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Curiosity and Hobbies as We Get Older
790 Plays18 days ago
In Episode 5 of Just 4 Moms, Charlotte leads a discussion on the topic of hobbies and staying curious as an adult, as well as the challenges and joys of staying creative as busy moms. The conversation touches on how to balance the demands of kids and family life with personal hobbies and how to reignite the spark of creativity that often fades as adults. They reflect on the importance of leaning into the process of creativity, rather than focusing solely on the finished product. With plenty of laughs, relatable moments, and advice on how to get started with new hobbies, this episode is a reminder that it’s never too late to discover something new.
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Transcript
Dog Chaos During Deliveries
00:00:00
Speaker
The dog has figured out how to stand on her hind legs and look out the front windows. That's not always an issue until it is. And I just heard. Until Amazon comes. Right. I mean, sometimes it's just like the mailbox, but do you you shouldn't be able to hear through the mic. but I don't. I don't.
00:00:18
Speaker
No, it's a lot.
Introduction to 'Just For Moms' Podcast
00:00:21
Speaker
Welcome to Just For Moms. I'm Charlotte. I'm Caitlin. I'm Megan. And I'm Callie. We are regular moms talking about regular stuff like aging, parenthood, work-life balance, and figuring out what's for dinner again.
Podcast Objective: A No-Judgment Zone
00:00:34
Speaker
A no judgment zone to talk, laugh, and maybe cry about all the things women think about on a daily basis. things i'll plan
00:00:42
Speaker
All right, are we ready? I guess so. We're just going to, this is a leap of faith, but we're going to start. Everyone's here. Everyone's bandwidth, literally yeahly and With sick kids everywhere, right?
Celebrating Milestones and Connectivity Issues
00:00:55
Speaker
Hi everyone. Welcome to Just for Moms. I'm Charlotte. And then we have Megan and Caitlin and Callie. And we're excited to be here. What is this episode five? Is that right? yeah I see nodding. That's exciting. I'm happy that we've made it this far without throwing our computers out the window. We're close today.
00:01:15
Speaker
Yeah, Caitlin, we may lose Caitlin, but we said we
Managing Kids' Sports Involvement
00:01:18
Speaker
would just soldier on. But what have you guys been up to? I put down for my end of the chat, ah kids sports. And I feel like I wrote that in a minute of having watched like seven consecutive basketball games or something ridiculous. And I don't dislike them. My kids are old enough that I enjoy watching them. But do you guys, are your kids in sports yet? We opted out.
00:01:42
Speaker
we tried We tried soccer and I was like, this is not fun. um So we just danced. We lost her. And now we lost her. We'll never know. We'll never know what happened about soccer. My kids are still little enough that we can like choose to not, you know so we don't. Our kids are in swim lessons. Yeah, we did that. That was cool. Yeah.
00:02:01
Speaker
Do you have to be in the pool with them at swim lessons? No, no, no. We wait until they're three so that we do not need to be. so That's the same rule. When you're three, you get to start swim lessons. yeah That's well played. I remember doing that with, gosh, it must've been my oldest when we moved out to the suburbs because in the city, I'm sure you can find swim lessons, but it's not easy. and Then in the suburbs, it was just a thing. and I didn't need to be in a bathing suit in February. so no No, absolutely not. Caitlin, are you back? I hope so. You left us at a cliffhanger. She was like, we don't do soccer with our kids. And then we lost you. And then I like and then i decided I didn't want to be here anymore. um No, we tried soccer um with both of my older girls. But you know my husband played basketball all the way to college, so he wants a sport.
00:02:52
Speaker
dance is a sport, but he want he wants like a ah different sport. And um the girls are just not into it. Annabelle tried basketball. Yeah. I was like, maybe you guys want to play field hockey in high school. Like I did. And Annabelle was like, ew. So yeah, we just dance. We'll see what Arbor does though. she She's, she's.
00:03:12
Speaker
We don't know yet.
Intense Competition in Children's Sports
00:03:13
Speaker
Nico's into basketball. That's in our house too right now, Charlotte. So practices three times a week. We're just doing one league. You can also do Y-ball, but that would mean two leagues and more driving and more games. So we're just opting for one this winter for Nico. Yeah. That's what we try to do. I mean, I will say that I love watching my kids out there and I think it's great for them. I am always just astounded. I think we've talked about this before. I'm always astounded at the level of I mean, frankly, projection that comes from some of the other parents, like the intensity with which they approach some of these sports is, I know I'm not, this is not new news, but it's, I don't know. There was a coach the other week that was just, like his face was almost red. He was screaming so loud at third grade boys playing basketball. He was like, we talked about this. What what are you doing?
