life lately /on pursuing your hobbies

hi all, did you have a nice halloween and first week of november? this was our most low-key halloween celebration to date as we were in moravia for the big “halloweekend”, as it’s come to be known, and that meant no dressing up for us this year! that’s just how the calendar days fell. i’ve learned when you get a long weekend, you don’t take it for granted!

more from moravia coming very soon – i have just been too ding dang busy this week to even think about writing more than i already have, in my last post about my first day in the czech republic. a full schedule and lots to do have left very little down time.

do you ever have those times where you don’t feel like you are “doing enough”? sometimes i fall in this trap, but it’s actually quite silly, because it just takes a perspective shift to make me realize how much i actually am doing. a friend asked on instagram (where many insightful conversations are taking place lately, surprisingly), how [our] hobbies have been going lately. when i shared with her what hobbies i’ve been doing lately or what i want to get in to, she followed up a couple weeks later (which i thought was pretty cool), asking how those hobbies have been progressing. it took that question to make me realize, dang! look at what i’ve done!

i just completed by good reads goal of twenty books in 2016 over two months early! seeing as i have not been able to complete this goal for the past two years, i am feeling kiiiinda proud right now. this is a great reason to spend some time with some other hobbies for the rest of the year! (of course, i’m always reading anyway…)

aside from this week (blah), i’ve been able to dedicate a lot of time to my yoga practice, and i’m nearing the end of my second full year of dedicated practice! (at least three times a week) last weekend, i couldn’t have been prouder that i was able to actually do not one, but two different poses that i’ve been working towards but never have been able to do as of yet. man, what a boost! i’m thrilled!

after my german course was cancelled this autumn, i decided to take the plunge with an individual tutor for the first time, hopefully to up my german game. so far, so good! i just wasn’t getting the speaking practice i needed in a group course, and have actually been looking to make the transition at some point, but what better sign than that, right? so, as this is my first real one-on-one lesson ever, i have to say– individual lessons are intense, especially when you’ve got a particularly intense teacher! it is sometimes kind of difficult to allow yourself to be so open to criticism – during one lesson, i actually felt that sort of elusive tingly-first-sign-you-might-cry feeling welling up which i did not expect. however, as a teacher, i know that correction is the only way to know that you are not doing it properly. it is a necessary evil, and üben macht meister and all that.

the one hobby i would like to begin again but haven’t yet: knitting! i am a totallyyyy amateur knitter, having got on the bandwagon during university those few years when it was cool again. i really enjoyed it, but i shunned it for awhile when minimalism was more of a priority. these days, i’m turning away from the backpacker’s minimalism and embracing more creative hobbies in which you produce something…. and i could really use a few more scarves in my closet! however, it would be nice to know more than one stitch, so i foresee a lot of instructional youtube videos in my future.

i have more thoughts to share about life lately, but will do so in a future post. however, i would love to hear from you: what hobbies of yours are you making time for or would like to make time for this season? maybe i can help keep you accountable!