I’m working now (graduated for about one year) and I find myself lack the motivation to resume or start a new hobby project. Every night I get home I am just tired and want to have some me time. It’s probably due to the work culture here, but we leave the company quite late (however, we can go to work quite late as well). I can’t really be the one to change it, esp. being a new guy and all that.
One of my coworker friend recently told me that they were just like me once, until they decided to dedicate the whole morning to personal hobby projects since we’ll be working OT anyway. The idea is very enticing but it doesn’t really sit right with me.
So in conclusion, on one hand I really want to have fun making little side hobby projects again but on the other hand I find myself too tired to do them. This extends well into Saturday and Sunday as I usually go out with friends and family during sat/sun, and then I get tired from socializing. What should I do?
Thanks for the detailed and informative reply. One point really resonates with me, and that is cutting half of the computer/phone time. I guess I’ll try this, and cut half the transit YouTube time to something more meaningful. Also, I’ll try adding a bit of light strolling in the evening to see if things get better.
As for the “sleep early” part, even though I really love & want to feel that 4AM absolute silence, (and I have tried that before in uni!) I’m afraid that’s pretty much impossible because we usually work to quite late. Maybe I’ll at least conserve a bit of stamina instead of using it all up, so that I will still have the ability to enjoy things when I get back from work. Although I’m not quite sure about how to do that.
Anyways, this has been very helpful. Will be bookmarking this and come back from time to time. Love that you are doing something I can’t, that 4-8AM period must be so sweet, especially if you get to witness the sunrise through the window :)
This alone can be a life changer. I know for witnessing it how hard it can be for younger people and i also know what the terrible trap screen time is. Wishing you all the success :)
I don’t know what are the hobbies you want to reinvest your time in (and you don’t have to tell me, obviously), but if it is anything related with, say, reading, writing, or even sketching. Transit is a nice opportunity. Just do it… the analog way because if you do it on a screen you will be on a screen, and you will be tempted to check stuff online, check messages, feeds, emails, and if you manage to not check those you will still feel an urge to fiddle with the device in order to ‘optimize the experience’ or something along that line. Analog is your best ally (like the EU used to be for the USA up until recently :p)
To read on the go, I carry a small pocket book with me. To write, I carry a small notebook and cheap Bic ballpoint pen. For sketching, it’s a small sketchbook with the same ballpoint pen plus a pocket box of watercolors that is small enough to fit in my jeans pocket if I wanted to (I don’t I carry my stuff in a small messenger bag). It could be a lot of other activities the analog way, even things like knitting.
Say you feel an urge to send an important message to someone. Don’t. Write it down in your notebook, using that cheap Bic you started carry with you instead. Close the notebook and wait til you’re back home/office to reopen it and read that important message. See, if that message you wrote earlier still seems important enough to be send. You may be surprised. If it is still important, you will still be surprised by how much better written and articulated your message will be once you send it. Win-Win, like they say.
We’re 50+ my spouse and I and we seldom go to bed bed before 10pm at the earliest. I will generally not sleep before midnight (yep, I learned at a very young age to reduce sleep time). Young adult, maybe your age, I was working so much it was considered normal I would see my spouse at all (I would also stay at the office entire nights). But you don’t need to be that extreme.
Say, everyday you decide to you wake up half an hour earlier than usual and, because you made it clear with yourself that you will use these 30 minutes to do something hobby related, after only 7 days you will have spared 3h+ for your activity. And that’s only sleeping 30 minutes less a day. Younger I used that trick to save time to do… scale models (little plastic planes I assembled and painted).
It’s nice to know, thx.
We live in an apartment in a big city, we do not face East but I can still (and do) watch the day rise and the light more and more broadly paint every little detail in the landscape out of the darkness, around me. It’s magical, no matter how silly it looks. Later in spring and summer I also like to have the windows wide open, or sit on our balcony, listen to birds. That is, up until cars start pooping the mood with their roaring engines. Birds have become so few in recent years… I do wonder for how many more years we will be lucky to hear them :/
You probably can do something very close to it (I worked a lot, like a lot the issue was not the work itself, it was my lack of clarity in what I really wanted to do). But you don’t need to to do it like I do either (I know I’m a short sleeper and not everybody is). Find your own compromise, the one that will work for you. Maybe you will realize waking up an hour earlier is that magical spot you needed.
But first, focus your energy on reducing that screen time of yours. This is the most impactful if you’re anything like most younger people, imho. Potentially a real life-changing event. Like I said I wish you all the success!