Procrastination in Household Tasks
00:04:04
Speaker
That's not right. And I was like, bro, they're nine. Like, yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker
Anyway, that's the that's the dirty underbelly of it all, but we've been very fortunate. My kids have always had very sweet coaches and they enjoy it. But yeah, that that's all of a sudden you blink and that's your life, right? Yeah, the intensity. Does anyone else have anything that's new that they want to bring up in the chat before we get into our mom fails? I'm still rage cleaning other than that. i Yeah, I don't know. i want to so Can I celebrate my myself for one minute?
00:04:35
Speaker
Is that allowed? Always. I did something that I'm really proud of. My brother-in-law repaired our bathroom ceiling probably a year ago, and I was supposed to paint the ceiling. So that took me like two months. And then as I painted the ceiling, I realized I probably needed to repaint the walls, but I brought the wrong color, so I just only painted halfway down.
00:04:56
Speaker
And that was like eight months ago. And so I just finished repainting the whole bathroom now. So I'm really proud of myself because my bathroom looks beautiful now. It took a year. And you cleaned up. You were worried about your zoom backdrop. I guess we're not on zoom, but you were worried about your backdrop and it
Overcoming Procrastination
00:05:14
Speaker
looks perfect. Is it just shoved under the bed? No, there's still, if you look really hard, there's a little basket of crap back there, but mostly everything's moved downstairs because now I'm just taking a bucket You don't see it good. I'm just taking a bucket and a paintbrush and I'm touching up all of the trim in our house. So downstairs now a mess. That's what I do. Callie, you just moved. Did you have that feeling where
00:05:38
Speaker
you realized how simple all these things that you just put off and put off and put off, you have to take care of before you're you move and it feels so good. And it's like, that took, I mean, would it take you Caitlin five hours max to like finish all that painting? Maybe a little longer, but it was not like, it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't worthy of 10 months of, and then you move and all of a sudden it's like, why am I such a dumb dumb about this?
00:06:03
Speaker
I think sometimes it's because the so it's the thought of starting a job is more difficult than the actual job. like Once you get into it, you're like, oh, this wasn't so bad. This is kind of fun. I'm listening to music. No, my kids aren't around. But it's just getting there.
Podcasts as Motivation
00:06:19
Speaker
I mean, that's like most things. There's a, there's a fun buzzword for that. It's called task initiation. So it's like the act of starting the task. And they say that most of us aren't like actually like lazy about doing things. It's just that we have trouble initiating. Like once you start, you'll probably keep going.
00:06:36
Speaker
and that's very Callie, I need task initiation for my playroom because... no you No, you don't probably. You probably don't. You probably need to slow down and stop cleaning and take a break. No, the playroom has not been touched in like a year and a half, like a deep clean, and it's bad. I mean, I even found like a grimy chicken nugget like a few weeks ago up there. it needs like i'm just not You just have to be in the mood because I feel like the playroom takes hours. It's not like just a drawer or the bathroom. It's like hours and good will trips. I'll give you my
Mom Fails and Parenting Reflections
00:07:13
Speaker
hack about it. One, just do it. right Just start because that's the whole task initiation. But my my best trick when you have like a really big thing where you're like you don't even know where to start and it's like overwhelming and is like make
00:07:25
Speaker
like break it down into really tiny things. Like little, like, okay, I'm going to do like this bin, I'm going to do this shelf, I'm going to take just the Goodwill stuff. So breaking into tiny little bits. So then that way, like tomorrow, you can be like, okay, I can do this one 10 minute thing and then like chip away at it that way. For me, I also find, and there's a name for this, but I don't remember what it was, what it is. If you connect something that you enjoy with something that you enjoy less, then you're more inclined to do it. So I have like an arsenal of podcasts that I really look forward to hearing every week, audio, but like whatever it is. And so the minute I start playing that, it's like, okay, yay. Now I really want to just be in it and listening for an hour and a half. So I'm not just going to sit around and like pick my fingernails and listen, I want to be up and doing something. So that, that usually helps me get going the minute I stop scrolling like tick tock or something. And I just,
00:08:14
Speaker
hit play on a podcast or an audio book. I was just going to say that maybe I should put a podcast on, but I do get lazy, Charlotte. I like to scroll on TikTok instead, then cleaning the the playroom. It's just yeah easier said than done. That's what makes you human. Okay. Mom fails. I definitely have one, but I want to hear from you guys. Does anyone have anything that they want to share with our listeners
Balancing Family Activities and Relaxation
00:08:37
Speaker
this week. Well, also with mine, I was realizing, and maybe this is on the coattails of the kids sports conversation, I feel like my kids are at an age, and apologies to those of you with littles, but I feel like they're at an age where they're kind of happy just to go off and like disappear into their spaces and listen to a podcast or read a book or you know sneak some thing on their Chromebooks. And I feel like it's
00:09:05
Speaker
it We're not doing enough stuff like just for fun on the weekends. like When they're little, they couldn't do all that and so we had to go to the science museum or the children's museum. like We just had to get out and do stuff and now because our weekends, they're not busy because of sports, but every day we're out of the house a few times going to sports and then we come home and everyone just plunks down and sort of melts into the furniture. and I'm having a little mom guilt that we don't get up and go on a hike or go to the Peabody Museum or, I don't know, there's other things that we can explore and we're just not doing it. Yeah, but I feel like that's ... I know that's common in our house too in the winter months. Don't you feel like like in the spring, in the summer, you have more energy to go outside and do things? First January, February, right? Maybe. That's a good point. Maybe. That may be right. But even in the winter, like bowling, I don't know.
