A Few Thoughts on Dabbling
I've been giving some serious thought to the art dabbling, my friends. You know... hobbies, skilled side hustles and the entire spectrum of creative pursuits? Yeah. That.
I'd like to apologize in advance, as my thoughts are a bit thinky and perhaps a little underdeveloped. Regardless, my conclusion is this: I need to dabble. Oil paint to canvas, pen to paper, pixels to push, light to catch, songs to sing... the last several years have been full of a little bit of this and a little bit of that and I think I might be better for it.
A few recent side projects (clockwise from left):
The map from a wedding invitation suite, adventures in oil painting and a simple wedding website.
You see, there was a significant period in my life when creativity fell by the wayside. During that time, life was very much about getting ahead and keeping up and not so much about finding the best, most fruitful pursuits. Now that I'm somewhat removed from all of that business, I can see how wildly unhappy I was and I'm so grateful to have had the support (and the guts) to take a giant step away from it all.
In leaving the go-getting to others, I allowed myself to dabble again. It's been both freeing and overwhelming. I know my fellow creatives out there feel me on this, right? It's not that I want to jump from one thing to the next and I certainly don't consider myself flighty. Yet, I can't stop thinking, "Hey, I'd like to try that." when the opportunity presents itself.
Studies have shown that cultivating and nurturing hobbies is good for our overall wellbeing and I couldn't agree more. I've decided that dabbling might actually make me a healthier human being. Other reports caution us all, from millennials to baby boomers, that hobbies-turned-careers are scary and, oftentimes, unsuccessful. While that may be true, I'm not sure I'd let fear of failure stop me. I haven't let it stop me yet, anyway.
-------
So tell me, friends: do you pursue hobbies? Do you dabble in anything? I'm curious to know what you think about all of this!