose to follow these steps that you will become a more consistent hobbyist and an even more interesting person.

Step 1: Tune Out the Noise

First, you must cut back on your screen time. It’s no surprise that the amount of time people look at screens each day is alarming and that there are many negative impacts from it. I challenge you to consider what all you could do if you redirected much of the time you spent looking at your phone into a hobby.

I could write a whole post specifically on how to cut back on your screen time, but there are some important nuggets of information I will share now. If you are someone who chronically uses their phone but wants to quit doom scrolling, I would highly suggest finding an “entry-level” activity that you already know how to do without your phone and consistently pulls you away from it for an extended period of time to give yourself a “digital detox.” My top recommendation to this end would be to start taking long walks or hikes, as you experience physical separation from your phone (do consider carrying personal protection for your own safety, though).

If you need extra motivation to start leaving your phone behind and taking these walks/hike, consider finding an accountability partner to go with or report to (if they’re unable to go). And once you get acclimated with this time away from your phone, start walking or hiking independently. Be alone in your thoughts. Experience the discomfort that comes with that. Every moment you tune out the noise moves you closer to cultivating the attention, concentration, and mindfulness that supports a more advanced hobby.

Step 2: Find What Really Inspires You

Once you start to build more focus and redirect your time, you have freed up more bandwidth to consider what you would do with that time. That’s when you can start considering what makes you go “Wow… that is absolutely amazing… I wish I could do that!”

Many people don’t go as far as to wish they had that skill because subconsciously (and automatically) dismiss it as unrealistic within their own circumstances and/or abilities. Many more couldn’t even say what wows them. Dare to be different and discover what your sources of inspiration are.

There are many hobbies that involve a surplus of time and money, but there are also many that are very accessible. That could include anything from physical pursuits such as kayaking or visiting new parks, creative pursuits such as drawing or needlework, intellectual pursuits such as learning a new language or topic, among many others. All you need to do is consider what you are personally fascinated by and use that as your starting point. The possibilities are endless.

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Step 3: Plan Your First Steps

From here, you will encounter what many people consider to be the most daunting aspect of anything ever: getting started. It’s one thing to know what hobby you’d like to pursue; it’s another to take that from an idea to an action you put in motion.

Most people never get started because they simply don’t know where to start. When that is the case, the hobby may seem like an insurmountable obstacle that gets shelved for months, if not indefinitely. It is human nature to gravitate toward what is known and predictable; it often seems counterintuitive and uncomfortable to address what to unknown and unpredictable. The only way to achieve anything meaningful, however, is to step outside of your comfort zone and gradually expand it.

In context to hobbies, this means that you must make it seem more attainable in the present to get yourself to get started. A simple way to do this is to outline your first steps. You don’t need to create an elaborate plan; start by writing down the first 1-3 things you will do or look into (depending on the hobby). Get those things done and then write down the next 1-3 things. You will find that you start building a track record with yourself of accomplishing what you commit to doing on paper and that doing the hobby seems less overwhelming since you’re going off what you wrote down, making it both known and predicable. Celebrate these victories and have fun with it!

Step 4: Set Aside Some Time

Now that you will have overcome the barrier of getting started, you will have built some momentum that you can use to stay consistent. What you view as “consistent” may differ from what another person views as “consistent”, and that is okay. It is important to be realistic about what you are able to sustainably get around to in any given day to avoid burning out. Hobbies are to enrich your life, not burden and add stress to it.

In order to get around to your hobby, though, you need to observe how you’re directing your time to determine where you can continue redirecting it from low-grade time drains to your hobby instead. Consistency could look like getting around to your hobby a couple or few times weekly; the key here is to focus on establishing some patterns you can follow over a period of time to make incremental progress over the next month or year.

Step 5: Make Ongoing Optimizations

Continuing to set time aside for your hobby plays an important part of sticking with it, but there is another part that is equally or more important: continuing to make optimizations along the way. By optimizations, I mean optimizing your workflows, life load, and mindset.

Seek to systemize and make your process for getting stuff done more efficient and effective. Lighten your life load by off-boarding tasks and projects that need to be brought to a close, even if it requires extra work in the short-term. Strengthen your will to do what brings enrichment to your life by understanding what that is and why it matters to you.

Ready to Get Started Now (or Again)?

There is so much I could write about in regard to how to find a hobby and how to stick with it. I hope this post gave you the spark you needed to get re-excited about your hobby or excited about the hobby you want to start. Be sure to keep an eye out for the next posts; there is a lot coming soon.

Happy hobbying!

Welcome to the second installment of my hobby journey series! In this post, I will be sharing my writing journey, which is a unique story in and of itself (pun intended). Continue reading to see how I started, what all I’ve written, and where I am now directing this hobby.

The Early Days of Writing

My interest in writing surfaced Sophomore year of high school when I had a class with an English teacher who set the bar high, especially when it came to writing assignments. She assigned a few books for us to read throughout the semester (such as Fahrenheit 451) and would then require us to select from a few topics that explored various themes and support our stance. This was common across my other high school English classes, but the difference was that she held our work to a higher standard and really challenged how we constructed and conveyed ideas. Years later (this year, in fact), we crossed paths at a local grocery store, and I told her what impact her class had on my writing and my continued interest in writing to this day.