00:10:00
Speaker
But do you feel like you're failing yourself or your kids? Like you're you're taking away something fun that they could be doing? Or not taking away, but just not offering something fun that they could be doing? Because maybe they're perfectly content doing their own things.
00:10:14
Speaker
They're totally content, which is part of the problem. So it's not like we go to bed on a Sunday and the kids are like, that weekend sucked. I hated that weekend. But like kids don't know. I don't know. Do you remember growing up, there was never a moment when I was like, I want to get up and go do something. And it was always a little bit of a forced march. And then I look back on all those weekends now as a grown up and it's like, I'm really glad glad that we had to go on that nature hike or go to that museum or do that thing. And so I guess I'm sort of in the middle of like, I don't want to be forcing them to do something every weekend, but I feel like there's a happy medium that maybe we could do better
Managing Sibling Conflicts
00:10:50
Speaker
with. Yeah. I mean, I think there's a balance. I mean, especially like you said right now, your kids are so busy with sports. Like, I don't know, maybe it's just like the introvert and me, but like sometimes I, we stay home a whole day and I'm like, we all needed this. Like we don't need to always be going and and like doing stuff. But I mean, I get what you mean, but I do,
00:11:07
Speaker
I do think it's a it's a fine line. Are they asking to do things, Charlotte? Or they're just content and happy at home. You feel like you have to take them. Yeah, but they don't know. You know what I mean? I get it, too. Yeah. yeah like I forced all my kids out on a hike this weekend, and nobody really wanted to, but then we did it, and it was good. Right. And it's not coming from ... My husband's not thinking of, you don't even, so it's like, I feel like he's never gonna. And so if anyone's going to do it, it has to be me. So then there's like a double pressure of like, I'm having a nice time like catching up on work. But also like when you're a parent, you're in charge of kind of moving the needle for the rest of these people. Yes, and it's on you. Yeah, I'm getting this now. I understand what you're saying, because I did feel this recently. It was like,
00:11:55
Speaker
I mean, my family's been sick for weekends. And we were on like day 100 of doing nothing on a weekend because someone was sick. And I think at this, on this day, no one was actually sick, but I was in just such a lull of doing nothing that I'm like, we have to do something. And so I made everybody go ice skating and it was really fun. And they were like, yay, I'm glad we got out. But I was sitting there thinking I could sit here and just clean and paint, but My kids are doing nothing and I'm going to make them do something now. So I get it. We get housatosis. I like to be home, but like sometimes the housatosis kicks in where everyone's like, what are we doing? And then you bring up three different options and no one wants to do it. And then you get there and two of the three are happy. So I don't know. I've never heard that, Megan. That's very clever. yo that like that word
00:12:46
Speaker
Did you make that up or is that a thing? No, my mom always said it to us. She would be like, I'm getting hosatosis. We need to leave. And now here I am saying it myself.
00:12:57
Speaker
It explains so much about you that that was a word that your mother coined, right? Yeah. I mean, again, I've done reels about this. It's so true. So many things that I do and say, I'm like, my mother. And you know, I rolled my eyes and now I'm like, Megan, you're you're doing the same thing. Okay. Any other, I mean, thanks for talking me off the ledge, guys. That makes me feel a little better. but Does anyone else have any mom fails? No. I mean, we
Staying Curious and Creative as Moms
00:13:18
Speaker
we i'll give you I'll give you one little one just to counteract because yours is the opposite of having little kids. We have little kids right now and we're going through a phase of everyone hitting each other.
