"what kind of life do i want to build, not just for the sake of achievements, but for the sake of feeling alive inside my own days?" this was a life changing question for me this last winter. you are truly one of my favorite writers on this platform.
i just wrote my own musings on fear and an oversimplified introduction on how to move into a life that aligns with your souls needs! maybe there is some guidance there for you. take what resonates leave what doesn’t.
If I could like this post 100 times I would, you covered so many things relevant to me. I found it interesting you used the term ‘perform’ a few times, as it can feel as though we need to perform for whatever reason is personal to us (it is a term my therapist suggested to me only yesterday, hence me saying here as it felt so apt!). This year has been one of the hardest mentally for me, yet still I haven’t allowed myself to slow down to an optimum level for me, despite it perhaps being one of the causes. Being ‘busy’ or even ‘productive’ doesn’t allow for enjoyment: having to find the most useful YouTube video to watch with lunch, the most production minded hobby (and by extension, monetising them), having to have an educational podcast on to cover those tiny seconds between tasks that could potentially be wasted, and now I seem to be unable to find things that make me happy or I enjoy, I believe it is a little due to the productivity trap.
Your words have really made me reflect, and feel less alone in this quest of finding what works for me, not what I feel I ‘should’ be doing. Thank you. I hope you can keep going with this (you can do it).
Oh please don't monestise your hobbies. They are your rest and relaxation, and your healthy coping skills. By monetising them you'll be walking on a treadmill, having to do them to order instead of doing things when you feel like it. And the value and peace you gain from your hobbies will be gone.
I love knitting, its my passion. I often knit for other people -friends and people I like. I wish there was an add photo option here. But as there isn't I'll have to type out my favourite pin.
"Knitting is like Sex. If I like you and you appreciate it, it is free. Other than that you can't pay me enough."
That makes me smile. I want to sew it onto a project bag for knitting in public. People always want me to knit them something and never want to pay a decent amount for my doing it.
I usually say a pair of socks takes me about 20 hours (and the rest) and minimum wage in the UK is £12.21 an hour. Why should I get paid less? So that's £244 plus the yarn, call it £250 a pair!! Surprise! I've never had an order!! 😁😁
Also feel this. I went through a phase baking big celebration cakes (like those big drip cakes or highly decorated), and they would take days to plan and then execute, yet was selling them for £55-65. So it probably worked out I was paying myself about £5 an hour 🙈 definitely stick to creating for enjoyment. If we get an order then that is great, if not the we can still enjoy it!
I have done it several times (with crochet and baking, and then I became obsessed with trying to make my art popular on social media which was another way of productivising my hobbies). I ended up stopping all of them and am just returning to them all after a long break! I couldn’t agree more with your words, and you become obsessed with the end result rather than enjoying the process. The quote seems very true too. Thank you for sharing. I hope you are able to keep enjoying knitting (there seems to be a nuance between creating for others for gifts/enjoyment and creating to sell/monetise. Both are for others but with very different intentions).
this is exactly the shift i have been trying to make lately, especially during this idle time of my life where choosing not to do anything felt so guilt-inducing. but then, when things inevitably speed up again, will i feel truly restored if i continue to push myself? thank you for writing and sharing this. it feels like validation from the universe 🥹🩵
When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Thanks for sharing your insights. Truly resonates with me. I’m discovering that my drive to achieve or check things off my list is an effort to get my mother to be proud of me and love me. Sadly, that will never happen because she passed away many years ago. Time to let myself off the hook and learn to just live!
When I started researching the root cause of many physical ailments, I discovered the importance of self-worth and feeling "enough" regardless of xyz. Worth is so innate and we all deserve to feel that. I love it and feel like everyone needs to be reminded of this, so thanks for sharing!!
This spoke straight to my spirit. I’m currently in a season of underemployment, and it’s been humbling to unlearn the belief that my worth is tied to my output. For so long, I wore productivity like a badge, checking boxes, chasing milestones, performing efficiency. But lately, life has invited me into stillness. Into noticing. Into being present without needing to prove anything. Your words reminded me that rest isn’t laziness, it’s life. And that sometimes the most meaningful growth happens when we stop trying to earn our existence. Thank you for this beautiful reminder.
