Finding Joy
How does that saying go? “Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life.” I completely understand the sentiment of this saying, and when I went off to college, I had this mantra in mind when I selected interior design as my program of choice. And as much as I have been fulfilled by my career and have enjoyed what I do for a living, I feel like the “do something you love” phrase is a limiting thought and that it is just as important to find activities that you enjoy outside of work.
When we are young, we spend a lot of our time thinking about what we will do for a career-who we will be when we grow up-but I would argue that just as importantly, we should develop hobbies and explore activities that bring us joy outside of work. It is not always possible to find a career that you love and even when you do love it, there are going to be days that make you question why you are there. However, if we find hobbies, and activities that spark joy into our lives and provide a fulfillment in the hours outside our work day, the challenging days at work become less challenging.
I think we all know someone who is a workaholic. They work late nights at the office and are rewarded by a fruitful career that drives them further into investing time into their workplace. They do not have time for outside activities and are less likely to retire because their career is everything. Equal to this individual is the person who is drawn in by the rise of digital media, lured into spending their time scrolling mindlessly, watching videos that they are not even truly interested in.
While I understand why both groups do what they do and I am not here to judge, I want to put the idea out there that I think we should spend more time exploring activities and hobbies as adults. I know when my son was young we put him in everything. We went to parent and child classes at the library and community centres. He was enrolled in gymnastics, skating, swimming, baseball, jujitsu and art classes. We took him camping, fishing and taught him how to play guitar. We read all sorts of books and listened to a lot of different genres of music. The goal was to let him explore everything so that he could decide what he was interested in most.
I think we lose that sense of exploration as adults. We get stuck in routine and chores and sometimes it’s just easier to Netflix and chill.
I’m not saying those things are terrible. There are many years when my son was younger that my sole focus was going to work and taking care of a toddler. As my son got older though, it became very important to me to rediscover the things that I love to do outside of work.
For me, I started painting again and growing my indoor plant collection. I occasionally find a good book to read. I have also returned to swimming and aquafit which I didn’t realize I missed so much until I got back in the pool.
If you are inspired at all to search out a new hobby there are great ways to do this at low to little investment. Many municipalities have community centres and libraries that offer programs for arts and crafts, music, sports, cooking and gardening. Art galleries and creative arts centres have classes where you can use their materials, so you can test out different mediums without having to invest in a bunch of materials. Online is also an option. Places like Skillshare and MasterClass offer a variety of courses on different subjects and there is a lot to explore.
If you have already found an activity that brings you joy, I would love to hear about it. Please leave a comment below and we can start the conversation.
Next week I will be participating in the Elora Plein Air Competition. It is four days of painting in Wellington County capped off with a show and sale on Sunday from 12-5 at the Elora Centre for the Arts. It is a great weekend to learn about outdoor painting, take in a walking tour or participate in other activities at the festival. To learn more about the festival, you can see their website here.
As always, I wish you a wonderful week ahead.
Laura