00:13:26
Speaker
so over you know, that you just yeah are writing it out. We don't need to discuss it any further. I just hope it makes you feel better. Yeah, I remember always wondering like, what like,
00:13:37
Speaker
When does the conflict between the children become problematic? And like at what point is it normal? And when does it teeter into problematic? Because it's just a lot. OK, our topic for this week was actually a viewer question, topic, comment request. And it resonated with me a lot. And so I forced the other women to get on board. But the question was something like as you get older as a mom, what do you do to keep yourself curious and motivated and engaged? Does that sound about right? I can't remember. yeah tap and For me, this has become a little bit of my sort of soapbox that I have on my personal platform because I just realized that
00:14:23
Speaker
And I actually gave a talk about this at a local senior center because if you look at how kids experience the world, they are just fundamentally ah kind of creative beings that just revel in the process of creativity. They really don't give any thought to where it is they're going. They just love the act of making something. And I think at the time my daughter was making something out of cardboard that I don't know if you looked at it, you would have no idea, but if you asked her about it, it was this very long detailed skating rink with disco lights and it was just wonderful, but it didn't look anything like it. But she didn't care. And as as grownups, at some point we sort of lose the thread on the fundamental celebration of not just creativity, but also the process that comes behind it.
00:15:09
Speaker
and I think one of the things that I love about my job and this sort of weird little niche that I've carved for myself online is that I have given myself permission to kind of be creative at any given moment. But I also think that part of that is allowing myself to be comfortable sort of asking the question, like I wonder what would happen if or just sort of chasing my tail a little bit and following any kind of breadcrumb. And I think that that is a muscle that we forget that we have. And so I don't know that I have any specific things that I do as a hobby because my job is innately so creative. But I like the essence of that question, which was, as we get older and we have so many day-to-day responsibilities that may not necessarily bring us joy in the moment, how do we
00:16:02
Speaker
Find the time to bring in sort of these things that do fill our cup and make us creative and what might that look like and I guess my first kind of word of wisdom would be not to get too caught up in.
00:16:18
Speaker
Like what the thing is, it's more, how does it make you feel? So if you love working with your hands, I don't know, make a collage out of magazines the way you did in first grade or knit or watercolor and really try not to worry about what it is you're making. Just think about how you feel when you're doing it. Cause I think that as adults, we, I don't know, it's all about the finished product and that's just.
00:16:43
Speaker
kind of
Rediscovering Childhood Hobbies
00:16:44
Speaker
antithetical to the creative process. um But I'd love to hear, I'm sure I have more written down, but that was sort of my first, that's my my spiel because I just think we forget to lean into this. So what do you when when you saw that question, what did you guys think about? Okay, when you posted this as our topic, I didn't think of it the way you just explained it, and now it's just changed my entire the the path I wanted to take as I talk. Because I like what you said, that you forget how to just do things that make you happy, which could be something creative or or, you know, a hobby or something like that. And I think that when I had my first child, it was like that was my whole life. So there was no other, that's just all my brain was doing. It's just like, mom, mom, mom, mom. And then I went back to work as a teacher. So then it was,
00:17:37
Speaker
be a teacher and be a mom. And I don't know when it happened. I think actually my therapist probably was pushed me to do something to find something that brought me joy that had nothing to do with work, motherhood, ah being a wife. Like any of the the roles that I had, I had to find something else. And she she pushed me to find things that brought me joy again and everything that I've been doing and finding pleasure doing are things that I did when I was little that I forgot that I like to do. You just said like making a collage when I was I totally forgot I used to do this every time it was somebody's birthday I would make their card homemade so I would like go around the house find magazines I'd find fabric and I would glue all of these things together I might draw paint I was never an artist or anything like that and it could be like the tackiest card of all time but
00:18:32
Speaker
I could tell you why I put every little thing on that card and why and I did it for whoever's birthday it was. And so I kind of have found myself doing that again. birthdays, painting things that I think that remind me of whoever the recipient is going to be. And it was and as I'm doing it, I'm feeling this different feeling that I haven't felt in years. just I'm just doing. I'm not thinking about it. And it's really cool. And if you had not brought this up, truthfully, I probably wouldn't have thought of this at all.
