Rediscovery

The last few months have been really strange, haven’t they. I shared in my last post about how I was trying to not be so caught up in constantly looking towards the future. And so, in an effort to live more in the moment, I’ve been trying to find new hobbies, as well as reminding myself of things I enjoy which I haven’t been able to do in a while.

Writing

Lockdown has made me realise how much I miss writing. In the last five years of my life, I’d written something almost every day, whether an essay, a blog post, or whatever it may be. Except for the last year and a half. Since graduating university, I feel like I’ve barely written anything. I’ve kind of got into the habit of only blogging when I feel like I have something especially significant to share.

But I miss it so much.

Writing has always been my favourite form of communication; I feel so free to express myself with a blank page/screen in front of me. And so I’ve decided to try to write something every day. My creative writing lecturers at uni always encouraged us to do this, but I’ve really fallen out of the habit. So I’m going to start again. Whether any of it makes it onto here is another thing, but for now, I’m going to start writing for me.

Going for Walks

I wouldn’t say that going for walks has ever been my favourite thing, or even something I would choose to do. However, when it becomes one of the only things you can leave the house to do, it suddenly became much more appealing.

During both lockdowns, my entire social life has pretty much revolved around going for walks. Both in Wisconsin and now at home, walks have become a form of escapism. Whether going with a friend and just getting things off my chest, or sticking my headphones in and walking alone, I’ve really started to enjoy walking. I never go anywhere particularly exciting, but I enjoy getting out the house for a while and getting some fresh air.

Letter Writing

So this has been the most writing I’ve done over the past year! When I was in America, the only way I could contact my Nanna was by ‘snail mail’.

With the technology we have, sending a message is far easier (and cheaper!) than posting letters, especially when they’re travelling across the Atlantic. However, there is something so beautiful about writing and receiving letters. It takes so much more time and thought to write a letter and post it than to send a message.

I mainly write letters to my teammates, and it is such a lovely way to stay in touch. It brings me so much joy whenever I see the floral global stamp on an envelope come through the door.

New Music

I’ve always been someone who listened to the same music on repeat. Before I went to America, I almost exclusively listened to worship and charts music… and I was so bored! Living with nine other people for seven months, and three of them for another three months, my musical horizons were broadened on a scale they never had before.

I was suddenly listening to country, alternative, Catalan-folk, indie… you name it, we listened to it in the van. And during quarantine, there was an even wider mix of genres.

But not only did I discover so many more songs and genres, I also found a love for finding new music. To say that I now listen to all sorts is probably putting it mildly. My favourite genre at the moment is folk pop, but I also love indie music.

According to my Spotify Unwrapped, in 2020, I discovered 421 new artists and listened to 240 genres, including 73 new ones. Pretty chuffed with that!

If you want to see more of the music I’m listening to, click this link for my Spotify profile.

Being Creative

This one kind of goes along with the writing and letter-writing, but I’ve recently realised how much I enjoy being creative. My artistic skills really aren’t great (I used to tell people I have the artistic skills of a potato!), but I find being creative a great way to unwind. My Mum bought me one of those adult colouring books for my birthday, and I just love it.

I recently made Thanksgiving cards for my teammates, and even though they weren’t perfect, they were quite cute. I also love decorating the envelopes of letters I’m sending; it just makes them so much more personal and special. And throughout all this process of having fun and being arty, I’m improving a bit!

Baking

Were you even locked down if you didn’t jump on the baking bandwagon?!

Before it even became a big deal, one of my teammates and I baked together during our quarantine in Wisconsin. We watched the last season of ‘Great British Bake Off’ together, and that inspired us to get in the kitchen ourselves. Those times were some of my favourite memories of the quarantine period – doing something we both loved together was really bonding, and she also encouraged me to step outside my usual comfort zone of cakes, cookies, and muffins! Together, we made beignets, foccacia, and rice crispy and marshmallow bars. She also made challah for us to try, and that was delicious!

Although baking at home wasn’t the same, I’ve also made chocolate chip cookies. red velvet brownies, and triple chocolate muffins since I’ve been back here. Like with everything else, it’s been a great way to chill out, have fun, and also have a little dance party at the same time!

Although the lockdowns have been tough in many regards, it has also given me the opportunity to rediscover my love for various activities which have had to be cast aside over the last few years due to academic work and travelling around America.

I’m hoping that hopefully I’ll be able to continue to do many of these things as restrictions hopefully ease over the next few months, and some kind of normality resumes.

AJ