Hobbies and such..

So, let me set a scene for you, my dear readers imagine a Monday night, me leaning over the light from my laptop while next to me my child sleeps tired from the day. I, myself totally knackered from my day which seems like a constant run but I feel like I have something to say so I sit and write. In my life there is no time and for every task I need to make time, therefore I sit here collecting my thoughts and try to put them into a cohesive and legible flow of words, all the while making sure my eyes don’t shut.

This is my hobby, writing , remember the days when people used to have actual hobbies and none of which included things like doomscrolling endlessly into the night. Everywhere, from the slambooks of our childhood, on first dates, even on job interviews and am guessing arranged marriage meetings also we are most definitely asked this question, what are your hobbies. I wonder who all could answer this question with any honesty today, when we all have only one hobby these days and that’s our phones. An all-comprehensive device which holds many, many gigabytes of information none of which ever ends up permeating the surface of our brain.

Hobbies like reading, writing, baking, crafting, embroidery, pottery, cleaning, am not sure but also gaming for some, provide a much needed escape for your mind. Every activity done during the day in our everyday life is driven by results, for example; work is money or success whatever the case maybe, going to the gym is directly related to the pointer on the weighing scale for many and even parenting is done with the purpose of achieving a certain future, like a well balanced child maybe. On the other hand, hobbies come with almost no expectations, no results to achieve only the recreation of the mind and soul in the little time we give them. They provide an escape from the everyday and there is a sense of accomplishment at the end of it, which does nothing but build our self esteem.

Therefore I propose today, let’s start a movement, to rediscover these hobbies whatever they maybe, and take “azadi” from the internet and the barrage of content it offers, of people making food or eating food, buying stocks or selling stocks, styling clothes or buying clothes and doing many, many other things, while we lie flat on our back consuming this content and not doing anything ourselves. It’s time to be worried about our own screen time also while we worry about the screen time of our kids. For once, perhaps make a clay pot, solve a puzzle or even sit in idle silence for that matter, in the extra time we have carved for ourselves just by chucking our phone in the other room.