00:19:00
Speaker
because We do just move through the motions every single day, even exercise. Some people are like, well, that's my hobby. And I'm like, but is it a routine? Is it now just part of your routine that you're just getting up and you know, you have to exercise every day and sure, it makes you happy. But is that, is that something you're doing? Because I don't know what I'm trying to say. Do you know what I mean?
00:19:20
Speaker
well and I think sometimes as moms, i mean I don't say this flippantly because it is our reality. Finding the time to do anything other than you know keep our kids fed and alive is can be heroic. i mean we just We don't have time, but you know my pushback for that is always, it doesn't no one's asking for a five-hour time commitment to whatever this hobby is. It could be just 10 minutes where you're drawing something even on your phone. My daughter loves those drawing apps. so i think it i I find myself being like, oh, I don't have time for something else. But I think all of us probably take 45 minutes to an hour a day doing something that we could replace, whether it's, I don't know, looking at our phones or
00:20:05
Speaker
I mean, I think we could make the time, I guess, is the point.
Adopting Hobbies with Micro-Moments
00:20:08
Speaker
Callie or Megan, what did you think about? I mean, I feel like when I was really early in motherhood, i you people always talk about, like, you have to time find time for yourself. And you have to you know when you're and I'm like, you know especially in the beginning when you have babies. I mean, the hard truth is, like I'm still in the period of life where I have little children. like I have a four-month-old. So I think the idea sometimes where they're like, as a mom, you still have to do stuff outside of motherhood, and you have to find a hobby almost feels like this extra job like you're supposed to leave the house and go out to a physical class and you're supposed to, you know, so I think that part of it can feel a little overwhelming. and And what I eventually figured out is sort of what you guys are saying is that I can do a lot of this stuff just alongside
00:20:50
Speaker
my day-to-day life. It doesn't need to be something where I'm actively leaving the house and I'm going to a class or I'm you know taking an hour after bedtime to commit to this hobby. It's these like little things where I find five minutes or 10 minutes just to work on things. like So for me, something that we talked about in a previous episode is I just started reading for pleasure again, which I haven't done since before I had kids, and I picked up this hobby with a one-month-old.
00:21:15
Speaker
you know is usually the time when you have no time but i just found little like i'll read for ten minutes here and then i would read for you know a few minutes here it didn't have to be this big time commitment. Which i think is why hobbies can feel really overwhelming as a mom because we feel like it has it's like one more thing that we have to do and we're like i really don't.
00:21:32
Speaker
I don't have time for it. or like I love doing things around the house. um I like doing little DIY projects and I've just sort of come to the fact that I'm just going to move very so but i'm currently stenciling the hearth of my fireplace. I've a text Charlotte about this. I've been working out for like two weeks. I've got maybe like one quarter of it done.
00:21:49
Speaker
because I do like two or three stencils and then somebody needs me. And it's going to take me probably three months. Prior to kids, I would have been done with it in like an afternoon, but it's just, you know, I'm still making time to do it. Like I'm still sort of going through the motions. So I think that's the biggest lesson I've learned is that I i don't necessarily, like I can still adopt hobbies without it having to be this monumental
Social Media Inspiration for Hobbies
00:22:12
Speaker
thing.
00:22:12
Speaker
And for me, I guess the definition of hobby is not necessarily any specific, like you don't have to go and do like tin. What is it? With the holes and you like hammer. Yes. I don't know why I knew exactly what you meant, but yes. I don't know. I'm jewelry making or, you know, even like scrapbooking. Yeah.
00:22:34
Speaker
No, it doesn't have to be some big evolved thing. But for me, it's just that little corner of my brain that is like, there's no reason to be doing this other than the fact that this is really fun for me. And it might be, you know, I think a lot of moms find ways to do this alongside their kids. So crafting is an obvious place they land because their kids can be sitting at one end of the table doing whatever and then they can be making cards or I don't know, decorating a wreath. or I think that's important to note that it's not any one specific thing. A hobby is just, for me, something for fun that makes you feel good. Megan, what but are your hobbies? Yes. So when I saw this question, I thought in my head, like remember like on the first day of school, you would fill out for your teacher, like what are your hobbies? And you hand it in.
