How Hobbies Rejuvenate Me: Mind, Body, and Soul

As I noted in last week’s post, the stress of a car hitting my house kinda did a number on me. I am a planner, which means I do not like unexpected changes, let alone unhappy, stressful changes. After that crazy incident, I kept up my positive routines: listing my gratitude, writing in my journals, morning meditation, yoga, and faith. But, I did not realize how bent out of shape I was until I began forgetting things. These things were not simple, forget-to-wear-your-earrings type memory fails (although there was a day I forgot to wear my earrings). They were a little bigger. I missed an entire choir rehearsal and, more disconcerting, a client call at work – things I have not done since I started using a planner system. It was not until last Saturday night, when I sat down to paint, that I felt back at ease in my mind and body.

Let me share with you a cautionary tale.

Before I had kids, I lived my life pretty much for myself. I got up at a time that left me feeling well-rested and went to bed at a reasonable hour. I spent my free time doing things that I liked: playing the violin, reading, and cooking. I also confess that I really enjoyed scrapbooking and doing craft projects. What can I say? It took my mind off of things. But, all of that changed when I had to balance being a mom with my full-time job.

Last week’s experience reminded me about how our brains process stress.

About 6 years ago, I attended a CLE (continuing legal education) seminar that included a mental health session. Most states require that lawyers attend an hour or so of mental health or substance abuse training, as our profession tends to deal with a good bit of stress, which can lead to poor choices and bad habits. The session was similar to other mental health presentations with the speaker sharing her own personal story. But, then she veered out of familiar territory and started explaining the human stress response in biological terms. I had never attended a CLE with diagrams of the brain. She basically explained that a very ancient part of the brain, the limbic system, is where we store our emotional resilience. And, if we ignore it, we risk our health.

Now, I’m no doctor, so take all of this with a big grain of salt. What I learned was that basically, when you experience stress, it does things to your body and engages different parts of your brain. You produce more adrenaline, which triggers a fight or flight response. This is a really primitive response that is helpful when you’re being chased by a saber-tooth tiger. But, when our modern lives are consistently stressful, it means that we are in a constant state of fight or flight. Eventually, our brains cannot keep up, and things like memory (that choir rehearsal I usually never miss) will be sacrificed to keep the rest of us going during this stressful time. The speaker emphasized that we need to care for our limbic brain by practicing mindfulness, engaging in a spiritual practice, writing a gratitude list, regularly exercising, and finding an activity that brings you joy.

I honestly didn’t think much about this warning after I attended the seminar. It made sense and was interesting, but at the time I felt like I was pretty much in control. I was running and signing up for 5Ks, the workload at my job was manageable, and things at home seemed fine enough. I figured I had most of the limbic brain maintenance plan covered. But, as noted in my last post, I had no idea just how much stress was awaiting me. And, given that I barely invested time in the limbic care plan, it caught up with me quickly. Within the year, I developed an extreme case of plantar fasciitis, which meant I could no longer run or do anything that involved my feet. I also started experiencing increasingly severe and frequent migraines. My work and home life became far more stressful as caseloads at the office went up and my daughter’s medical condition progressed. By the fall of 2017, I was wearing braces on my feet, using migraine medications 4-5 days a week, and I had a handicap tag. But, I did not accept that I had to take action until I started experiencing a bizarre and undiagnosable neuropathy that left my arms feeling like they were being painfully frozen. The icy feeling would spread to my legs and feet, leaving me afraid and hurting.

I realized I needed help if I was going to feel better again.

I went to a functional medicine doctor who helped change my diet so I could address the inflammation in by body. She also encouraged me to make time for some sort of exercise (I went with yoga), mindfulness, and perhaps see a counselor. I swallowed my pride and found a therapist who works with psychosomatic disorders, and she got me to start seriously journaling and writing out my gratitude lists every day. But, I needed to do something that also brought me joy and would take my mind out of the stress cycle.

Unable to exercise as before, I had to find something that produced the same blissfully mindless distraction as a run.

My biggest frustration with having severe plantar fasciitis was that it robbed me of my favorite cardio. A couch potato for most of my life, I discovered in my 30s that I loved running. It allowed me to get away and not think about all the stressors in my life. My therapist assured me that the mental health benefits of running can be accomplished with other activities. Like the CLE speaker, she told me to figure out what brings me joy. Hokey as it sounds, she essentially told me to find a hobby. Joy-inspiring activities are different for different people. The only qualification is that you enjoy it and can get lost in the process for minutes to hours on end. Remembering how much I loved arts and crafts (totally tapping into my inner child), and seeing how folks like Tony Bennett are getting into the visual arts, I decided to start with watercolor painting.

Fast forward to today. I am feeling much better. I turned in my handicap tag last spring and have started stationary cycling and walking. I have lost weight, sleep better, and only get 2-3 migraines a month. I’m not entirely pain-free, but I am working on that. I now paint with watercolor and acrylics, and I draw with graphite, oil pastels, alcohol markers, and fancy colored pencils, all of which fill up my sketchbooks, canvases, and personal Instagram account @vpatt125. I am working on a series of paintings I plan to hang at work after our offices are renovated. I also have several sets of brush pens and am slowly teaching myself to hand-letter. The way I know these activities are good for me is that time passes differently when I do them. My breathing slows down, my shoulders lower, and I smile unconsciously. The icy feeling no longer attacks my whole body, but when it starts up at my arm, I have some techniques that help it to go away. My hobbies are not the only things I tried to change how my mind and body were functioning, but they are the fastest way to address my pain and stress. The stress literally melts away as I paint.

Since I’m not a professional artist, there’s no pressure to be perfect when I paint. It’s just fun!

We all need something that gives us a pure, joyful distraction from our stressful lives.

I encourage everyone to find a hobby that brings joy and makes time fly. It should be something that has no other purpose except to be enjoyable. It should be fun. It should not be work-related or something to further your career or status within an organization. I only paint one day a week, and along with my self-care routine, it keeps me sane and gives me something to look forward to. How did I start painting? I am no artist, so I went with online tutorials. There are plenty of blogs and YoutTube channels that provide instruction for beginning artists that you can find with a basic Google search. I not only had fun working with different art media, I ended up with simple works of art that I am proud to share with friends and family. More importantly, these hobbies truly help me relax and ease my pain.