It’s a New Year and I’m not unique in that, just like everyone else, I’m pondering my future and what kind of changes I’d like to make. Right now I envision multiple posts on the subject, but I haven’t hashed that out fully in my mind. So don’t hold me to that.

But to start off, a friend shared this on Facebook and I liked it:

Hobby That Makes You Money

My hobby that makes me money is web development. It was my hobby when I first started building web pages back in 1994, then I turned it into my career in 2001. However, doing freelance web development does NOT make me happy. I can’t do a full-time job and take on all kinds of freelance work, while still maintaining time to take care of my daughter and my own sanity. I feel guilty for turning people down, whenever someone asks me to do something I spend days laboring over the idea. I’ve got such a request in my inbox right now, a project that would be a fun site to build but the actual time to devote to it might burn me out. I gotta weigh these things more. In the actual career, I’ve felt burnt out and I don’t want to feel that way anymore. I don’t foresee any career changes for several years… my telecommuting gig just works well for being a mother. Her school is close to home so I can run over to get her or drop something off as needed fairly quickly and my longevity with the job allows me some flexibility to take days off easily if I need to due to child illness. But I’m sick of feeling out of control in my job. This year, I’m taking back my control. Of my voice, my creativity and my team. Without turning into a control freak!

Hobby to Keep you in Shape

Running… straight up. I love to run, I love learning about new running technologies and innovations and science. I love running news and articles and books. Running keeps me in shape physically. But when I start to let it get in my head and tell me that I’m not fast enough or that I’m not built like a runner (these are both bogus claims, BTW) it gets to a place that takes me out of “mental shape” – if that’s a thing. I’m not going to beat myself up over paces this year, I just want to run for the enjoyment. Sure, I may try to do a little more speedwork this year, but I think I will do it more on rate of perceived effort, or lactate threshold (my BSX Insight should help with this when I get it) or even heart rate.

Hobby to be Creative

I like writing… that’s why I can’t quit blogging. Sure, I’ve enjoyed not having to write the past couple weeks over the holidays. But I feel the need to write out my thoughts. When I was a kid I thought I wanted to be an author. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll write a book… but a blog-to-book thing for me seems like it would be highly improbable and slightly boring. But I’ve been writing a blog since 2001… It’s basically a part of who I am now. However, I’ve had so many pitches coming to me and I feel so many deadlines from people that it feels like a chore, not an enjoyable and creative outlet. So I need to be more selective. I will still review products that are sent to me or that I purchase myself. But I am not going to let someone who sent me a $7 product badger me repeatedly to get something posted about their product. I mean, to test and then write about something takes more than an hour. Even if the testing might come during the course of a run I’d do anyway, I take my mind to a place to evaluate the product. And then I end up “working” for people for essentially nothing. I’m worth more than that. And all of you who take the time to visit my site are worth more than a half-assed review on so many products that I can’t keep them straight!

Do you have three hobbies that fit those categories? What are they? I think I could stand to have more hobbies too, just for my mental health!