00:23:20
Speaker
and I feel like when I was a mom and had young kids like Callie, I felt like I lost my hobbies almost. And again, because you're trying to figure out how to be a mom and all your time is going there, but you want to make time for these hobbies. Cause honestly, I felt like I was almost like, I hate to say this, like a loser because I wasn't having any hobbies. Like I played ballet growing up. Like why aren't you doing ballet again? And you almost feel the pressure also going on social media, like these other moms that have all these great hobbies. And I feel like I went through a time where I didn't have hobbies. And then once I was done having kids and kind of got myself out of, I don't know, was it a bubble or whatever it was, the I made more time for these hobbies. So like I started playing tennis again. And I like, like my middle daughter, Gianna,
00:24:11
Speaker
is very creative like me and she likes to make bracelets. And when you know we were going to the Taylor Swift concert, my hobby for her for with weeks was making bracelets. And you know growing up, I always would have that craft creative side and it's still today, but I felt like I lost it for a little bit, if that makes sense. And you know I feel like When I filled out that form, my hobby was probably like to go shopping at the mall and but my nails painted, you know, and now it's like, can I say I like to go out to eat at restaurants? Can that be a hobby? Probably not, but I enjoy it, you know, and I enjoy, you know, working out, but I just feel like it's like whatever makes you happy and whatever you have time for, I feel like is at the end of the day. And, you know, I enjoy being around like mine creatives.
00:25:04
Speaker
like all of you here, and like that's a hobby. like We can feed off ideas. and But I do think it's the magic a little bit of social media. like I'm trying to think about when I was younger, where did I get ideas for hobbies?
Joys and Pressures of Hobbies
00:25:18
Speaker
And I don't know. Maybe it was my Ranger Rick magazine or something. But now, i mean it can be overwhelming. If you're someone that struggles to make decisions, I could see that this would make it really hard. But social media,
00:25:30
Speaker
does a wonderful way of bringing like, I don't know, stained glass making is having a moment on my feed. And so all these people are making these really whimsical, sweet things out of stained glass. And it's like, oh, that looks really interesting. Do you remember when candle making was a big thing? Everyone was making candles online. So there's, I don't know, I guess if you're not sure where to even start, I find that sometimes just like walking through the aisles and michaels because I typically do gravitate to sort of visual projects but maybe it's walking through a thrift store and seeing if there's anything that you could bring into your home and sort of style in a certain way or repaint so I guess you know if if you're not sure where to even start I guess my advice would be just to think about
00:26:12
Speaker
to your point, Caitlin, what did you like doing when you were younger? Because I think for all of us, that's a little bit of a through line. If you have a bunch of kids, you know take advantage of that and think about what would be fun. I don't know. I made a bunch of sensory toys one year with my kids because it was just fun for me to like squeeze the hair gel into the Ziploc bags and then figure that out. So I do think that the internet and social media can be, if not overwhelming, but a wonderful way of sort of giving ideas if you don't know where to start.
00:26:41
Speaker
Yes, or Pinterest. I feel like I save all these crafts that I'm going to do with my kids. and like who Who am I to think I'm going to do them? I love your original point, Charlotte, that as adults, we get very hung up on our hobbies having an end point. I think trying to focus on like are unfocused from that too. like Even with crafts, like we're supposed to have this end you know result or even with a DIY, there's supposed to be this end result, but sometimes there can be um things we're doing just for the sake of doing it. this is like my husband I love the the discussion too about thinking about what you enjoyed as a child. I was talking about this with my husband recently because he was saying the same thing. He's like, I want to like pick up an interest or a hobby. He's like, but i don't even it's been so long. like I don't even know what I enjoy. He was like, when I was a kid, I like played basketball. like Am I going to go
00:27:31
Speaker
I don't really want to go play men's basketball. um And it's because I think we get sort of hung up on it being the sort of end product or the specific hobby um when it could just be something he's ended up picking up reading with me. And so we've been reading, but it can be something that isn't necessarily black and white with the sort of end result. Yeah.
Joy of Creation in Hobbies
00:27:50
Speaker
I mean, and again, because I do so much of this and consider it part of my job, I'm in a really wonderful position so I can try a lot of things that are also hobbies and bring me joy.
00:28:00
Speaker
I have made so many janky things that go immediately to the landfill, but without exception, I'm really enjoying myself when I'm working on them. you know I hate the way they turn out, but I'm always having fun painting the thing or doing the whatever. and i think I don't know, have you seen the things on social media where someone's like filling a bucket with paint and then like swinging it back and forth in front of a canvas. You know, it's it's sort of like a modern day, those Spyro graphs that, and it's, the finished product is weird. I don't particularly like the finished product, but watching them do it, that process of creating it is unbelievably satisfying and therapeutic and wonderful. And that, for me, that's like the metaphor for what a hobby should be. It shouldn't matter that this thing at the end is weird and who wants it, but like the act of doing it is so fun.
