I somehow witnessed over the course of the past months / years that my expectations rose, and therefore I was constantly annoyed with the kind of ("little to no") progress I made when it came to activities I really actually just did because I enjoyed them. I also felt that during all of this time, the urge to do something just for the reason that it could make me happy was deteriorating in itself. It was hard for me to do random stuff on Duolingo, to pick up my guitar, to write songs, to write poetry, etc. And I know it unfortunately IS something I am not all alone with...
Also, my idea of having "hobbies" was pretty much similar to what the person who made the following video said in the beginning of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcGwlOn28B0... That it should actually be called "disciplines", because otherwise the word wouldn't sound like something that actually is worth one's time. I am also struggling with hobbies not being my "general field of work", if I could call it that, and that's also why I often feel incredibly scared of choosing one profession, because I fear it would get me away from my other areas of interest. I know this sounds ridiculous maybe, but the struggle is real.
I always identified myself as a person who has a large variety of interests, hobbies, disciplines to define who I was deep down, because I didn't know who I would be without them. If you like making music, you can call yourself a musician to a certain extend, if you paint on a regular basis, you are an artist, if you love nothing more than dancing, dancer is the term I would use, etc. All these little descriptions meant even more to me than the hobbies themselves: I just realised that. Initially, of course, I LOVED all the things I used to label myself with. I LOVED it all... I was all of these things: Musician, tarot reader, artist, dancer, astrologist, language enthusiast (or like they call it: "polyglot"), traveller, writer, designer (web & fashion), ... Of course, all were "just" hobbies, but I saw them in a really competitive way with others; it didn't make it any easier for me nor did it make the conversations and life with other people any easier & happier.
I now ask myself, how
could I even get back to the state of simply enjoying those things for what they are / mean to me? How can I just stay in the moment, in a peaceful, non-judgmental way towards myself?
I often had this exact feeling with making music, the BIGGEST of my loves maybe, and it broke my heart each time I thought, "I am not made for this. Everybody is better than me. I don't have a right to enjoy it if it is not perfect. I don't fit into the music world...", etc. I would usually belittle myself here, saying those thoughts are not that big of a deal, but they are, and they are also stuff others struggle with maybe on a regular basis. I always came to the conclusion (When touching my guitar again after a long period of not doing so...) that the thoughts were unjustified. That I still had it in me, that it still mattered to me. That it was a neverending love story, if you will.
So, I really need to find ways out of these states of mind, I feel. Not just for myself. How to even be present in the moment when all you think about is your PAST (
What did I do wrong again last year in February? And what about this horrible thing that happened in my childhood? And, hey, what about my father, who always despised me and my artistic endeavors?) and the FUTURE (
How can I get out of this state and finally be happy? What can I do right now to make myself happy in the future? Oh dear, and what if I really end up failing at all my endeavors? Will I be happy with who I am then?)... I really urge everybody reading this to think about this. Maybe you never struggled with this at all, of course, which makes me happy for you (Really, it does. Tell me about that :D!). Maybe you do struggle and have no idea either, then let's maybe brainstorm together, or support each other, encourage each other... And maybe, you struggled in the past and overcame your whatever-it-may-be, then please tell me how you managed to do that.
// On a totally random, unrelated note: Saw a bigger car today which had "We do!" written on it. Reminded me of a discussion I had with my sister yesterday, about that stonecutters episode from the Simpsons, in which they sang a song having this title... :D Don't believe me?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcV-SC6ha2I //