The Blog

The Challenges of Housing a Hobby

02/22/2012 By Nancy Borg With 5 comments

No matter what your passion, craft, or hobby, it needs a proper home.  We should honor and respect our interests with pride of place. A little organization goes along way.

I can still vividly recall (over 20 years ago) my son’s obsession with Legos. He would incessantly build kit after kit and display them with pride on every horizontal surface of his room, refusing to deconstruct any one of them.  Eventually, we ran out of space (duh) so I had to convince my beloved Lego-maniac to re-create a new space in the playroom, break down the projects, organize and sort their separate components into bins. Despite his resistance, he soon realized that it was a lot more fun to play with the Legos in this way because he was able to continuously create new designs and structures.  The bins were organized with like shapes and so he was able to access the pieces very easily.  In retrospect, the old “sets” just sat there collecting dust.  They did not provide my son with the same endless amount of joy that he got from the actual assembly process. Granted, it fulfilled an immediate sense of gratification but then once they were assembled and completed, they became merely frozen statues he never played with.

There were other hobbies too. My family (self- inspired) had a love for jigsaw puzzles.  It was such a fun and engaging activity that set a great stage for intimate family interaction and a natural flow of conversation. The sheer joy came from the family’s participation and our team effort to complete each puzzle.  We set up a card table in our den, which was a designated space for the current puzzle in progress. This was an ongoing activity that often found its way into the wee hours of the nights.  Admittedly, there was always both a sense of satisfaction as well as a sadness that transcended, upon completion of each puzzle.  I recall with delight how we would fight over who could place the very last piece down.  As to preserve these memories, we glued and framed most of them, and decorated our playroom walls. Glancing at them provided us with immeasurable joy as it rekindled the moments we shared.  We since moved from that home and as “empty-nesters” with less space, it was time to bid them farewell.  I took photos of all of them, and then donated them to a Senior Care facility for others to enjoy.

So if this blog has a teachable moment, here it is…if you have a hobby that still brings you continuous pleasure; whether it be crafts, home decor, carpentry, books, coins, etc., design a beautiful space for them.  Chances are, if your space is inadequate, your hobby won’t thrive in that negative environment.  It is so much more inviting to delve into a hobby where you’ve created the proper home and organized all its accompaniments.

These are some key elements you should consider;

 

  • Ergonomics of the work space is crucial.  The hobby/table must accommodate all that you require in order to be efficient while working on a project.  Make sure that the space matches your needs.  Ample shelving surrounding the space will give you additional storage and easy accessibility.  Ditto to the chair…it’s a essential to have a comfortable chair to sit in for countless hours.  It may or may not be critical to be on wheels, but it is important for it to be comfy.

 

  •  Lighting is also an integral component of optimum workspace design.  Poorly lit hobby spaces do not emit high functioning environments and can cause chronic eye strain. It is likely to discourage you from pursuing it further. If you are fortunate enough to be working near natural lighting, or directly adjacent to a window, that’s ideal.  But if you’re not, there are multiple Halogen lamps available that can provide superior light in which to work by.

 

  • Space matters.  Anticipate and factor in the future and allow for expansion.  Hobbies grow. Too often the space is outgrown in a short period of time because it wasn’t designed for growth and change.

 

So make your hobby space succeed for you and design it with optimal functionality in mind.  Think about it…have you really invited your hobby into your home?  Don’t leave it out in the cold garage, or strewn all over the floor. Unattended hobbies generally find their way there. Invite them back in or send them on their merry way.  Love them or let them go.

 

 

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On Life Balance: You Can’t Find it Unless You Feel It

02/15/2012 By Nancy Borg With 2 comments

So many of us are over-extended with both work and “life” schedules, we struggle to balance it all.  We are often sleep deprived and so, fatigue, has become our natural state of mind.  It is our new reality, and yet we continue to battle every day to catch up as if we think we actually can.  But we cannot. And when we realize that there are not enough hours in a day to accomplish all that we had hoped, we just let it spill into the next day, and on and on it goes. Yes indeed, we can lose our sense of self in this unravelling vicious cycle.

