This Christmas season I have discovered something about myself from trying something new! Last month I posted about a crafting party that my aunt had where we made Christmas signs. I had so much fun and when I got home I sorted through my husband’s scrap wood pile to start making some more signs for our house.
A HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS GIFT
My mother-in-law seemed to really like the signs I had made and she is a tough person to buy presents for because she pretty much buys for herself when there is something she wants, so there isn’t a large list of things she needs and wants. So, I planned on making her a Christmas sign. Well, as I started thinking about this I realized that if I give her a Christmas sign for Christmas she really can’t use it for a whole year since Christmas will be over.
My in-laws are very involved parents and grandparents. They are all about their family, so I started to play around with the idea of painting her a family tree. Right now I have three brother-in-laws that are not currently married or with children but I figured if I set the tree up right I could add on any future wives or children that come along.
I searched all around the internet for ideas and then one day while my 3 year old was painting I sat down with her and started working on a draft to see what I could come up with for the tree since I have never attempted anything like this before.
When I showed Dustin, he didn’t seem super impressed. However, Dustin has liked the other signs that I made when they were finished but he wasn’t able to visualize what I was talking about before I started, so he was never sure if he would like it before I started. I was pretty confident that I had come up with an idea that his mom would be happy to put on her wall, so I decided to give it a shot.
I spent a couple days working on it and was happy with the results. At our family Christmas (which was celebrated last weekend) when my mother-in-law opened the painting she said that I couldn’t have gotten her a present that she would like better!
FINDING A HOBBY
I have to admit that I am not a person with many hobbies. I do enjoy reading, but I wouldn’t say that it is a hobby of mine. For years I have wanted to find something to call a hobby, but there was one problem… I wasn’t really willing to try new things. I know that sounds stupid; how would I find something to start doing without trying something new, but that is what was happening.
Outside of my husband, children, and a weekly Bible Study, I didn’t spend time with other people. I felt like I was always so busy that I didn’t have time to try things and if I had spare time I wanted to be with my family. Well, my aunt ended up inviting me to her crafting day, that was for the women in the family, no husbands and no children. With Dustin’s encouragement, I decided to go and spend some time with my mom, aunt, grandma, and cousins. I had a great time and really enjoyed painting the signs.
When I got home I needed to make some changes to one of my signs I had made. This gave me a taste for it and made me want to keep making more. I purchased a few paints and a cheap set of a variety of brushes and got to work on a few more signs and I loved it. I am so use to working on the computer and the stress of needing to figure out things for our past business or the business that we are working on starting that it was an amazing distraction to get out some wood and paints and create something. And my eyes and body loved getting up and standing at the counter and looking at actual objects and colors instead of the computer screen!
I realized yesterday when I was finishing a project, that I might have found myself a hobby! I actually found something that I enjoyed doing in my spare time and something that I looked forward to taking a break from work to do. The best part was that it wasn’t something that I had to spend a lot of money on or leave my house to do. My husband and kids can be right there in the room chatting with me while I am working. In fact, I worked on my mother-in-law’s present while watching The Polar Express with my family.
GAINING A LITTLE CONFIDENCE
In this process I gained a little confidence. This might make me sound sad and pathetic, but I often have a fear of trying new things and a fear of failure. What if I make something and Dustin thinks it was a waste of time? What if I give this as a gift to my in-laws and they don’t like it? These are the types of things that go through my head. But, I decided to step it up, get a little control, and put myself out there.
My in-laws liked there gift and Dustin has been nothing but encouraging. But what if they didn’t like it? Would that really matter. No, the fact is I enjoy doing it whether other people like it or not. It isn’t hurting anyone or causing me to neglect my responsibilities, so it’s ok for me to like it regardless of what others think.
I am not in any way trying to say I am extremely talented. I know (and have seen on a quick Etsy search) there are amazing things being created by people at a much higher level then where I am. All I am saying is I have found something that I enjoy doing and a way to make things I personally love to have in my house!
I am so glad that I took the time out of my day to go to my aunt’s and try something new because it has given me something that I enjoy doing and helps me relieve stress. And all it took was me making a decision to try something new instead of spending half a Saturday stuck in my rut at home!
What hobbies do you have and did you have to step out of your ordinary routine to find them? Did you have to battle any fears to try it?
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