How much time do we devote to what we are truly passionate about in life? This is a question that crosses my mind every time I try to think of reasons why I have abandoned so many hobbies that I enjoyed many years ago; and no matter how hard I try, I cannot find any valid reasons for doing so.
Don't act as if you are going to live ten thousand years
Without meaning to, I was reminded of the famous phrase by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, when he said, “Don't act as if you are going to live ten thousand years,” because it fits perfectly with the way we live today.
We postpone the activities we enjoy in order to achieve goals that we believe are more important, but in the end we don't do the postponed activities due to lack of time and determination, which means we end up ignoring our needs for personal fulfillment.
Because hobbies are necessary and are part of our personal fulfillment; yet, most of us don't devote enough time to them, or worse, we don't devote any time to them at all. We believe that we have all the time in the world and that at some point we will be able to devote time to those activities that we enjoy and that bring us joy, but we are constantly deceiving ourselves in our actions. Are we believing that we are going to live ten thousand years, as the Stoic Marcus Aurelius said?
Do we often forget about ourselves?
Whenever we talk about important issues in life, we reach a crossroads where time appears to be the central issue. On a topic as important as hobbies and recreation, one might wonder if we postpone the good moments in life because we arrogantly or innocently believe we are going to live ten thousand years, or is it perhaps due to mere carelessness?
My position on this is that with the responsibilities we have, we often forget about ourselves. There are tasks to complete, money to earn, bills to pay; and we believe everything is higher on our list of priorities than our mental health. Because hobbies are mental health, let's not deny it.
We put off hobbies and the good times they bring us so much that we never leave room for them; and then we wonder why we feel so tired and apathetic in life. Stop and see if you are leaving enough time for recreation in your daily life.
What can we do to set aside some time for our hobbies?
If we rely on logic, we forget our hobbies because we don't value their real importance to our mental health and sanity. Because there always seems to be something more important. But what can we do to remedy this?
The first thing is to recognize that they are important, and that there is no way to live fully by neglecting them. The second and most important thing is to make time for them. That's why lately I've been listening to more music, reading more books, and watching more television.
I like listening to jazz even while I work, and that's something I had forgotten, so I've started dusting off my old jazz records and listening to them while I write. I also like to go out with my wife to eat at a good restaurant whenever my budget allows, and I'm doing that more now. Reading is almost as much of a delight for me as eating, and I love watching documentaries on television, so I'm devoting more time to these activities as well. Now I spend more time on them without neglecting my obligations, but rather balancing them, which is what I should have been doing from the beginning.
I must admit that I feel better since I started putting this into practice. But I understand that for many people, finding time for hobbies will be difficult. For some, the reason is that they don't have any, and for others, it's that they can't find a way to make time for them. For those who don't have any, they should look into their lives until they discover what non-work activities they enjoy, and for those who already know what hobbies they like, they should set aside some time each week to practice them.
The difference in our mental health will not be noticeable in the short term, but in the medium and long term, that is where we will notice it, because it is exactly like starting to go to a gym; the first few days we will not notice a difference in our physical condition, but over time, that is where we will see the results of our efforts. It's exactly the same thing, but applied to mental and emotional health. Because not everything in life should be work and obligations; life is more than that, and we have to try to enjoy it. Think about it.