I’m also in a state of unemployment right now, so your comment that we don’t have to earn our existence resonated with me. While there are days where I feel aimless, I’ve found myself noticing more of the little things. How I feel when I’m playing my favorite game or watching my favorite show, the genuine company I enjoy with people, the feel of the wind and sun when I’m watering the plants. I’m starting to appreciate the unemployed experience haha.
It’s wild how unemployment can feel like both a pause and a portal, right? Like life slows down just enough for you to feel things you’d normally rush past. The way the sun hits your face, or how laughter feels when it’s not wrapped in deadlines. I’m learning, too, that this season isn’t about waiting for the “next thing"; it’s about re-learning presence, without needing to earn it. Cheering you on as you find the sacred in the simple. We’re both redefining what it means to exist without proving. And that’s a quiet kind of freedom.
omg this came to me at a perfect moment. i have been having slower days and I have been questioning my worth and challenging myself to be more 'productive' and find more work. thank you for the wonderful reminder that we don't need to search for more. we need to learn to be still and enjoy the speed of life.
my favorite sentence: a meaningful life isn’t built from constant doing, but from intentional being
Thank you for your wisdom in sharing these words and the energy behind them - it’s a choice I have been making in my life also and it feels so right. Life is precious and is to be savoured ❤️🙏🏻. All the best.
Insightful superlative on the intense focus our culture has on “the next thing” or “self improvement.” Rest is important, not for only the body, but for the mind. Sometimes taking time to just be allows the clouds to clear and a path to come into focus.
this piece really struck a cord on something I've been thinking lately. I recently finished my studies in graphic design, and every job offer I see mentions the ability of working in a "fast-paced environment". so I've been questioning this necessity of always being the first, always being the most productive, because acting that way means that you'll be succesful. it's almost as if we're running a marathon, but in the end the finish line is an illusion that keeps getting further and further away from us.
I want to enjoy the process more than the result, but sometimes it seems impossible to start swimming against the current.
"what kind of life do i want to build, not just for the sake of achievements, but for the sake of feeling alive inside my own days?" this was a life changing question for me this last winter. you are truly one of my favorite writers on this platform.
I feel like this is the motto and focus I’ve taken into 2025 and hopefully beyond. Adore your wording here!
i just wrote my own musings on fear and an oversimplified introduction on how to move into a life that aligns with your souls needs! maybe there is some guidance there for you. take what resonates leave what doesn’t.
If I could like this post 100 times I would, you covered so many things relevant to me. I found it interesting you used the term ‘perform’ a few times, as it can feel as though we need to perform for whatever reason is personal to us (it is a term my therapist suggested to me only yesterday, hence me saying here as it felt so apt!). This year has been one of the hardest mentally for me, yet still I haven’t allowed myself to slow down to an optimum level for me, despite it perhaps being one of the causes. Being ‘busy’ or even ‘productive’ doesn’t allow for enjoyment: having to find the most useful YouTube video to watch with lunch, the most production minded hobby (and by extension, monetising them), having to have an educational podcast on to cover those tiny seconds between tasks that could potentially be wasted, and now I seem to be unable to find things that make me happy or I enjoy, I believe it is a little due to the productivity trap.
Your words have really made me reflect, and feel less alone in this quest of finding what works for me, not what I feel I ‘should’ be doing. Thank you. I hope you can keep going with this (you can do it).
Oh please don't monestise your hobbies. They are your rest and relaxation, and your healthy coping skills. By monetising them you'll be walking on a treadmill, having to do them to order instead of doing things when you feel like it. And the value and peace you gain from your hobbies will be gone.
I love knitting, its my passion. I often knit for other people -friends and people I like. I wish there was an add photo option here. But as there isn't I'll have to type out my favourite pin.
"Knitting is like Sex. If I like you and you appreciate it, it is free. Other than that you can't pay me enough."
That makes me smile. I want to sew it onto a project bag for knitting in public. People always want me to knit them something and never want to pay a decent amount for my doing it.
I usually say a pair of socks takes me about 20 hours (and the rest) and minimum wage in the UK is £12.21 an hour. Why should I get paid less? So that's £244 plus the yarn, call it £250 a pair!! Surprise! I've never had an order!! 😁😁
Also feel this. I went through a phase baking big celebration cakes (like those big drip cakes or highly decorated), and they would take days to plan and then execute, yet was selling them for £55-65. So it probably worked out I was paying myself about £5 an hour 🙈 definitely stick to creating for enjoyment. If we get an order then that is great, if not the we can still enjoy it!