Throughout the rest of high school, I spent a lot of time at parks, which inspired my writing to come. It started with writing journal entries when I was at these parks, which is just something I did for my own sake. When I discovered various types of media and music that made me experience nature in a whole new way, that is when I started writing poetry that encapsulated those experiences.

The first book I wrote was entitled Catharsis, which included the poems I wrote during that phase of my life. These poems also included corresponding photos to the left of them that visualized the way I was viewing the world. I originally published this book on Amazon KDP, but finally had it removed this year since it is no longer reflective of my perceptions and artistic expression. I have a personal copy for myself that I look at from time to time and do think I did a pretty good job when originally going about this. There was also a follow-up to Catharsis that I had written years ago which included some original creative writing passages and shorter poems, but I hadn’t taken it any further than writing it and instead decided to archive the project.

Writing My First Songs

Shortly after writing Catharsis, I had written my first songs for an album concept I’ve worked on for years. These songs were also inspired by all the time I spent in nature, which is why they have a folk undertone to them. Though my poetry no longer resonates in the way it did before, I am glad for that phase of my life because it opened the gateway for writing song lyrics.

Some of the lyrics I improved upon years later, but these first songs still mean the same to me today as they did when I first embarked on this. During this time, I also continued to journal, a practice I would continue for years to come as well.

A Workbook Project

In 2021, I took a bit of a pivot from my creative projects when I decided to create a more ongoing project that was more business-oriented but also had creative elements of its own. That was called Livin’ Analog, and it had quite a few tentacles to it. One of the many aspects of that project was the creation of a workbook entitled The Life Diagram Program. The premise of the workbook was to provide visual resources for people to map out, organize, and put their goals into motion. This way, they would become more productive and live the life they want to be living.

If it sounds like this was a deviation from what I was doing prior, it’s because it most definitely was! Productivity and processes were ideas that had always been important to me in a way when working on my past creative projects (since I always brought them to completion), but The Life Diagram Program was a whole new way of exploring of. I will write a brief summary about what the process of creating a workbook entailed.

For The Life Diagram Program, I originally wrote the first draft. Ideas were dictated into a voice recorder, written on journal sheets, and then structured into a final format. I then created and formatted all the visual resources, which took forever. A few select copies were printed for people to read and provide feedback for improvement. I wrote and created visuals for a few new sections, had the final manuscript proofed, had the final layout done, and then had a few select color copies printed.

That was an oversimplification of a process that took several months to a year. I do, however, still genuinely believe the processes in this book can help non-productive people train themselves to become more productive. I wanted to write a bit extra for this section because it may be the only time I choose to talk about The Life Diagram Program and Livin’ Analog on Hobbyisms since neither align with the direction I am going. Nonetheless, The Life Diagram Program was a key part of my writing journey and did help inform many of my task management processes years later.

The Family History Book

If you have read my past posts on Hobbyisms, you likely observed that I have brought up my family history book a few times now. This project was also a critical part of my writing journey, and one I always knew I wanted to create in my lifetime. If you haven’t read the full story on my family book, read the full process here.

One aspect of the family history book that made most sense to include in this writing journey post versus the family history book post is that it was also the project that made me decide to “retire” from book writing. My family history book was definitely extra hands-on than other projects due to the amount of history family members and other sources preserved, which involved substantial information processing. If you’ve written any sort of book ever, though, you’d know just how demanding it can be to write any sort of book, review and edit it several times over (in several different ways) to make it the best it can be, and then oversee the creative direction of turning it into a finished book.

Book writing played an important role in my writing journey and creative endeavors as a whole, but I now look forward to writing in ways that bring the most excitement and inspiration to me.

Present Day (and Future) Focuses

There are a few areas where I have focused my present writing, which is also where I plan to direct my writing in the future.

Songwriting

I still write songs from time to time, whenever I am inspired and compelled to do so. Songwriting has always been an organic process for me, and I plan to continue writing music (more on this in my upcoming music journey post). Right now, that is predominately folk, but I think it would be interesting to experiment with hard rock or metal as well.

Hobbyisms

I also plan to continue writing for Hobbyisms and always look forward to doing so. There are times I find myself writing Hobbyisms topics for several days consecutively because sharing this information brings me genuine excitement. It also helps tremendously that I write my Hobbyisms posts on my Neo2 word processor, which is much easier on the eyes and helps me stay focused on what I’m writing about.

Personal Writing

Most importantly, I plan to continue writing for myself. This includes free-writing journal entries (somehow, I’ve filled 10 whole journals with just this), writing smaller daily snippets about my thoughts and wins for the day, and targeted writing prompts to accomplish specific outcomes. I’ve benefited a lot from personal writing alone.

A Journey in the Writing

So that is my writing journey! Writing is such a powerful form of processing information and self-expression, and I encourage anyone to write in whatever way words come to them and for whatever purpose.

I hope my writing journey inspires you to pick up the pen, or, at the very least, that hobby you are delaying. Wonderful outcomes and journeys of your own await, and you just never know what that will be unless you get started and stick around long enough to find out.

Happy hobbying!

