november 14

I am grateful for MY HOBBIES.

This may seem like the thankful post of the past (where I said I was thankful for MY INTERESTS); however, I view these two topics completely differently. My interests are things I look up on Wikipedia sometimes because ... hmmm, I'm interested in them. My hobbies are something much more to me.

I used to define my hobbies according to a list of womanly attributes that I had developed. Cooking, sewing, cleaning, running, watching movies (that would develop my sense of humor), reading books etc. At first, these hobbies were shallow and didn't give me a lot of satisfaction. I had started to do them simply because I thought that someday, some person would only want to marry me because of these qualities I possessed. Obviously, I developed these in my immaturity.

Not to say that I'm not still immature (definitely still learning about being adult over here!), but I have grown in my self-actualization at least. I don't know everything about myself, but I know that I am ME. I know that my true friends will like me for me and that and so will the future Mr. Because I've learned this, I have a better idea of what I enjoy doing because I actually enjoy it. I know what my hobbies and what I love about life.

I'm really grateful I got out of my womanly attribute stage ... it wasn't a happy place for me. Something good that came out of it was that I learned some neat skills and I grew to love everything about them! I love to bake and cook. This is something that I've missed at college. I just don't have all of the stuff I need to make chocolate chip cookies every other day (this is a blessing ... so far I haven't gained the Freshman Fifteen). I was soooo excited to bake that pastel de choclo for Spanish class. It was stinking delicious and I was finally doing something I loved again.

I love to clean! This is really weird, but I just love seeing when everything has a place and looks nice. If you looked into my room right now, it would not be clean, but when I actually have time to sit down and DO IT, I love cleaning! The same goes with sewing. I really don't have the time to do it at college, but when I do have time -- I love it.

Something that almost pushes me over the edge of happiness is playing Christmas songs on the ukulele with a mug of hot chocolate sitting nearby. This is my perfectly content state. No matter what type of day I have, I try to end it this way because it takes me to another place. I read and run a lot for that same reason. It makes me happy immediately.

I have a ton of weird hobbies ... so this list will probably suffice. But this semester, I have had a lot of time to think about who I really am. I've found me and I love me. I love the happiness that I have and the willingness to be a good girl. My hobbies have really just become a part of my core. I love it! I hope that when I go on my mission, I will continue to find out who I am and how I tick. I am fully convinced that when I am happy with me, others will be happy with me as well.