When Hobbies Collide

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I don't know about you, but throughout January, despite all the pressure to exercise brought on by the New Year, I have been doing a lot of sitting.  Sitting after work and knitting.  Sitting in the morning before work on the computer reading Ravelry discussion boards or browsing patterns.  Sitting on the weekends doing more knitting.  Oh, there was the day that I spent standing at the warping board winding over 5,000 yards of warp for a dozen dish towels.  Does that count as activity? 

I consider myself an active person who likes to be outside.  But if I am honest with myself, that hasn't been true for the last few months.  Granted, winter can be a time to hibernate, but I really can't use that for an excuse.  We had temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s during this weekend, for example. 

One problem I have is that my "love to do" list encompasses mutually exclusive activities.
I like:
Knitting (of course, you knew that!)
Weaving
Spinning

Reading fiction (both text and audio)
Learning things (from blogs, boards, podcasts, occasionally videos)

Gardening
Walking

A few of these that are compatible, but with most it isn't reasonable to combine them.  When I am knitting, spinning, weaving I am not gardening.  When I am gardening I can't be doing a long distance trail walk.  I can listen to audiobooks or podcasts while doing many of these things.  But part of what I like about walking and gardening is the way my mind can drift along to what I need to think about.  In fact, the beauty of our leisure activities is that it frees us from the work day filled with multi-tasking. So who wants pressure to multi-task their hobbies?

So I guess in the end it comes down to balance. (Probably all the secrets of life come down to this one word!)  How do I balance the outside things I love to do with the inside things I love to do?  Maybe the first step is to get off the couch! ;-)


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