There are some pretty key factors that (in my opinion) will determine whether your hobby will become a long-term fixture in your life or drop off after a bit. My post How to Find a Hobby (and Stick with It) provides a higher-level overview of these. One point I mentioned was making ongoing optimizations, which includes your mindset.

It’s no secret that the mind plays a significant role in what you do or don’t do. If your mind has more resistance, doing a simple task will become more difficult. If your mind has more pliability, doing that same simple task becomes simpler. With that established, here are mindset adjustments you can start working toward to get started with your hobby and actually make it stick.

What is There to Lose by Starting Today?

A common excuse we all hear is: “I’ll just get to it tomorrow or next week.” There are certainly valid reasons for deferring something to a later date if there is importance involved such as making a critical decision or taking care of something else that has higher priority. When it is simply a matter of procrastination, however, is it really better to push it off a day or a week? What is preventing you from pushing it off another day or week?

If the stakes are low and the benefits are high, just do the thing. There is no better time to start than now. This doesn’t mean spend a whole bunch on your hobby right off the cuff (if your hobby leans more expensive) without proper forethought; that is impulsive. What it does mean, though, is to start your hobby today if you have nothing to lose than some time and a reasonable amount on some supplies (if applicable to your hobby).

The point is that, in order to start and stick with your hobby, you first have to get out of your own head and start somewhere. It can be challenging to get started if your mind is currently conditioned to holding you back, but the only way to start is to make yourself do it. From there, you then can start experiencing the process and enjoyment that comes with your hobby, which you may find makes you want to do it more and, in turn, starts to chip away at the resistance in your mind. If you must start somewhere, why not start today?

Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

By default, the mind gravitates toward what is known and comfortable. It is easy, after all, to stay in your comfort zone and one reason why you may find it difficult to push beyond it.

You can only get so far with your comfort zone. Achieving any sort of meaningful outcome with your hobby (or otherwise) involves gradually stretching into the areas of discomfort until you can do these things with ease. And then stretching a bit further! It is always a work in progress. You will find overtime that you sustain your hobby more effectively by embracing the discomfort that arises and viewing it as part of the journey.

Embrace Challenges and Have Fun With Them

Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable prepares you for the next important mindset shift for sticking with your hobby: embracing challenges. And well… it can be challenging. The only way you become adept at dealing with challenges is facing them head on. That takes courage, motivation, and some “screw it, let’s just get it done.”

Depending on your hobby, you may face some (or several) challenges. The great thing is that the problem-solving skills you develop from your hobby are directly appliable to other challenges outside of your hobby. The more you exercise your problem-solving muscle, the more easily you will embrace challenges and come to enjoy the process behind solving them.

View Mistakes as a Learning Opportunity

Everyone makes mistakes; it is just a fact of life. Some processes that cause mistakes should never be repeated, while others benefit from refining.

You may find it easy to become discouraged when mistakes occur and want to give up. Your abilities are only fixed if you fail to learn from your mistakes and improve with what you now know. It can take several attempts to enhance your technique or accomplish specific outcomes in your hobby. You just need to remain patient enough to weather through the mistakes and use those experiences to really get good at what you do. Every mistake you make makes you a bit more knowledgeable and a bit more ahead, even if it looks like a momentary setback in the present.

Believe You Can!

Sometimes you may find that your mind seems rigged against you. That it seems easier to self-sabotage and believe that you don’t have what it takes as a result of subconscious conditioning. This is one reason why I believe people give up on their hobby so quickly.

Sometimes, it takes objective evidence to build belief in your own abilities. A great way to gain more confidence to this end is to yourself opportunities to prove yourself capable. After several personal victories (especially for challenges that were difficult to solve), you may find yourself thinking, “If I can figure out how to do that, I can essentially figure out how to do anything!” Just like anything else, it takes time to build belief in your abilities. But your confidence will gradually grow with each accomplishment you deem significant.

Put Your Mind (and Hobby) to Work

I believe any serious hobbyist should strongly consider optimizing their mindset. A mindset optimization is not one and done; it takes consistent practice to keep the mind in good shape. You can practice the mindset principles in this post with just about anything you do. The key is to remain proactive, resilient, and patient when things get a bit challenging. And above all, have fun with the process.

Happy hobbying!

Welcome to the first installment of my hobby journey series! In this post, I will write about my knitting journey. Knitting has become a nuanced but pretty regular hobby of mine, and one that I see myself sticking with long-term. I will now share why I began knitting, what I’ve accomplished thus far, and what I plan to do with this hobby in the coming years.

How (and Why) I Started

It all started with a poncho. Nine or so years back, I thrifted this beautiful knit poncho that I absolutely loved. I believe the only reason I eventually got rid of it was because it was associated with a phase of my life that I wanted to leave behind. So, the poncho went with it.

Flash forward to December 2023, I had a conversation with a peer who told me she was thinking about learning how to crochet. I had never considered crocheting before but decided to look into it a bit on New Years Eve. Then the idea came to me: if I couldn’t find a poncho similar to what I had before, I could make my own! That marked the start of my needlework journey.

