Finding Time for Yourself and Your Hobbies

Finding time to scrapbook--or any other personal hobby time, really--is tough.

It is about balance, I think. As a 25 year stay-at-home mom and parent
of two children, I know how kids can keep you super-busy, especially in the
early years! So can housework, families, homework,
outside-the-home work schedules keep you hopping too.

How do we as women MAKE time--not find time--to do the things we really want done??

We all put things on our "to do" lists daily. Mentally, or on paper, we CHOOSE parts of our day that we can control. Also we choose how we respond to the rest of the normal pressures of life. The best laid plans always get thrown off kilter. But how do we regroup and re-prioritize our time? From getting your nails done, gassing up the car, helping with homework, grocery shopping, appointments, to taking the kids to the park, we alot our time and our priority to various things in our day. For some women shopping is a 'me time' outlet, for others it is
getting massages or nails done or otherwise pampered, for others a dinner out, or painting or knitting or jogging or whatever...

Hobby time in general--and this papercrafting hobby in particular--have to be viewed
as a "me" time and a creative outlet in order for us to give it any attention at all. Personally, I schedule time into my week for it. Even before I scrapbooked, I scheduled time for making
things/sewing/crafting. If I didn't schedule time in specifically for it, I would not get any thing done.

Even though my kids are in college now, life STILL has a way of creeping in and making other things seem important in our days. There is always a charity to help with, an article to share, work to be done, people to see....and so on. All are worthy. All are somewhat a priority
yes. But they are not my hobby. I set priorities now. If I want to get the dishes done,
don't I mentally make time in my day to do it? If I want to get my nails painted, I set a time. If I want a haircut or go to the dentist, I set a time.

Same with any hobby. You can make time. Include the kids in your craft if they are still at
home. Or while they are reading, or exercising, or whatever--you can still get in 15 minutes of either organizing, page kit making, or scrapbooking. Just scrapping for 15 minutes a day makes up a total of 7 and a half hours a month of time! That is the same equivalent of time as a day-long crop party!

Our wonderful informative loop notwithstanding, ;) ....how much time are we spending browsing the internet at the expense of our hobby? Are we spending 45 minutes browsing for ideas and then wishing we had 45 minutes to make a page? Are we really choosing wisely to meet our goals? Everyone scrapbooks differently and everyone of us has different needs and goals. But I just want you to match up your OWN goals to your OWN choices well.

It's all balance and it's also all about priorities and follow-through. Think on how
to balance the equation for yourself! Each of us can do it if we try. Good luck!
Rock

Rockester