Present, guilty as charged.  I write so often about time-management and how powerful it can be in order to reach our goals and maintain balance, but I neglected to include how important it is to carve out some self time.

I have always been an advocate of exercise, but lately it’s been an activity that I dread, and more like something I have to do, not want to do.  In the past, I would squeeze a quick work-out in just to feel like I accomplished something.   Typically, I jump on the treadmill and trot along as random thoughts invade my head, but never really focus on anything in particular except how much longer I need to stay on it.  A prime example of not being present or embracing the moment, but just worthy enough to cross it off my checklist.  Just barely.  Rushing to get my day going, I jump off that treadmill to just start running on essentially a different kind of treadmill; my work schedule.  Truth be told, I have been kidding myself.  I have never reaped the optimal benefit from the time I’ve set aside to find the balance.  The experience was lacking purpose.

Recently, I decided to take up Pilates and I must admit, it has been life-altering.  For me, that one invaluable hour of a day provides me with not only the physical balance I need, but the mental focus I require.  Stepping away from my daily fast pace and taking time out just to breathe, is rejuvenating.  Throughout this new workout, my core is fully engaged and strengthened, and when it’s over, my mind is equally engaged to face the day with an incredible energy to succeed.  It’s my new life-balance.

Don’t be too busy to live a healthy life.  Prioritize.  It’s time to stop chasing your tail.  Working until burnout is not at all productive.

At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter what exercise you prefer, albeit the gym, yoga, or a run.  What is imperative is that you do something to exercise physically and allow the mental juices to flow.  It’s cathartic.  Exercise diffuses the stress.  The more you do, the more you”ll want to do, and the better you will feel.   My trainer always likes to say before a final stretch, “give yourself a hug,” and I do.  And it feels great.

Does your life often feel like a balancing act?  What do you do to feel balanced?

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Time is Telling But What is it Saying?

02/08/2012 By Nancy Borg With 1 comment

Tick-tock…Tick-tock.  Are you running late or running behind?  Ahead of schedule or catching up? How many of us are actually on time?

We rely on our watches to watch “time“. It is fundamentally the only universal reference we have to measure a day. We are governed by time. Who doesn’t wear a watch or carry some sort of device to manage their time? It functions as our own personal alert system to remind us when we have to do just about anything. Time doesn’t only punctuate our mealtimes, appointments, or travel;  it organizes all of our life activities.  It is our ultimate life tracker.

But the interesting thing about time is that we all regard it differently.  Some of us adhere to it fastidiously, while others pay it little respect with a more nonchalant attitude.

I believe that time is our primary executive tool to function everyday and it’s what connects us to one another, like a universal language. Time has exponential value.  And so when we lose track of it, it can easily tumble into a domino effect and disturb all spheres of our lives.  Think about how many infinite and costly consequences there can be as a result of time not being on our side.

Things happen. There are appointments to make, schedules to keep, planes to catch, and time zones to calculate, and if there is one small glitch in the system, it can all go very wrong.  If it’s something that you can control, then be accountable.  Of course, there are always unforeseen circumstances that are clearly out of your hands.  It can be as insignificant as oversleeping (your bad), traffic (unpredictable and excusable, or perhaps you didn’t allow yourself enough time?), or as serious as an unfortunate accident.  In any case, any one of those scenarios can spill into late appointments, missed plane connections, or even the most severe of consequences.

Time may be our life compass but that doesn’t mean you cannot steer your own ship.  Be the captain of your helm.  Plug in the coordinates of your life and manage them.  Use time as your organizer, not your ruler.  And ask yourself this; do you control time or does time control you?  Do you play with time effectively or do you live on the edge with time?  Evaluate, pay attention,  and you’ll see….time will tell.

 

 

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