That evening, I stayed up late and looked into crochet poncho patterns online. After determining what supplies I’d need, I went to the craft store maybe a month or so later and bought some large balls of acrylic yarn and some crochet hooks. Then I started making my first poncho, which I ended up ripping back and starting all the way over after determining I crocheted into the wrong stitches and made it WAY too steep. That was a bit discouraging, but when I want something, I see the process all the way through to the end. I eventually finished the poncho and was pleased how it turned out.

After completing that project, I crocheted a teddy bear lovey for my niece who was to be born soon. I also crocheted into the wrong stitches for the blanket part of this project, which made the blanket wider and thus more of a skirt. I just rolled with it this time around, and it turned out cute. As I started getting into crochet more, it made me curious about learning other needlework techniques as well. This included knitting, cross stitching, and embroidery. I decided I would then give knitting a try just for the heck of it.

Learning to Knit

My husband and I went to bookstores quite a bit last year, and every time we went, I would go to the craft book section and find some knitting books to purchase. I then started trying to learn how to knit from one of the books and struggled with it quite a bit. Knitting did not come naturally for me in the slightest.

I quickly figured out that it would be more effective to start watching various knitting tutorials on YouTube to see which knitting methods worked best for me. At first, I was having a difficult time following along. This resulted in knitting my first project, a baby blanket, in the wrong stitch pattern. I almost gave up knitting when the stockinette stitch pattern seemed out of my reach, but I was very determined to figure out where I was going wrong and to get good at the craft.

It took many attempts to learn the knit stitch, purl stitch, and what knit stitches and purl stitches even looked like. This past winter, I practiced knitting several swatches to find the knitting methods that made most sense to me, and to get good enough at them before embarking on my next projects. And one of those projects was re-knitting the baby blanket. When you are a knitter and know there are mistakes, many times you can’t help but go back and fix those. That I did a number of times on other projects as I continued getting better at knitting.

Beginner Projects and Boo-Boos

I did a lot of knitting this past winter after learning how to knit. This included knitting a hat flat and seaming it, knitting mittens in the round (an audacious beginner project), and knitting a number of baby projects. One problem that came up time and time again, though, was dealing with dropped stitches. This is an inevitable part of knitting but highly distressing for new knitters. I remember spending hours upon hours on those first projects watching tutorials and trying to restore order when stitches dropped. There is really no way to bypass this stressful phase of knitting; you just have to figure it out with your own two hands until it eventually makes sense.

After knitting a number of smaller projects and picking up new (yet essential) techniques as I went, I decided to knit my first garments. This included a poncho knit flat in two pieces and seamed, and a sweater knit flat from bottom to top and then seamed. The poncho was quite simple and is still quite nice, in my more experienced opinion. The first sweater I knit was what you’d expect for a first sweater. I was still figuring out how to tension my yarn, so there are some sections of the sweater that are a bit looser than others, the seaming also appeared on the outside of the sweater than in the inside, and I didn’t quite understand what it meant to pick up stitches at the neckline yet. Every knitter has a first sweater, and it just simply won’t be a knitter’s best work. But you have to start somewhere in order to improve from there.

Bigger Projects and Bigger Boo-Boos

As I started knitting more projects and more frequently, I was curious to start learning different styles of knitting. I started with cable knitting since I was always intrigued by knit cables. My first cables looked sloppy, but I soon learned some techniques to produce more tidy cables.

I then learned lace knitting. Lace knitting became the bane of my existence for the third and fourth sweaters I knit, and improving my abilities with that knitting style also came down to making light technical adjustments. I more recently learned the strand and fair isle knitting styles, and, yet again, learned some small nuances to improve the end result.

When it comes to knitting, I have made many mistakes in the book. A few critical mistakes include blocking my second sweater incorrectly (thus stretching the sweater way too long in size), not adjusting my stitch marker for better notation and accuracy, and using the wrong tensioning methods at the wrong time. In fact, I keep a running ledger with all my knitting mistakes to keep track of what I’ve learned not to do. After all these mess ups, my knitting knowledge has deepened much more since I understand what made my prior approach not work, what I need to do instead, and why that outcome will differ from what I did the first time around.

Where I Am Now

In this part of my knitting journey, I am having fun with the process and am continually challenging my abilities. Mistakes still happen sometimes if I forget to double check my work in critical sections, but I have a pretty good process in place to determine what went wrong and how to fix it. But that wouldn’t have come about if I hadn’t messed up so many times. Maybe I will crochet some projects in the future, but I personally enjoy the process and end result of knit projects more.

My goal is to knit a full sweater wardrobe for myself, and I am slowly (but surely) working toward that goal. In upcoming projects, I would like to cable knit and fair isle knit my first sweaters. I also want to cable knit a beautiful scarf for the winter and knit many other projects along the way! And one day, I dream of recreating that beautiful poncho I once had. I am excited for all that is next on the knitting front.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my knitting journey. I hope it has inspired you to find a hobby that you are passionate enough about to learn and remain resilient with.

Happy hobbying!

Getting started with a hobby can prove to be challenging for some. Once a hobby of started, one of three things typically happen: A. You stick with it for a bit before it fizzles out, B. You stick with it for some time and make some sort of progress but put it to the side, or C. You stick with it consistently enough to see your desired outcome through to the end. This post will explore scenario B and, specifically, five steps to take if (and when) you end up with a whole bunch of incomplete hobby projects.

