Hobbies, more about

In my last post I wrote about Sarah Ban Breathnach's book Simple Abundance and what she said about hobbies. One other thing she said about hobbies made me grab my pen and start underlining. "A hobby is a wonderful way to start freeing ourselves creatively," she wrote. "That's because no one expects us to be perfect at a hobby. Hobbies allow us to experiment, to dabble with the paint, the poem, the pot, the plié."



I underlined it because it seemed to be a point I needed to give some thought to. I have started, or am thinking of starting, some hobby projects that will use my media skills. After all, these are things I had been wanting to do but never could find the time for. Given that I now have the time and wherewithal to do some projects, they ought to end up being pretty impressive, right?  It seems only logical. But I have started a photography project that will involve lots and lots of photographs over a year's time and I really am not sure what I am going to do with all the photos once I have them. The project might end up with something to show for all the time and effort, and it might not. My original idea was to just try it and see. But I have been dithering about whether I should even continue with it, given the little voice in the back of my head that says, "This should be good! What will people think if it's not?"



That's why Sarah Ban Breathnach's reminder is welcome -- that hobbies are play, with no expectation, from inside or outside, of perfection.



At work I was always proving myself. That's what one does at work. It can be hard to break that habit, to realize that I don't have to prove my skills anymore. I can do an experiment just because it looks like fun. If nothing comes of it, at least I had fun. Or, some piece of the experiment might turn out to be a delightful surprise -- but it doesn't have to.
 

As I said, I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with the photographs I'm taking. For now, I think I will just post a few here. They are not "Wow, look at these" photos that display my photographic expertise. I just had fun taking them or Photoshopping them. Sometime in 2013 we'll find out if this turns into anything!