Hobbies

We've had this great sale going on at work on these 16x20 photo enlargements. Being the goober I am, I've been printing pictures for my future home. 'Cause I've got room to store these things.

Anyway, because I've been printing pictures for myself and my parents (they wanted some decor for our Beach House and are pooling pictures from my collection), a number of my coworkers have been seeing my photography and commenting on it. Bringing a plethora of prints home every other day has been fun.

My dad was looking at a shot I took of Cinderella's Castle at Disney World. Impressed by it (I have to admit I really like it), he said, "The number of things you do well amazes me. Creatively, I mean. You can write these books and take these great pictures and come up with unique ceramics stuff. There's little you don't do well."

The problem I constantly have is that I don't have enough time or energy to do all the things I love doing. I have too many hobbies. There's too many things I enjoy doing and wish I could do more of. Because of this, I'm baffled when people say they don't have hobbies - or that they don't even know if they have hobbies.

One of my coworkers and I were talking today about hobbies. I can't remember what led to the conversation, but he basically began digging around, thinking about what he enjoyed doing. It was strange. With each thing he brought up as a potential hobby, I was thinking, "Am I really that strange to have so many things I enjoy doing?"

It baffles me. What motivates people to get out of bed and do something? Is it really just working to obtain money, to then afford stuff (or worse, pay off loans), to be exhausted to fall asleep and do it all over again? How do you survive like that? What drives you?

As I drove home, I listened to "Revolution" by Trading Yesterday. The very opening line is, "Open up my eyes to dreams that should have died. I was made for more than this." Those lyrics make me feel empowered to do something extraordinary. To step outside of the mundane and become more than the cookie cutter of a human being.

For some reason, I began to pray for everyone I knew. I want them all to feel a sense of extraordinary; a desire to reach for something new and exciting. To have something impact them and inspire them to do...something. Something amazing. Something unheard of. Something crazy. Something beyond their comfort zone.

That's my challenge to you - whomever you are. Search for your extraordinary. It's out there, we're all capable of it. In fact, I think we're meant to aspire to it. Climb a mountain. Design something new. Create a new software. Make a new gadget. Rethink the way we do things. Dream up a story. Buy that camera and tour Europe - then write a book about it. Find your cliff and jump off of it. It's in the terror of falling that I think we find our wings and begin to fly.

Adventure. It's calling. I can hear it. Do you?