Get a Hobby, They Said

I’m in a pretty dark and lingering depressive phase at the moment, and my therapist’s response is one I’ve heard quite a bit: get a hobby.

They make it sound so easy, like going to the gym is a simple task for people with excess weight and high BMIs like me. Each of these things takes preparation, ya know? If I’m going to start going to the gym, I need a membership and appropriate clothing and shoes and the time to go. I can’t just wake up one day and decide I’m a gym person now and show up in my closet full of dresses. That would not end well.

The same goes for hobbies. I feel like there is a preparation period to be successful in starting and maintaining a hobby. Are there even any funds available to start one? If not, how can I find a hobby that costs nothing? What if the only ones I enjoy are expensive? Where do I even begin?

Plus, as a bipolar person, hobbies can be dangerous, sending me down a spiral of mania almost immediately because I start dreaming above the moon and salivating at the mouth.

But I took her advice and I started one anyways. This blog to be precise. I am going to write, and I am going to write about something I care about to make it last longer. And when the blog money runs out, I am going to finish this gosh darn book I’ve been procrastinating over. Or I’ll journal. Whatever I do, I will continue to write as my hobby.

The hardest part of the preparation was agreeing to write every day, even if I don’t post it because it feels like trash. If I write something every day, that gives me the opportunity to word vomit enough that I feel better afterwards. Gross I know. I’m one of those few people who enjoy throwing up because of the after effects, feeling much much better.

But I don’t want to stop here. I’ve already thought about other hobbies I can pursue once this one feels comfortable. I enjoy crafting and dressing up in costumes and everything renaissance so once I feel like I have the time, I plan to join a renaissance guild where I can craft and dress up and renaissance away.

That will require me to stretch a social muscle though so I’m really frightened of the thought, but I am choosing to push myself this year, to try things at least once that terrify the heck out of me. We shall see what happens.

So I got a hobby, like they said, now to fight my way out of this depression. In theory, this will happen in time by participating in said hobby. I will find more fulfillment in life and be able to get up from the bed more easily each time because I partake in hobbies.

I’m not really sure how that works, but I look forward to giving it ye old college try.

Do you have a hobby? If so, how does it help you through depressive episodes? What kind of hobbies have you tried? Any suggestions for me?

Arishama