How Many Of Us Have Them…
This post was originally written on my Substack here.
I have been thinking about hobbies quite a bit lately because I am in a weird space where there isn’t much in my location that I like to do. I have also been suffering from burn out as well. Most people would consider me a multi-hyphenate. I guess that is what you would call someone who likes to do a lot of different things. Hobbies stimulate my brain, heal a part of me, and wake me up inside. Word to Evanescence.
Going here and there, knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, visiting museum exhibits, and traveling are all so fun for me. Within the last two years, I have taken up tiny house camping as well. It is very chill and relaxing. I get to bring my supplies and meditate out in nature. The other great thing about it is that is cheaper than staying in a hotel. You can find a tiny house campground near a city and stay there for a fraction of the price at one of the main hotel brands.
The tiny house cabins that I usually stay in have a full bath and kitchen. I like the idea of bringing my own food or being able to keep leftovers from a local restaurant to eat the next day. The last campground I stayed at was a KOA campground. The staff was nice and the amenities were wonderful. The other campers were nice and welcoming too. I will definitely stay at one of their campgrounds again.
Partaking in my hobbies has been helping me get through all the craziness of the current time. It is keeping me sane.
I’ve been writing about how one can survive in this wild and scary time. This is one of those ways. Partaking in my hobbies has been helping me get through all this craziness. It is keeping me sane. I have even gone back to my old hobbies like doing word search puzzles for brain health, and I bought the Stitch by Stitch hand sewing workbook by Michelle Chung of WTFashion to re-up on my hand sewing skills and work on my hand dexterity.
Taking a bit of time during the day to practice one of my hobbies has been great for my mental health. They say joy is resistance and it’s true. We have to fight the power and stand up for our rights, but that kind of work is heavy. One must make sure they are taking time to add in bits of rest and joy. It is necessary for the soul, for the mind, and for the body. I hate that we have to remind ourselves of that. This world is so hard on us. We have to work, eat right, exercise, pay bills, clean up, etc. It can all be a bit much at times, but it has to become second nature for us to to take time for ourselves.
How do you all feel about hobbies? What are you doing for fun? I want to know what people are doing in 2026 as far as hobbies are concerned. I recently went to a Paddywax candle making class for my birthday and being creative like that healed my inner child. It felt like I could feel my inner self glowing with joy and effervescence. I was most definitely filled with it. Now I want to take another class or get a candle making kit to work on at home. Let me know what you all are doing for fun these days.
Side note: I don’t know if you have seen the latest hubbub about Substack. I’m not going to go into detail much here, but there are a few things circulating about Neo-Nazis and other issues. I am trying to decide my next steps. While I do like it here on the Stack, I still have my own personal blog and will probably try and repost the few articles I wrote here over there too. Also, I love the creators here, so I am going to still support them since most of them are Black, People of Color, or women. Come support me at JaiShirelle.life when you get a chance. Thank you very much. 🙂