It is certainly possible to have multiple projects going at any given time that you bring to full completion. Each project may have its own timeline and pacing, but they nonetheless get done. But what do you do when you find yourself with so many projects at various stages of completion that really aren’t going anywhere? Let’s broach this.

Step 1: Assess What All You’ve Started

The first step you must take to start bringing incomplete projects to a close is taking inventory of every last one. Write these projects as a list. Then, take a few moments to think through why you sidelined these. Write a one or two-word reason next to each project. There is no right or wrong response here; just write exactly what comes top of mind.

Step 2: Establish Your Top 1 or 2 Priorities

Once you make a list of all your incomplete projects and understand why you have stalled them, you can then start considering which you want to prioritize. It is usually more difficult than not to make meaningful headway when there are too many things you are trying to focus on at once.

For this reason, my recommendation is to select the one or two that are most important to you. This way, you give each project the time and attention it needs to see it through to the end, rather than stopping midway through the project and starting yet another one.

Step 3: Bring Finality to Your Non-Priorities

To lighten your load going forward, the next step I suggest is to clear the non-priorities from your deck. This can be done in a few ways. One way is to see your non-priorities all the way. Depending on the projects, this could take a bit of time, but you would have peace of mind knowing that you brought completion to them.

Another way is to archive the no longer prioritized projects. You would still keep your work up to the point you’ve completed it, but you would file your project away so you have the option to pick it back up down the line. A final way is to drop what you’ve started altogether. This would more than likely involve a few (or possibly more) wrap-up steps, and you would go about this approach if you truly had no intention of returning back to the project.

Step 4: See Your Priorities Through to the End

With a much more manageable project load, you can now focus on the most rewarding part of working on a project: achieving (and appreciating) the final result! Many different project types vary in scope, but three common denominators in achieving the scope include time, patience, and consistency. These are key to actually sustaining the hobby and eventually reaching the point of completion. Read How to Get Around to Your Hobbies for insights on making progress with the more deliberate focuses you now have.

Moving (More) Forward with Less

There are so many interesting possibilities for hobbies and projects, which can make it tempting to start yet another new thing while abandoning what you’ve already started. By narrowing your focus to one or a couple important projects at a time, you can direct more of that focus to seeing those outcomes through and embark on your next hobby adventure when a slot frees up. You may find that this approach is not only more manageable, but that it really allows you to explore your project deeper and in ways you never imagined.

Happy hobbying!

Today is the final day of 2025, and I thought it would be interesting to write a year in review post that recaps what was most significant. More specifically, goals I established in December 2024 (and what progress I made toward those) and important experiences throughout the year.

I had initially contemplated whether I’d prefer to write a beginning of year or end of year post. It didn’t take long to settle on end of year, as I’d rather show which goals were set and what I actually did to make progress toward them instead of just stating the goals. In order words: show that I actually took action throughout the year rather than talk a big game at the beginning of the year (just for the goal to drop off, as most New Year’s resolutions do). With this premise, here is my 2025 in review.

Hobbies

Goal #1: Complete My Family History Book

After spending a huge amount of time working on my family history book in 2024, the first thing I wanted to accomplish in 2025 was wrapping up this project. I originally mapped out a timeline that would put the project on track for completion in 2026, but I decided to expedite the whole process to a 2025 completion so I could A. put this very taxing project to bed and B. move onto other goals I deemed important. If you have not read the story of my family history book, read the full story here.

I was able to accomplish this goal pretty early in 2025 when I packed the books up, delivered them to the post office on the coldest day of January this year, and monitored each order to ensure each parcel was delivered. That was a whole process in and of itself, and I am very glad I was able to start the year off strong by concluding this project and having a family history book I can cherish all throughout my life and pass on to future generations.

Goal #2: Learn How to Knit a Sweater

When I began my knitting journey mid-2024, I instantly knew I would hand knit my own garments, including sweaters. I originally thought I wanted to just make super simple sweaters for myself and that I wouldn’t make anything super elaborate. Several months later and becoming much more skilled at knitting, however, made me reconsider and want to make sweaters that were much more atypical to sweaters I’ve bought in the store. This includes using technique such as cable knitting, fair isle knitting, and lace knitting. I haven’t necessarily used all these techniques on sweaters yet, but I did learn how to do all of them this year.

In terms of what progress I made toward this goal this year, I unintentionally learned how to construct a sweater in four different methods! This includes bottom to top knit flat and seamed, bottom to top knit in the round, bottom to top knit in the round and then knit flat and seamed, and top to bottom in the round. You could say I accomplished this goal in its totality as well because of all these different ways I went about making sweaters.

Goal #3: Learn How to Sing

Music has always been something I’ve been passionate about, along with singing. This year, I finally wanted to become serious about learning how to really sing, specifically to have more command over my voice and to sing in a way that is healthy and sustainable long-term.

I kicked off this goal in February by watching a variety of videos to understand the basics before embarking on any vocal exercises. Once I had a better idea of where I needed to start, I began doing different targeted vocal exercises and building on what I previously learned over the next several months.

