Hello, everyone! Hopefully everyone’s fall is faring well. I’ve been working and Ellie’s been learning at school, Brett’s been subbing, and nothing too exciting has been happening. Now if we are to contract our definition of exciting and exclude any truly exciting things (like trips, visits to restaurants, etc) then I do have some exciting news to share!

Okay, so as you all are probably aware, I spend the majority of my day working at the computer. I haven’t figured out how to get VSCode working on a piece of paper. . . yet. . . So in that light I look at screens a lot over the course of a day. When I do have downtime, I think that it’s really important that I incorporate as many non-screen hobbies as possible. If you wind down by doing other screen activities (video games, phone staring, tv watching, etc), I’d encourage you to pick up a hobby that allows you to work with your hands in some way. Based on my experience, here’s why.

Physical Benefits

If I am too computer and phone heavy, I get repetitive stress injuries with my wrist and it’s painful. It’s really helpful for me to incorporate activities throughout the day that don’t involve scrolling or typing. And even when I do those things, I wear a wrist brace.

It gives my eyes a break (I do have blue light filtering lenses which has really helped too).

It helps me with back and neck pain and tension.

Mental Benefits

I’ve been getting back into sewing recently and have really enjoyed it. I’ve made a couple of things for myself (flannel shirt and a skirt) and a dress for Ellie. Being able follow the directions of the sewing pattern and sew a garment is so much fun. It’s like a puzzle and logic sequence where you’re able to have something practical, functional, and pretty that you made yourself. It also paves the way for tons of research into different stitches and methods of sewing, the best types of tools and notions to use for a project, and how garments were sewed historically. I just really enjoy having something non-computer-y to learn about and research.

Of course, reading is also a huge part of this for me. I’ve been into social and fashion history for a few years now and find it fascinating. I love researching how people lived daily back in the days of yore. Being able to think about and mentally explore that and imagining what people did in daily live is just fascinating. And I think that mentally exercising your brain with different types of thinking benefits the other work-y thinkings you’d have to then do for work.

Concluding Thoughts

I really hope that you have a fun non-screen hobby you’re able to enjoy doing. If you do, I’d love to know what it is! If you don’t, what types of things would you want to try?

More next time!

-Rachel