What do you like to do you in your free time?

This question has been a hard one for me to answer for years, mostly because I don’t feel like I have a lot of free time. I’m in mom mode almost 24/7 and kids are constantly interrupting me. I used to have a lot of things that kept me occupied during my “free” time. I played the piano, played the guitar, wrote music, went hiking, created art, edited videos, and much more… just for fun. Now I find that my free time includes cleaning or staring blankly at a screen.  I think a lot of moms feel like this, you give yourself over completely to motherhood and you seem to lose yourself. While I don’t completely agree that I’ve lost myself to motherhood, because I feel like motherhood has changed who I am and I think my old self is far too small for my new life as mom. However, I do feel that as a mother I need to have a strong sense of self in order to be the best mom I can be. This is often found through self-care, the one area that I find myself neglecting. I’m getting better about making time to care for myself but it’s still only maintenance. I’m learning that self care goes beyond taking a shower, going shopping alone, working out, or getting a pedicure every so often. Self care is about making time for things that bring me life. It’s about creating “free time” to have a hobby.

For many years now I’ve been playing with photography. It’s an intimidating and expensive hobby but it’s something that brings me peace and joy. I enjoy capturing moments and my role as mother has only intensified my desire to capture so many moments. There have been time when motherhood was so overwhelming the only self care I could manage was a shower every few days but the newborn phases are gone and now I can carve out a little time for me. I just recently pulled out my dusty old camera and have decided to start photographing moments. My craft may not be perfected but for me photography isn’t about the end result, it’s about slowing down and stepping back to observe and embrace life around me. It’s a form of self care for me. As a mother, as a wife and as a human I think find free time to have a hobby is so important.