Life has a way of becoming hectic, so everyone needs to find ways to relax. Even in the past people found that hobbies and interests were great ways to relax. As Dale Carnegie said "Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto."
I find my best ways to relax is by enjoying a variety of hobbies in what little leisure time I have available. These hobbies range from knitting, reading, writing, listening to a large variety of music, watching movies/dvds, playing with our two dogs, playing with the grandchildren, photography, surfing the internet, kicking back with my husband watching television. Sometimes when I am really stressed I find the best way to de-stress and relax is by baking or golfing. For golfing it would have to be good weather and I'd definitely have to have a partner, which usually is my husband or a friend. Therefore, golfing to me is only a part-time leisure hobby since it requires me to make reservations for a tee-time and find an available partner. My husband's been an avid golfer since the age of nine years old, therefore, it's not hard to get him to go. You just have to whisper the word golf and he is up to it in a second. It's working it around his odd-ball schedule, which is swings. I do more knitting, writing, listening to music and playing with our dogs/grandchildren than most of the others. With my wide variety of hobbies I would have to agree that I have enough to do one each day and never tire of ever repeating one a week. Therefore, when Phyllis McGinley says "A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away" I would definitely agree.
However, I also enjoy growing and tending tomato plants and an herb garden through the spring and summer seasons. I find this type of gardening very relaxing and healthy in many beneficial ways. As I get outside more for fresh air and sunshine. I also enjoy the sights of the butterflies, squirrels, and birds that visit our yard. That is relaxing in itself. When I used to have a much larger garden full of a large assortment of vegetables, seven years back, I found plenty of relaxation and fulfillment in it then. However, that was in a different place and when my mother was alive. My mother and I tended the garden together. It made her feel and act years younger, I believe because it relaxed her and also lifted her spirits. Each morning, with our coffee in hand, we would see who could get outside first to check on the garden's growth. We were like two overgrown children trying to outdo one another. Many years our tomato plants grew as tall as my mom, who happened to be 5 feet 4 inches. Those are moments I treasure as I check my tomatoes each summer and the smell of them rubs off on my hands. Those memories come flooding back, as the sun warms my cheeks, I bask relaxing in the memories of mom and our gardens of the past.
My husband and I also jump in our truck to go on day trips. These little jaunts have produced many interesting inspirations in which to write about. Along with numerous photographs and encounters with interesting people. Many of the people we've met have been quite informative with a variety of information/stories about the places/people of the areas. That are also great characters for my writing hobbies, along with the information I've gleaned from encountering them. On occasion we actually make friends of some of the people too. Which reminds me of one more quote. Wilfred Peterson said "A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints."
In today's society hobbies are fast becoming more and more popular. It is a person's way to relax and re-energize after a long day at work. So if you haven't done so by now, get yourself a hobby and de-stress.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Why I Write:
Life's Journey of Writing
I began writing at the age of nine years old. Fascinated by authors who caught my very attention with their words that transported me to other worlds and realms of fantasy and dreams. My ways to escape the hum-drums of life. I fantasize that someday my words that I write upon pages may also transport someone else to the same depths of desire to escape their hum-drums of existence. Realizing these escapes are only momentarily is enough to allow any writer to continue to want to write for the public for entertainment. However, I don't just write for the public I also write for myself, to leave my impression upon this earth that I was in existence here. It's our own way to express our own emotions that need a release too.
Writing to me is my way to explore my dreams and fantasies. It's my way to escape the humdrum and harsh reality that life sometimes throws our way. Life has it's ups and it's downs, it's reasons to smile and frown. We often have harsh realities to face like the sudden death of loved ones or heartbreak. Therefore, writing is the way I can pour out my feelings from deep within my soul. All the pain I suffer along with the heartbreak of love I write into a poem, letter, memoir, journal, article, a short story or song. In this way I can help either ease these pains or honor the person whom has passed on who I will miss with such a heavy heart. The pain of a broken heart can be eased in a similar way also by putting that pain into poetry or a song which sometimes can make it an exceptional piece. Maybe, the relationship didn't work out however something still can come out of it, after all, I find out by writing it out.
Life needs to be written down. We are all on our journey in life and we should write about each of our individual journey's including our ups and downs. Our pains, our joys and our experiences are richly deserving to be written about. Such as the joy of marriage, love, the birth of a child, the very moment you knew how you felt about that special person. Yes, life needs to be written about, it's the grandest of all stories that needs to be told. So I write all I can about nature, life as it happens, all the joys and the pains. My dreams and my fantasies. When my children were younger I enjoyed creating bedtime stories for them, these gave them fantasies in which to build their dreams upon. They were also good material for the foundation of many writings for children.
Writing is an escape from a bad or boring moment and puts one into another realm of existence which can be tantalizingly exciting if you write it to be. As a freelance writer I enjoy being able to express myself through writing. I write about my journey and all the exciting places I have been and what I have done. I shall continue through my journey of life, and I will continue to write about it all as I do. After all, even on our headstones there is always something, in the end there, that is always written. What is it you want to leave behind to be remembered by? What do you want written on your headstone? I want "here lie a writer of life."
For an additional way to write click here
I began writing at the age of nine years old. Fascinated by authors who caught my very attention with their words that transported me to other worlds and realms of fantasy and dreams. My ways to escape the hum-drums of life. I fantasize that someday my words that I write upon pages may also transport someone else to the same depths of desire to escape their hum-drums of existence. Realizing these escapes are only momentarily is enough to allow any writer to continue to want to write for the public for entertainment. However, I don't just write for the public I also write for myself, to leave my impression upon this earth that I was in existence here. It's our own way to express our own emotions that need a release too.
Writing to me is my way to explore my dreams and fantasies. It's my way to escape the humdrum and harsh reality that life sometimes throws our way. Life has it's ups and it's downs, it's reasons to smile and frown. We often have harsh realities to face like the sudden death of loved ones or heartbreak. Therefore, writing is the way I can pour out my feelings from deep within my soul. All the pain I suffer along with the heartbreak of love I write into a poem, letter, memoir, journal, article, a short story or song. In this way I can help either ease these pains or honor the person whom has passed on who I will miss with such a heavy heart. The pain of a broken heart can be eased in a similar way also by putting that pain into poetry or a song which sometimes can make it an exceptional piece. Maybe, the relationship didn't work out however something still can come out of it, after all, I find out by writing it out.
Life needs to be written down. We are all on our journey in life and we should write about each of our individual journey's including our ups and downs. Our pains, our joys and our experiences are richly deserving to be written about. Such as the joy of marriage, love, the birth of a child, the very moment you knew how you felt about that special person. Yes, life needs to be written about, it's the grandest of all stories that needs to be told. So I write all I can about nature, life as it happens, all the joys and the pains. My dreams and my fantasies. When my children were younger I enjoyed creating bedtime stories for them, these gave them fantasies in which to build their dreams upon. They were also good material for the foundation of many writings for children.
Writing is an escape from a bad or boring moment and puts one into another realm of existence which can be tantalizingly exciting if you write it to be. As a freelance writer I enjoy being able to express myself through writing. I write about my journey and all the exciting places I have been and what I have done. I shall continue through my journey of life, and I will continue to write about it all as I do. After all, even on our headstones there is always something, in the end there, that is always written. What is it you want to leave behind to be remembered by? What do you want written on your headstone? I want "here lie a writer of life."
For an additional way to write click here
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