I have done it several times (with crochet and baking, and then I became obsessed with trying to make my art popular on social media which was another way of productivising my hobbies). I ended up stopping all of them and am just returning to them all after a long break! I couldn’t agree more with your words, and you become obsessed with the end result rather than enjoying the process. The quote seems very true too. Thank you for sharing. I hope you are able to keep enjoying knitting (there seems to be a nuance between creating for others for gifts/enjoyment and creating to sell/monetise. Both are for others but with very different intentions).
this is exactly the shift i have been trying to make lately, especially during this idle time of my life where choosing not to do anything felt so guilt-inducing. but then, when things inevitably speed up again, will i feel truly restored if i continue to push myself? thank you for writing and sharing this. it feels like validation from the universe 🥹🩵
When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Thanks for sharing your insights. Truly resonates with me. I’m discovering that my drive to achieve or check things off my list is an effort to get my mother to be proud of me and love me. Sadly, that will never happen because she passed away many years ago. Time to let myself off the hook and learn to just live!
The last paragraph strummed my heartstrings~
It will forever be a journey to choose yourself
To choose presence
To choose peace
But it’s one I’ll be grateful for
Time and time again
Learning to be a human being
For who I am
Not what I do
Great piece of writing 🤍 I’m loving the authenticity and rawness in your posts ✨
When I started researching the root cause of many physical ailments, I discovered the importance of self-worth and feeling "enough" regardless of xyz. Worth is so innate and we all deserve to feel that. I love it and feel like everyone needs to be reminded of this, so thanks for sharing!!
Love this so much. Great reminder to just be without striving all the time.♥️🙏🏼
This spoke straight to my spirit. I’m currently in a season of underemployment, and it’s been humbling to unlearn the belief that my worth is tied to my output. For so long, I wore productivity like a badge, checking boxes, chasing milestones, performing efficiency. But lately, life has invited me into stillness. Into noticing. Into being present without needing to prove anything. Your words reminded me that rest isn’t laziness, it’s life. And that sometimes the most meaningful growth happens when we stop trying to earn our existence. Thank you for this beautiful reminder.
I’m also in a state of unemployment right now, so your comment that we don’t have to earn our existence resonated with me. While there are days where I feel aimless, I’ve found myself noticing more of the little things. How I feel when I’m playing my favorite game or watching my favorite show, the genuine company I enjoy with people, the feel of the wind and sun when I’m watering the plants. I’m starting to appreciate the unemployed experience haha.
It’s wild how unemployment can feel like both a pause and a portal, right? Like life slows down just enough for you to feel things you’d normally rush past. The way the sun hits your face, or how laughter feels when it’s not wrapped in deadlines. I’m learning, too, that this season isn’t about waiting for the “next thing"; it’s about re-learning presence, without needing to earn it. Cheering you on as you find the sacred in the simple. We’re both redefining what it means to exist without proving. And that’s a quiet kind of freedom.
omg this came to me at a perfect moment. i have been having slower days and I have been questioning my worth and challenging myself to be more 'productive' and find more work. thank you for the wonderful reminder that we don't need to search for more. we need to learn to be still and enjoy the speed of life.
my favorite sentence: a meaningful life isn’t built from constant doing, but from intentional being
thank you for this gentle reminder
This is just what I needed to read at this juncture of my life. Thanks a lot for sharing 🙏
Thank you for your wisdom in sharing these words and the energy behind them - it’s a choice I have been making in my life also and it feels so right. Life is precious and is to be savoured ❤️🙏🏻. All the best.
Insightful superlative on the intense focus our culture has on “the next thing” or “self improvement.” Rest is important, not for only the body, but for the mind. Sometimes taking time to just be allows the clouds to clear and a path to come into focus.
I would concur with this post and add that retirement adds another dimension to a “lack of productivity”. I would dare say it adds to ageism.
this piece really struck a cord on something I've been thinking lately. I recently finished my studies in graphic design, and every job offer I see mentions the ability of working in a "fast-paced environment". so I've been questioning this necessity of always being the first, always being the most productive, because acting that way means that you'll be succesful. it's almost as if we're running a marathon, but in the end the finish line is an illusion that keeps getting further and further away from us.
I want to enjoy the process more than the result, but sometimes it seems impossible to start swimming against the current.