Why All Women Need Hobbies
Originally Posted Oct 1 2015
Hobbies in theory sound amazing, BUT do you actually have them?
Besides wine and chocolate because those aren’t actually hobbies, they’re foods but I’m willing to bet that your mind went there first.
And if you took out girlfriend dinners, coffee dates and get togethers, oh so important, but again not hobbies. These are human interaction.
I’m also going to throw another wrench in this by saying that running, yoga, weights, basically anything that you would deem working out, is also not a hobby. That’s moving your body another requirement that we as humans need on a regular basis.
I’m talking about Creativity, making stuff, making art, physical stuff, the stuff that’s created from you, your mind, your body, your hands.
Using that definition, Do you have a hobby?
It’s come to my attention that for most of us women, we don’t.
We like the idea of a hobby and often say aloud “When I have the time it would be amazing to write, paint, draw, knit, garden…” the list goes on and on, and yet 5 years later most of us have still not found the time to start.
Why is that?
I think they’re a few reasons why this is the case for any women over the age of 17.
Because, when we were young we had them. We painted, played music, were part of the yearbook, acted in the drama club, sang, wrote short stories. Be basically delighted in our own creative brilliance.
And then somewhere we had to make a choice. For me, I chose to be an athlete (which I don’t regret) but it meant that any activity outside of school and skating had to go. So I gave up art and music. For the majority of us, we get serious about school and unless it’s an extracurricular that looks good on a college application, you simply don’t have the time.
It is in that choice that we give up on part of our feminine intelligence, deeming it frivolous and not of value.
And then, enter the college years, we’re get BUSY. Getting degrees, proving our worth in academia, positioning ourselves for good jobs, trying to meet our future spouse, and aspiring to our ideals of perfection. There simply isn’t room for Art.
By the time our children come through, our focus has shifted and we only encourage them to create Art, not make our own.
By this time, we are so bound by the constraints of our perfectionism, that we can’t even start. Unless you taking the time to paint is good enough to be hung in a gallery, or your book will be published and make the best sellers list, it’s not worth it. “Leave making art for the Artists.”
But what if Being Creative for the sake of being creative was the only point?
What if the very action of putting pen to paper or hearing your voice sing aloud awakened your potential? What if it brought you immense healing, brought you back home to your body or opened up opportunities that you only dream of?
I’m asked all the time by my clients, about how they get through or tips to improve their chances of pregnancy during the 2 week wait. I know they’re waiting for me to tell them the magic foods, herbs, or exercise but my answer is always the same. “Get a hobby and make something beautiful.” I can see that they are usually not very impressed with this answer but it’s the most truthful, and the most therapeutic.
Women make things, we conceive and create babies, we make a house a home, we cultivate ideas to teach our children, we bring beauty to life.
When we make things, we open ourselves up to the creative potential that exists within us. For some of you this may be a baby, but for others it might an idea, a new business, a new way of living. It’s limitless.
So, who cares if your art, won’t be hung in a gallery or even a wall in your home for that matter, it doesn’t matter if it’s only your children that like the way you sing. And maybe your journal or manuscript won’t be published. OR maybe it will.
Start, pen to paper, brush to canvas, sing, dust off the piano in your house and play, knit a scarf, arrange flowers, start taking photos. Begin and see what happens...
XO Ashley