Tag Archives: hobby

The Brakes Are Locked!

Inside, there are more forces holding me back from doing things, than pushing me to do more. It is made more difficult by not having others to talk to about things. Lori can do only so much. Isolation is not a solution to anything. And it saps away any incentive to do more.

One might think the accomplishment of doing things would be enough… one would be wrong. Most of my little accomplishments feel empty. There is no-one to share any of it with. I am trying to learn to do things just for me… privately. Most of the time, it works out just fine. Then I hit the Wall.

The Wall is an obnoxious period of time from about 1pm to as late as 5pm, when I tend to crash.

I get up about 3am – on good days – so approaching 12 hours, my motivation seems to all flow away. “Why stay up?”, becomes the only question. And all too often, I give in, and go to bed early… for 12 hours of “sleep”. One result is that I sleep too much. Sometimes I can’t tell if I am tired, or if my brain is giving out. I have no idea when I should go to bed, and when I should get up. Am I rested?

The more I do, the better I am. So I keep after it. Eventually, starting, and overcoming obstacles, becomes too much of a struggle.

Overall, I am getting better. But it is hard to see. And I have been fighting it for so long. There are decades lost. And I fear things will not get much better.

But I keep going.

A Dream of Mine… in miniature

When I was a child, there was one thing I always knew would be fun, and would help me feel better.  That was working on my models… cars, airplanes, and ships.  But mostly ships.  Working on them created a now lost sense of mental peace.

The problem is there are too many other things that intrude.  I can not sustain it.

The vast majority of those interruptions come from my own mind.  Things have to be just-right for my mind to be able to move on with my own creative thoughts.  They keep coming back though.  I will gradually fade…

And on top of that there is the outside world… and by that I mean outside our home.  I can not escape it any more easily as anyone else.  But I wish I could.  I wish I could pick and choose what I will pay attention to… what will actually matter to me.  I find my mind “sucked” into the News world.  And I can lose hours in it.  I would like to live in a bubble.  It is a dream.

What I do is creative.  I make things.  And there is art in the making of them.  Is it not as productive as reading a book?  Somehow that seems more acceptable.  “Go read a book.”  But it is still a hobby that does not change the world.  It is to make the world an easier place to live in.  We have to escape… everyone…

And I need to spend a large part of the rest of my life living like this.  I do not have that much left.  I will take care of my friends, and I will narrow my interests elsewhere.  I would do this if I could.  The real world still demands so much…

Where is the balance?  How much time is my own?  How much do I owe elsewhere?

I do not know.  How much can I play?

My Life’s Passion

As far back as I can remember, I have been Obsessed with efficiency.  Every movement is a test in efficiency.  How I do everything is carefully designed.  And there are so many outside intrusions – things I must think about.

This may be one of the reasons I like building scale models – there is an exactness to it that most hobbies do not have, (though some have more).  It is all about the detail.  It is impossible for me to do, or observe anything without thinking about how to make it better or more efficient.  Just ask Lori.

It is as fundamental a part of my life, as glass is to Dale Chihuly.  It is what my brain does best.  And it matters that it matter.

I design things in my mind… things I can make in my shop.  The design gets better and better – read that as fewer and simpler parts.  But I get to a Eureka point, where I know I am done.  Suddenly, I know the designing is the best I can make it… move on.  This is such a good feeling… it is like everything being perfect, all at once.

It can take a while to get there.  But the more freedom my mind feels, the more easily I reach that feeling.  It is a very good thing.

I am trying to change how I live, to make my life more conducive to that feeling.  Part of it is getting away from home, from time to time.  My hobbies are another big thing.  But whatever it is, getting to do those things, gives my mind the joy, and reassurance we all need.  Freedom of mind is very important.  It gives me Peace.

SOON:: Distractions of the Mind

Monday… Need I Say More?

Starting a new week is not so hard for me.  I am tired from stress, but I do feel as if the week carries a new alternative.  I could get off to a good start, and do more.

I have been working around the house more the last few months… trying to build more of a routine.  I think it has gone pretty well.  I have not made near as much progress on my own things – hobbies etc.  That does include a lot of projects for the house as well.  I have a wood and metal  shop in the garage… so I can make things.

I is difficult to get started.  I am still working on getting past that initial mountain of anxiety.  At the start of the day, it is hard to see the rewards… at least enough rewards to make it worth the effort.  Starting is my biggest struggle at times.  Like now.

Over the last couple of months, I have made some efforts to get out more… I have gone on a trip by myself!  My biggest disappointment has been attempts to go out for lunch… beer… or whatever with other people.

When I work on plans to get out more, things become very limited.  I can go shopping, and on photo trips.  But there is no-one to do other things with, so there are not a lot of choices.  I suppose it’s all for the best – I do better staying home.  So I am trying to think of more things I can do by myself.

This is all a matter of reorienting my life – at least parts of it.  Sometimes it seems too late for all that… we will see.

Routine is All I Have

There are things I am trying to change – slowly.  There are not always a lot of choices in our lives, and routine can be comforting.  We can have a simpler life with fewer decisions.  But it is easy to fall into a non-productive routine that brings no joy.

I live by routine.

Now I am trying to change my routine some.  This has proved to be one of the most difficult things I have ever tried to do.  Some things need to stay the same – feeding the cats etc.  But now there are things that need to change.

So far… I have no idea how it is going.  I have tried to do things differently.  I need my “free” time to be more rewarding… more fun.  It is not more fun yet.  Actually it is anything but fun.  I have to push myself so hard to get thru it.  I sit in a different place… watch different things, and work on my hobbies.  It should be easy.  And I worry that I may suck all the fun out of everything…

And I have to do this on my own.  This is the only place I can share my experiences.  There are no hobby friends to talk with… no friends at all really.  I have to push myself forward, by myself… with mixed results.

I know it will get better.  It has to.  But it is increasing my anxiety level.  And I am not convinced it will make any difference.  Why venture into a new world, when the current one works – though it may not be working very well?

I will keep try as long as I can… or as long as it seems to matter.

I Do Not Even Know What I Need or Want from Life Anymore…

The last month has hit me to my core… I have lost all sense of what I want, and need from life.  I have not given up, but I currently have no direction.

I thought I had it pretty well figured out.  I thought I knew what I was needing, to get the happiness I want.  And I might still have been correct.  But I have lost all confidence in that model – so to speak.

I have been putting out a lot of energy over the years at trying to develop more, and more reliable, friendships.  It has been a disaster at every turn!  Every time I start to feel better, it blows up in my face.  And I end up worse off.  Other than family, I have not made a new close lasting friendship since 1975.  Hi Tim!  Yup… that is 38 years.  He lives in Seattle.

In the past, I have questioned my methods, my sincerity, and my choices.  But only now have I lost faith in “friends” even being an appropriate goal.  It may be unachievable… it may be unnecessary… it could be that it is just not going to happen for me.  I do not know.

Okay… fine.  What other goals have I had?  The next big one for me has been to get my shop, and hobby areas all finished, and immerse myself in designing, and building things.  The idea is to do the things I enjoy, and forget about everything outside this home.  Well… not “forget” exactly, but diminish.  To make the outside world superfluous.

It seems a much more achievable goal.  But in many months of actual effort, and great amounts of time too depressed to deal with it, I have got virtually nowhere.  To the point where even that goal seems unimportant, or simply too far away, right now.

I am at a point of having to rethink the purpose of my life.  I have to figure out not only what is important to me, but what is actually obtainable.  It would be a great reward to fly to the moon on gossamer wings, but that is not going to happen either.

I do not know where this is going… I will keep you all informed.