If I had to conclude whether I accomplished this goal this year, I say I would given the many techniques I learned, troubleshooted, and what I sound like today versus the beginning of the year. There is more I plan to improve upon and learn singing-wise in 2026, but I think I did pretty well with implementing the essentials. A post that goes into more detail about my singing journey is coming soon.

Goal #4: Write/Compose More Songs

This year, I also managed to write some new songs and create compositions for them in notation software. Some songs took me several months to finish writing; others I wrote in a day. I will get into my songwriting hobby in my upcoming writing journey and music journey posts.

In addition to songwriting, creating music scores that capture the essence of how I’m hearing the song in my head (and then re-listening to them later) is one of absolute favorite activities. Yet, this is also one that I get around to less than my other hobbies. I am nonetheless pleased with what I came up with this year and look forward to continuing with this in the next.

Goal #5: Learn Music Theory Concepts

One of my goals in time is to become a master at my craft when it comes to music. So, this year I started embarking on learning some music theory concepts to not only understand my own music better, but deepen my understanding of organized sound as a whole. This is a lesser priority than the two music endeavors listed above, but one that I will continue working toward as time permits.

Life

Experience #1: Getting Married!

This experience happened in September, but six years later, I married my favorite person in the entire world. My husband George has been the largest supporter of me and everything I embark on. He is so patient (maybe the most patient person I know) and we have helped each other get through all the challenges in our adult years. I am very fortunate to be living this journey with him and appreciate he and I’s support for each other’s individual journeys as well.

Experience(s) #2: Seeing More of My Favorite Bands Live

This year, I was able to see even more of my favorite bands in concert, and even my absolute favorite band from France! My concert lineup included Alcest, Loath and Spiritbox, the Stardew Valley orchestra, and Sevendust (for the third time).

Seeing Alcest live was an absolute dream. I have listened to them since 2018 through many phases of my life, and the essence of their music inspires my own in some ways. As a musician, it is a magical (and emotional) experience to see your favorite band play your favorite songs live. Especially when you’re in the center front! That was another experience that really made my year.

Here is a video I came across of Alcest playing one of my favorite songs at the Lawrence, KS show that I attended, titled Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde (Memories of Another World):

Experience #3: Staying Localized a Bit

A final experience that was notable in its own way was staying closer to (and in) my home for most of the year. This year did not include any major travel (the furthest George and I traveled was Lawrence, KS to see Alcest), and we mostly stayed in our respective part of town.

This was a noticeable change in pace compared to previous years and resulted in me directing extra time toward my hobbies during my time off. I would very much like to travel to places that inspire my artistic work (such as the Pacific Northwest and Northern Europe), but I learned to appreciate my home surroundings and nearby places more. We will see what 2026 holds in terms of travel.

Final Thoughts, Future Plans

Overall, I think 2025 was a pretty successful year in many regards. While it may look like I achieved every last goal I set out to accomplish, there were some work objectives that did not result in the actual outcome(s) I had hoped to accomplish this year. I did, however, implement many of the critical measures necessary to achieving those hopefully next year. That is what a year well directed looks like, though: taking incremental steps that result in observable progress overtime, even if it takes a bit to reach the destination (which is a moving target anyways). Process over progress.

You may have noticed in this post that I made reference to upcoming posts such as my knitting journey, writing journey, music journey, and singing journey. These will be part of my hobby journey series, which will go into the inspiration behind my hobbies, what I have accomplished thus far, and where I hope to take these endeavors. I am very excited to share these stories and hope they leave you compelled to pick up (or revisit) a hobby.

I will be back in the new year, but remember: any day is the perfect day to start shaping a more vibrant, lively, and interesting version of you. Make your 2026 an intriguing year in review.

Happy hobbying!

Do you ever find yourself thinking that you’re actually going to start working on your hobby again soon and continue to not? And before you know it, several months pass, and you find yourself wondering what you have done with the year.

Missed opportunities can, many times, result in regret. Especially when you know you could have directed your time in a better way. While you can’t go back and start on your hobby sooner, you can start making some adjustments today that will enable you to sustain and enjoy your hobby for years to come. Here are my suggestions to this end.

Audit How You Direct Your Time

For the next week (or month), keep a log of what you are spending time on and for how long. Go about your life just as you usually would; don’t try to make any drastic changes. Your objective is to conduct an analysis that mirrors exactly where you are currently directing your time.

At the end of this time audit, you may be surprised (and much more aware) of where your time is going. Make note of some trends you notice. You will use this information in the next phases.

Eliminate Distractions

One of the largest (if not the largest) ways people direct their time is with distractions or pass times that don’t get them much of anywhere. This may include doom scrolling on social media or the internet, watching videos, or watching movies or TV shows. Now, there is nothing wrong with watching some media here or there to relax. But if you are watching an excessive amount that is inhibiting you from doing much of anything else, I would question how much you are watching and cut back.

So how do you eliminate distractions to actually get around to your hobbies? There are many ways to do this. For one, put your phone on do not disturb mode and leave it in the other room. If there is something that is nagging at you that needs to be taken care of, take care of it so you can fully focus on your hobby. Establish a quiet place and time where you can work on it. You can set the conditions of your hobby space based on your needs and circumstances, but those are a few ideas to help you get started.

