What are your hobbies?

My hobbies overlapped into my job,...anything physical.  I was an avid horseback rider (hunter/jumper/gymkhana/trail/bareback), bodybuilding, (total gym rat), hiking, rock climbing, swimming (ocean, fresh water, pool), motorcycle riding, paragliding,...

And my most recent profession for nearly the past 2 decades was being a personal trainer.  I miss it.  A lot.

When the patootie hit the fan, I could no longer perform, I couldn't even keep myself going....

The past 6 years have been in and out of hospital, surgeries, walkers, canes, bed-ridden,...

So the loss of the physical has hit me hard.

I think that's why I place such an importance on PT and working with the "right one."  For me, it involves my mental state & healthy mind, not just my physical body.  It's also why I'm so sensitive to precision (human) body work.

I have had some of my artwork published, but I haven't taken to pencil and pad in a long time.

As I read this I realize I've got to get out more and get some new hobbies.  But I'm determined to reclaim my body.

For now on a good day I can walk my dog in the woods...can't do it every day yet.  We live close to a lake and babbling brook, it's quite peaceful and beautiful.

M.

I used to write all the time, but since the pain has gotten so bad, it's like my imagination just doesn't work as well or something. I've sort've started up again, so we'll see. I used to love swimming, I still do but it's just not as easy to do without really paying for it later, the same with roller coasters.

But I love to read, and I've found that watching TV can really help take my mind off the pain at least a little bit (while it rots my brain, my dad says Lol). Jigsaw puzzles are another thing I've gotten into, the more pieces the better. Anything under 500 pieces stays on the shelf. I play a lot of online games too.

I like to crochet and play my guitar to songlead. I can still play my guitar because my right hand is in the worst shape and that is my strumming hand so I can get by most of the time. However, I can't do it as often as I used to.

Crocheting is a different story. I used to crochet every night for at least an hour or two. Now, after 10 minutes I have to take a long break, and sometimes be done for the day. It is very frustrating. However I am thankful I can crochet at least a little bit. There was a time that I didn't think I would ever be able to crochet again.

Well besides having to give up my career in nursing and go on disability. Among my many interest and hobbies, I like sculpture, stone and wood are my favorite mediums. I found that it was to difficult and painful to stand or sit for any length of time to do it. And most of all, I developed some major problems with holding my arm up and out to work on my sculpture pieces. Holding a hammer and chisel, or a air hammer or grinder was something I just could no longer do! I have lost allot of strength in my arms an hands, and I get really bad muscle spasms in my arms and hands with lots of pain. I really miss it though!! Who knows, I might try it again once I am all unpacked and settled in, but in previous attempts over the years I found I just could not do it! I keep telling myself maybe things have changed??? Might be just wishful thinking??

Another loss taken by CP.

White Beard

Post Edited (White Beard) : 11/17/2013 11:42:56 PM (GMT-7)

Writing still number one, have 3 published novels, finally starting on a new manuscript

Stamp collecting (yes people still do that) - U.S. Vintage Mint, and Mint United Nations

Collecting - Ocean Liner Literature, Early Automobile Literature

Collecting - Pre-printing press original documents

General - Antiquing - mostly Victorian era objects and Art Deco objects

David

I still do most the hobbies I've always done. I've just had to modify ways I do them now compared to before.

I love my flower and veggie gardening. My bigger veggie garden is now smaller. 14' x 14' and I sit on the ground in order to weed it. Most my veggies I grow in raised planters, hanging pots at waist level, planters that hang over my deck rail and in pots that I can sit in a chair and care for them. Same with most my flowers too.

I still do my crocheting, knitting and quilting. I just can't sit all day and do them. SO it ends up being 1/2 hour here and there. LOL Someday I may get a project actually completed.

We still take the kids hiking. Nothing like Mt Washington anymore. Small little gradual incline hikes, where there are lots of places to be able to sit and rest for awhile. I pay for it the next few days after. But I got to a point a few years into my CP mess of deciding I would not allow my CP to rule what I was going to do for the most part.

We just started camping again. Made my last camping trip this summer sleeping in a tent. My back just won't allow it anymore. SO we did end up buying a pop up camper this summer and what a big difference. SO I do see us doing a lot more camping next summer.

We need a seperate page for posting pics of our hobbies I'd love to show y'all some of my stitching...

Hey Chart I still have my Lionel train that I got for Christmas when I was five or six all metal engine and metal train cars, even have the metal train station that houses the electric whistle mechanism. Also have the track and two manual switches. I think I got it Christmas1956 but it might be 57???

Chart I would rather see pictures of your trains!

White Beard

I have to chuckle, Chart, I also have an original Elsie the Cow stuffed animal, it was given to me on my first Christmas, in 1951, and my parents only  put it out at Christmas time, in fact my father would put it in the tree, in the limbs where only him and I knew where it was! Anyway I still have it and it looks just like it is brand new! Even now I only take it out at Christmas to put on display, I told my daughter that when the time comes  it goes to her son, who will be one year old in a week. Funny the things that we keep isn't it?? LOL I was just looking at my train the other day when unpacking more boxes. Heck  while unpacking I even found my old Atari 1200 computer with the cassette tape drive,  and the big floppy disk drive, and dot matrix printer and monitor.  I think it all still works, as it did when I packed it up, anyway  I used to write programs  in basic, for it,  back in the early mid eighties. Ha It has all has been packed up since I left Alaska back in 87.

White Beard

Cool WhiteBeard sounds like a great Christmas tradition!

David, Germans also make a lot of the big haulers as well. Yours is probably a Marklin's as they made the "Z" gauge which is the smallest size, I have a Bachmann Steam "N" gauge, just the steam and tender on that. Bachmann and Williams join together about 7-8 years ago.

Years ago, I signed my daughter up for a contest on Fox and She won the Harry Potter Hogwarts by Bachmann "HO" Gauge, I have it saved just for her, never used it.

I think the biggest thing I've lost is the ability to drive in a car all day and walk on trails unless they're short. DH and I like to do day tours in our part of WA, and we still do, but not as often as before. We also used to country western dance, and for a long time I would end up flat on my back for a couple days after, but now I'm not sure I could do it at all! Certainly not all night long!

I do have a lot of hobbies, several are new in the past year as I'm trying to keep myself busy! So… crochet, wet felting, needle felting, photography, digital scrapbooking, reading, refinishing furniture (chalk paint), food preservation, making jewelry, training our dogs, sudoku & logic puzzles, and I'm slowly building a website about our travels around Western WA. Once that's up and running I'd like to do one for whole food cooking and gardening for two people, and I'd like to complete my online bachelor's degree in Religious Studies. I will never run out of projects!

I think that's it! I'm trying to build a schedule right now using pacing methodology. Having so many indoor hobbies is great because I can choose what I do each hour based on how I'm feeling. I'm not very good at the pacing thing though… yet.

Video games! I waited at walmart for 8 hours for the new playstation!