Welcome back everyone!

I’ve recently gotten back into reading, and it’s been difficult to carve out time to nurture my old favorite hobby. As much as I love to read, I have such a busy schedule in addition to other hobbies (like this blog!) that require a lot of time and headspace as well. There are a couple other hobbies I’ve tried to reintroduce into my life previously as well; some worked out, while others didn’t. Once you feel that something is out of your life, it can be difficult to incorporate it back into your daily routine, whether it’s a sport or something less involved, like reading.

If you’re currently having a similar experience, hopefully these tips will help you incorporate your hobby back into your life. I know it can be frustrating when it used to be so natural or so easy for you to do something and now it’s a struggle to prioritize it and bring it back into your life, but it will be very rewarding once you make it a habit again. Plus, hobbies are supposed to be fun! Use these tips, and soon you’ll be having fun again 🙂

• Utilize time-blocking to find a time for it – If you really want to do something, you’ll have to carve out the time for it. Set a certain window of time each night or each week where you will allow yourself to spend time on this hobby. As you get back into it, if you’re still enjoying it, you can increase this time-block more and more.
• Have reasonable expectations – If you were really good at your hobby in the past, don’t get discouraged starting out as a newbie again. If you start and it’s like you never left, that’s great too! Depending on the hobby, you may have found that you’ve regressed though, and that’s completely okay as well. Don’t expect to be perfect- you’re probably/hopefully just doing this for fun anyways.
• Take it slow – If you’re trying to get back into running (I chose this example because it’s basic), you wouldn’t want to start with a marathon. Take baby steps, and reteach yourself the basics even if you think you remember them well enough. I find this is a good reminder as to how much you enjoyed the hobby before, and it’s always good to review in general.
• Spend time with other people who have that hobby – This will inspire you to spend more time doing it, and it will also usually make you fall in love with your hobby more if you see and listen to people who are super passionate about it talking about it/doing it. It also helps to find your community, because now you can share your love for the hobby together! If it’s running, run together. If it’s reading, start your own book club.
• If you’re over-scheduled, drop something else – This is also a good test to see if starting to get into your hobby again is worth it/important enough to you. Are you willing to give up something else currently a part of your life in order to have time for it? You don’t want to be too pressed for time, and there needs to be a balance in your life, so you may need to drop something else in order to take on a hobby.
• Remember the true purpose of a hobby – As I said, hobbies are supposed to be fun! Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to get to the level that you were at before with your hobby- if you’re starting it up again, hopefully that would mean you actually enjoy it, regardless of your skill level. As long as you’re having fun and making time for yourself to do so, be content with where you are with your hobby in the moment.

I hope these tips helped if you’ve been trying to find the time for an old hobby in your life, or inspired you to start back up with something you used to love doing! I know it’s a challenge at first, but if you truly enjoy the hobby in question, it’s worth making time for and you’ll slip back into it easily. I know that’s been the case with reading- let me know if you have any good book recommendations, by the way 🙂

Brooke