Bring Order to Your Life

If there are many “open tickets” in your life that need to be resolved, it can be challenging on getting around to your hobby when those are on your mind and task list. For this reason, my recommendation is to complete as much as you are able to lighten your load, even if it requires more time and effort in the near-term. It is much easier to think about and direct time towards your hobby when there is much less you are concerned with. So, off-board as much as you are able, and your time and mind will be much freer to do with as you please.

Set Time Aside (or Time Block)

With much less clutter in your life, you would then have much better bandwidth to carve out time for your hobby. There are two ways you can go about this. One way is to schedule some time blocked slots on your calendar for when you plan to work on these hobbies. This is a great method for implementing some loose structure that plans what your week will look like and hold yourself accountable.

Another way is to just spontaneously do it. No scheduling is required here, but you will need personal accountability and discipline to choose your hobby over low-grade distractions. My post To Schedule Your Hobbies or Spontaneously Do Them? covers this topic in greater detail. Either way, though, getting around to your hobby requires setting time aside for it, regardless of how you do that.

Be Proactive

The final aspect of sustaining your hobby overtime is taking care of various matters as they come up. Instead of bringing order to your life again at a later date, you are now keeping the order. Being proactive, rather than succumbing to procrastination (which happens to be one of my least favorite words).

There are many approaches that you can take to keep your life in order. My number one recommendation, however, is taking up a task manager. For more information on how I have set my task manager up for managing my life and hobbies, read How to Optimize Your Life for Sustaining Hobbies.

Now Get Around to Your Hobby!

The only way to get around to your hobby is to, well… get around to it. If you have nothing to lose by starting and working on your it, then simply do it. It may take a push or two (or five) to get yourself to work on your hobby. You will find soon enough, though, that once you overcome the initial resistance, that you naturally start to come back to it out of sheer enjoyment and enthusiasm to see where you will get with it.

Happy hobbying!

There are multiple sweaters I have hand knit throughout the course of knitting for a year now. None other required as much resilience as the Beatrice sweater, which has a lace knit motif through the center front and back. It’s not that the sweater was inherently challenging; there was just a lot I needed to learn when it came to small techniques that make a large difference and, more importantly, patience.

I believe that just about any hobby can teach hard and soft skills that we can apply to other situations. In the case of this sweater, it definitely taught me a thing (or three). Now, I will share my experience with this sweater (and keep it non-technical for non-knitters) and the key takeaways from it that apply to other projects and life. Hopefully it motivates you to keep going when your project gets tough and learn from the difficulties you encounter to become that much better at your craft.

Lesson #1: Scrutinize the First Steps Extra Carefully

Let me start by saying… this project had issues from the very beginning. When knitting a garment such as a sweater, the first (and most critical) step to take is to knit a gauge swatch. This involves x amount of stitches for x amount of rows with certain size needles, and the goal is to achieve the dimensions specified in the gauge section of the pattern (i.e., 4” x 4”). If your gauge swatch is too small, you size up your needles. If your gauge swatch is too large, you size down your needles. Needle size is only a recommendation; you go with whatever size you need to achieve gauge. There is a lot more to it than that, but that is a general explanation to frame the first issue.

What seemed to have happened when knitting my gauge swatch is it was tensioned tighter than how my tension results further down the piece. So, since my gauge swatch was too small (but probably more so because the fiber content of my acrylic was a bit finer than the acrylic called for in the pattern), I increased my needle size. But because the larger needle size still resulted in a seemingly smaller gauge swatch, I also decided to knit the sweater a size larger than I usually would. This resulted in a sweater that was way too large. But that outcome only happened well after twisting the stiches multiple times (resulting in a twisted garment that needed to have been caught and fixed from the very beginning) and restarting the bottom section over and over. I ultimately decided to rip all this work back and start again from the beginning with a smaller needle size. Scrutinize those first steps extra carefully!

Lesson #2: Apply Sound Technique (And Double Check It)

The next large issue had to do with the lace knit pattern itself. Lace knitting requires absolute precision because any missed stitch technique will result in a lopsided outcome. When I lace knit the middle sections the first couple (maybe even a few) times, I was one or two stitches off. This meant I had to troubleshoot where the mistake occurred and then rip back to that point, which took up to two hours per mistake. That resolution time is much longer than with non-lace knit garments since there is a certain way to handle the lace sections to keep everything intact.

What ultimately solved this problem from continuing to happen (while achieving exactness) was better notation of where the lace knit section actually started each round and counting the stitches after each pattern repeat to ensure the stitch count was as intended. And amid this whole process (especially when seeing how much better the lace knit sections looked with my improved practices), I ripped back another two times! In short: Make a point to use better techniques and double check along way. It doesn’t take that much more time to confirm everything is as it should be, and that extra attentiveness will preserve time, effort, and sanity.

Lesson #3: Step Back to Approach the Problem Differently

After all these unsuccessful attempts with this sweater, I found myself getting frustrated. It was clear that I was going to continue making mistakes unless I took a break from this project, so it was time to set it aside for a bit. I spent the next month working on simpler knitting projects until it seemed like I was ready to come back at it with a fresh perspective.

It can be difficult to let something go for a bit when you’re determined to see the outcome through (especially if your tendency is to keep pressing forward no matter what). Coming back to it at a later date, though, does make a huge difference in how you approach the challenge and what result you end up with.