00:28:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think that it can be intimidating. This is where social media can get you is if you're like, okay, well, I saw someone doing this and this looks amazing and I want to try it. And then you're like, well, my project didn't turn out like their project. Like I started painting during COVID because I was part of this group that we would get together and have a real artist come and do painting lessons for us over Zoom.
00:29:14
Speaker
And so i I loved it. It was an hour a week and I would learn how to do a different style of painting. And then when it was over, I would sit there and be like, okay, well, here's, my turn to do my own thing and I would get so frustrated that I couldn't do what I wanted, like I couldn't execute what I had in my mind that I put my paints away and I wouldn't i didn't touch them for months. And then one day I was like, you know, I'm gonna pull them out again and I'm just gonna do whatever. Even if I'm just, I literally could sit there for an hour and just throw splotches on the thing and I'm so satisfied. And I listened to a book or music or whatever, it could be after my kids are asleep
00:29:52
Speaker
It could be while they're screaming at me or they're next to me. And it it's my own thing. Nobody's making me do it. I'm not doing it to get paid. I'm not showing it off on the internet. It's just it's just me and and whatever makes me happy. And so if you're listening and you're like, well, I really want to try. I'm trying to think of some kind of hobby.
00:30:14
Speaker
I want to try sewing, but I can't do what other people are doing. Who cares? Just do it because it makes you feel good. you know I saw something, yeah other it was so fun. It was the person and they paint the same. I don't know if they can see across the street from their window, but it's like the same. They just paint buildings and they set a timer for 20 minutes and every morning on just like a little postcard. It's the smallest piece of paper. They get out their watercolors and they just paint like a city block. And so sometimes there's a floral shop, sometimes there's not, and it's...
00:30:45
Speaker
For 20 minutes, that's what they do. And sometimes they look great. And sometimes they were like, not my favorite. But I thought that was such a fun way of approaching it, where you're not going to be able to make magic in 20 minutes. So I think your expectation is already lifted. But you're still going to be sitting in the moment and doing the thing that makes you so happy.
Pickleball's Popularity Among Hobbies
00:31:03
Speaker
Pickleball. OK.
00:31:05
Speaker
This is, I feel like thrown on us everywhere, no matter where you go. And I don't really understand the hype. Like I get it's fun and it's great. Like I can pick up playing pickleball because I played tennis my whole life, but there are like diehard pickleball people out there right now, like everywhere. And I feel like this hobby is like, whoosh. And it's like, if you don't play it, you're not like in the bag and the outfits and everyone like all these like brands send you pickleball stuff and I'm like, can we calm down the pickleball hobby? Am I wrong or no? Is it not for you? No. I feel like there's some some backstory that we don't know here. There's a long rooted story that really led up to this moment of Megan just a losing it. Also, you know all the brands sending you pickleball stuff? No, no, no, no never no, not you guys. Maybe it's because I play tennis and like I'm more tennis and everyone's like forgetting about tennis. And it's like, Oh, pickleball. I don't know. I just feel like it's a hobby. That's like,
Personal Highs and Lows: 'Pits and Peaks'
00:32:06
Speaker
not for you. I mean, i'll play like you want to play to Charlotte. I'll meet you in Fairfield tomorrow. We'll go play. But like, so pickleball is big in my town, but it's not in my, my generation is not the group playing it like dry. They
00:32:21
Speaker
They made a tennis court into a pickleball court. And if you drive by in any day that it's warm enough to be outside, it is slammed. And they're not my age people. And they're not in fancy outfits. My daughter and I entered the pickleball tournament at our the place we go in the summer. And we I made t-shirts, hello hobbies, shout out, callback. And we were the nose picklers. So you're welcome. ah See you play. That's your hobby.
00:32:48
Speaker
Sure. Okay. but Let's move on to pits and peaks. Who wants to start? Oh, okay. Can I, I have a pit. Yeah. Coming off. It's kind of long. It's kind of long. Okay. Okay. It's a funny pit. Okay. So I am involved in a basketball carpool with my son and his four friends. So that's five boys. The first time I drove everyone, cause we all take turns, there's five moms and five kids and it's a lot, but saves you time.
00:33:18
Speaker
one of the boys, and I'm farted in my car, okay? And I'm like, okay, who did that? And they're all like, it wasn't me, it wasn't me. And I'm like, just so you know, like, you can't fart in my car, like Mrs. Chanel. I'm like, no, no, no, we don't do that. And they were like giggling. And then the next time they all got in my car the following week, I was like, just so you guys know, you know the rules. There's no farting in my car, you hold it till you get out. So that's my pit.
