10.30.2011

Day 30 - Hobbies

Day 30 of the 31 Days to a Clutter Free Home Series  focuses on hobbies and how we spend our free time.

When you're growing up and people tell you, "You can do anything you want in life" they failed to mention that although you can do ANYTHING you want, you can't do EVERYTHING you want!

Over the past decade, Dave & I have both dabbled in a multitude of hobbies and have realized we just can't do it all. There are only so many hours in the week that we can devote to fun activities. In order to really enjoy something, it helps to have lots of practice, etc. and that only happens with time that you can commit to that activity.

Back when, I was extremely interested in scrapbooking.


Likewise, Dave loved playing paintball, hunting,


shooting, spelunking,



and restoring Jeeps. We loved throwing parties and playing games with friends.





















In order to do all that, we had to keep tons of supplies on hand. Consequently, at least 1 room in our home was always filled with hobby paraphernalia. We began to realize that our home was just not big enough to hold all that stuff.  And then, once we had our first child, we also realized that we did not have enough time to pursue all those activities.

We also read the book His Needs, Her Needs by Willard F. Harley and we learned that it is also wise for a couple with young children or otherwise really busy schedules to make it a point to only do mutually agreed upon activities. If you only have, say, 10 spare hours a week for fun, it is wise to spend those  hours together doing something you both enjoy than to spend them separately, the husband off with the guys and the wife off with her gal pals. You need to spend time together to nurture your relationship and when you're both off doing your own thing you're actually growing apart. This is not to say that we can never pursue our individual passions again, but it is wise in busy seasons of life to put selfish things aside and spend quality time as a family.

Today I challenge you to look at how much free time you have. Are you spending it wisely? Are there hobbies that you like to do but they take you away from your family? Would you rather just part with that stuff and spend the time with your spouse and kids instead?

2 comments:

Onegirlruns said...

hi there! just popping by to say that i LOVE your blog! you've done such an awesome job fixing up your home. it's truly beautiful. i will add you to my google reader list :) i'm fairly new to blogging and have just started fixing up my home (after more than one year of living here!) and i find so much inspiration in blogs.

Bethany said...

I think your hobby quote is so revolutionary: "Although you can do ANYTHING you want, you can't do EVERYTHING you want!"

Seriously--there are so many things I want to do, but I just don't have the time to do them! How freeing to pick one or two hobbies and GET RID OF EVERYTHING ELSE! I am going to be working on that in the future. Thanks Katie!

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