Successes and Challenges

Now it was time to knit this sweater the fourth time around, and the process and sweater was finally coming along wonderfully! All because I became serious about applying these lessons to this sweater.

The final challenge to bring this sweater to completion was seaming the shoulders of the sweater, the sleeves, and then the sleeves to the sweater. This also took a lot of resilience and patience, as I spent all this time and effort making this sweater, and the last thing I wanted is for the seaming to make the sweater look sloppy.

If all the lessons in this post sound like a whole process, seaming was a whole other process in itself! To make the seams invisible, I had to use a different seaming method for each of those three areas, which required a lot of tutorial watching and re-seaming to achieve the neatness and invisibility I was looking for. And then there came the challenge of getting the sleeves synchronized with the sweater as best as possible, which was like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces don’t exactly fit. And then using another seaming method to close the extra-large holes in the armpit.

After much trial and error and a week later, seaming was complete. This then meant I needed to sew in the remaining ends, and then there was a finished sweater! What a journey to reach the end.

Final Reflections

If you have gotten as far as you have in this post, maybe it is because you care to keep going when your hobby or project gets tough. There are many lessons to extract from many different experiences, but I think these three are pretty critical to just about anything you may embark on.

For any interests that really inspires you and you want to get good at it yourself, keep pressing on and know that these challenges are part of the process. Keep your mistakes ledger handy and the inspiration behind your hobby at your forefront. Do those two things, and you will most certainly succeed at your hobby in time (whatever that looks like to you).

Happy hobbying!

This question is one I have asked myself over the last several months when getting my own time management in order. So, I thought it would make for an interesting post to explore the advantages and disadvantages of time blocking versus spontaneous hobbying. This may help you determine how you’d like to approach your own hobbying based on your personal preferences, strengths and weaknesses, etc.

Time Blocking

This approach involves pre-scheduling what you want/need to do based on open slots in your schedule. You can time block a day, week, or month (or even further out) in advance. For example, you might time block 1 hour to read in the morning or 2 hours to play an instrument in the evening.

Advantages

Establishes Predictability

When you have a calendar of time blocked hobbies, you are very easily able to see what your day/week/month looks like since it’s all planned out. This can work well if you thrive on predictability.

Holds You Accountable

Having your hobbies time blocked creates feasible commitments for getting around them. If you need an extra layer of accountability to actually get around to your hobbies, scheduling your hobbies on a calendar certainly accomplishes that.

Structure Without Rigidity

The core structure that comes with time blocking is defining what you will do and how long you will do it. From there, you can determine what specifically you will dedicate deep focus towards for your hobby.

Sets You Up to Win the Week

If you time block the week ahead and stick with your plan, you will know at the beginning of the week that you will have made progress by the end of it. This works well if you find it difficult to get stuff done without outlining when you’ll do it.

Disadvantages

Life Happens

You can’t always forecast how your day will go down and if you will run into any time overages from factors that are outside of your management. Be prepared that you may need to adjust your time blocks since life will not always go according to how you plan it.

Can Seem a Bit Forced

Perhaps you find that getting around to your hobbies based on a schedule seems a bit regimented and less based on your actual interest to do the hobbies. It varies from one person to another, but this is another possible downside of time blocking.

Possibly Monotonous

By taking a scheduling approach to your hobbies, you may also find that it makes your hobbies seem more like a chore than a genuine thing you want to do. This really depends on how much structure you want (and need) to actually get around to doing constructive activities.

Spontaneous Hobbying

Advantages

Feels More Organic

When you do something you want to do because you genuinely want to do it, it just seems natural. This can make you look forward to returning to that hobby in the near future.

No Scheduling Required

When spontaneously doing your hobbies, you don’t need to create a schedule for what you will do and when. You just focus on your hobby of choice when the time seems right for you.

Triggers Excitement

Hobbying on a whim usually happens because you enjoy the process behind what you are doing and find yourself eager to continue what you are working toward. These positive mind states are great for mental well-being.

Exercises Other Mental Muscles

Getting to your hobby whenever you feel like it also optimizes your mind in other ways. This includes making active decisions, increasing personal motivation, and building a “let’s just do it” mentality.

Disadvantages

Less Predictability

Spontaneously doing your hobbies means that your schedule won’t be as mapped out as if you time blocked your hobbies. If you prefer predictability, you may find this to be a challenge.

Easier to Disregard Your Hobby

Without scheduling your hobby in time blocked increments, you may also find that it is easier to blow your hobby off. Out of sight, out of mind, in a more negative way.

Requires More Discipline

Increasing your self-discipline is not a con in itself; there is so much benefit in becoming a reliable self-starter. If you find that you need extra structure to get around to what you want and need to, though, spontaneous hobbying is likely an approach to consider down the line.

Determining Which is Best for You

Between time blocking and spontaneous hobbying, both can serve different types of hobbyists based on various work styles and preferences. Maybe you find that there is an approach that works better for you based on your motivation, time management, and skills at this time. Or, maybe both approaches could serve you well in difference cases. Feel free to give both a try to see which supports your hobbies best and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Happy hobbying!