00:33:47
Speaker
When I have to drive. No, that's a peak. You just canceled farting in your car. I mean, absolutely. I guess it was a pit and a peak. But the first week, I was like, OK, who did that? Pico was like, ah. So cringe. That was a good one.
00:34:02
Speaker
Who wants to go next? I had written down a peak, but I have a pit because my nanny got COVID this week. So we've just been on a, and like we didn't know until today, she was just like kept feeling sick. And I was like, please don't come in if you feel sick. It's like totally fine. we're We're all right. But it was just like every morning I woke up and I'm like, today's the day that I will get things done. And then she's like still sick. And I feel bad for her. And I hope that she feels better. Every mom knows that feeling of like last minute losing childcare, just like day after days.
00:34:29
Speaker
Do you have a peak, Caitlin? I do have a peak. I mentioned earlier in the episode that we went ice skating. There's a pond by our house, and it's frozen over. And my mom bought me skates for Christmas probably like four years ago, and I just finally put them on the other day. And I haven't ice skated on a pond since I was probably 11. And it was like muscle memory. like I knew what I was doing, and it was such the the feeling that I had, like i um I was almost brought to tears because I was like, this is so magical and I'm so happy and it's beautiful outside and it was amazing. And now I just want to go back, but my everybody in my house has the flu, so I've not been able to go again.
00:35:10
Speaker
Well, in your pond, we have a pond that freezes over. Last year, we didn't get to use it once. This year, we used it for an afternoon with sports we haven't been able to. I don't think it's frozen anymore. Really? Well, I'll go check ours. It's and so apparently the na ah it's a town pond.
00:35:26
Speaker
And I heard a woman saying, she goes, oh, do you remember 30 years ago, there would be a town official, he would come and he'd clear the pond and they would light a fire and it would be this whole cool thing. Well, now the people that live around the park do it. And so someone ah ah there's a lot of hockey players in our area and people will go out and measure. But I was just there this weekend. Hopefully, I think we're supposed to get freezing rain. but Yeah, you're just far enough north. You might, because I think we had one Mark has been measuring, and it's amazing how if you have like three inches of ice, you can walk on it. Four inches of ice, you can drive like a snowblower on it. Five inches of ice, you can drive a car. like It quickly gets real safe.
00:36:02
Speaker
And we had yesterday for us was like 50 to 45, like it was really warm. I don't think the whole thing is melted, but we should, I'll be curious because it's cold again today. Yesterday it was warm. You're right, Charlotte. It's probably not safe to go. Just depends. I don't know how thick it was because if it was really thick, a day of warm won't melt it that anyway. Ours was at four to five, whoever had measured it last. Yeah, that's thick. Yeah.
00:36:25
Speaker
I don't have, I don't know, mine's, I guess a pit, but it's not, it's fine now. um Rosie got spayed. So it just meant that our week was spent like trying to keep her from moving around. The good news is that they don't have to wear cones anymore. They now put them in like a little suit so they can't like- Like a zip up? Yeah. I mean, it's not, it's like a snap. Like ah like a body suit?
00:36:50
Speaker
Have you seen those ridiculous like thunder shirts that they put on dogs for anxiety? Yes. It's not that tight, but it's it gives a little bit of those vibes. The problem is that it really wraps them up nice and tight. And so the kids, if they let her run out, the I mean, they're not let to meant to let her run out the door anyway because she was just spayed, but it happened and then she pees. And so you have to like unsnap the butt of the suit so that she's not like peeing and you know what I mean?
00:37:18
Speaker
so that happened a couple of times which was not great oh but Why is this better than a cone? The cone seems better. Because the cone, I found that they can't like get up onto... like She sleeps up on the chair. like They can't like jump up. They can't move around and getting through doorways, they're crashing into it. And this, she just could lie down. so It's always hilarious though. It is funny. But like she couldn't... Oh, speak of the devil, now she's barking. She's we more than a week past it at this point, so she's doing fine. but Oh, good. And she did she get sick a little bit too, Charlotte? Sure did. Yeah. Oh, good.
00:37:53
Speaker
yeah on I think that does it, right guys? I think we covered all our bases. Go out and make something guys. Yeah. I feel like we bring up poop at least once an episode so that street still stands. Yes. I can make sure that I bring it up next time if necessary. so There's a lot of poop in my house. Yeah. I mean that changed. You used to talk about food all the time and now here it's poop. How far we've fallen.
00:38:17
Speaker
all right i we'll see you next week everyone thanks for
00:38:40
Speaker
All right.
00:38:45
Speaker
We'll see you next week, everyone. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.