This is a guest postal service from regular contributor Heather Griffiths. Heather blogs at Holistic Nurturhood.

Hobbies are important.

Hobbies make us dynamic people with interests and passions. They are creative outlets and a way to unwind.

Only hobbies can besides drain usa.

Projects left uncompleted guilt us every time we see them piled in the corner, calling out to us to complete that half-finished quilt, chapeau, modernistic podge picture craft, or broken upward pallet in the dorsum yard.

Are you overwhelmed with all of your "to dos"? Declutter your hobbies and take back your joy!Hobbies can make u.s. feel spent when nosotros have so many things that demand to be done.

With Pinterest taunting/inspiring usa to do more, information technology is so easy to desire to create all the amazing things that we see. I Dear handmade items, clothes, toys, kitchen and home decor. If information technology is handmade I most certainly desire it.

I cannot buy all the handmade things. So I endeavour to brand them.

When my oldest daughter was six months I taught myself to crochet via youtube tutorials and the guidance of my best friend. I love to crochet. Or rather, I love that I know how to crochet. I can make a new hat when I demand to. I tin fill up a demand in my home with a handmade item that I personally fabricated.

When I start started crocheting

…I wanted to "crochet all the things." I made hats, blankets, sweaters, blankets, a shrug, blankets, scarves. Did I mention blankets? At ane point I thought I would try my hand at a carpet. I saw this adorable, brilliant colored carpet made from nylon rope on Pinterest. The tutorial seemed directly forward; pink nylon rope from Lowe'south, a huge crochet claw, and crocheting in the round.

I gathered my supplies and went to work. I couldn't even brand a concatenation with that damn pink rope. How the heck am I supposed to crochet in the circular with this thing?

I put down the rope and walked abroad. Just every time I went to go some yarn to make a hat or blanket that pink rope stared at me. "You really bought three bunches of bright pink rope to brand a rug and now yous're non even going to try. Good going," it taunted me.

I felt frustrated with myself and with Pinterest for thinking I could "do all the things." I held onto that rope for a long time. I permit it taunt me and make me feel like I could never stop what I started.

And then came knitting.

Years later, when my youngest was but a few weeks old, I decided I would learn to knit. I love the look of knit items. They seem so much softer and more than flexible than crochet, and I wanted to try something new. I started with some dish cloths, which was like shooting fish in a barrel enough, so moved on a toddler ski mask.

It took me weeks to make a ribbed neck half-dozen" in bore and 4" high. WEEKS. I could have made a crocheted ski mask in two days in my free fourth dimension.

Eventually, when I was ready to start the actual hat portion of the mask, I missed a stitch. In my haste and inexperience I tried to fix it just ended upwardly ruining information technology. Rows and rows of stitches, weeks of work gone in 2 minutes.

My daughter needed a new chapeau for winter, which would be hither in a matter of days, and all my attempt was gone. I could crochet a similar chapeau in two days in my spare time. Needless to say I was frustrated. I wasn't ready to surrender knitting just yet, simply I didn't go back to the hat, which was poisoned with too many emotions.

I tried a simpler chapeau for myself. Three rows in and again it fell autonomously in my hands. I tried again. Half dozen rows before my inability to fix a missed stitch ruined another endeavour.

Finally I asked myself, "Why am I doing this? Is this making me happy?"

My eyes injure from trying to focus on my piece of work. My hands hurt from the needles. I wasn't having fun and I could hands make a lid with a different method. So why was I trying to persevere with knitting?

I still beloved knit items. I would still dearest to learn to knit. But right now there are and so many other things that need my attention and I don't have the time or patience to requite to knitting.

I put my needles away. I stared at my craft supplies and the damn pinkish rope looked up at me. "Why are you lot holding onto me!!" information technology seemed to yell.

Instead of putting my needles into my craft box I put them into the donate box.

I put scraps of fabric into garbage bags. Pink rope, acrylic yarn, sheets of felt meant for a placidity volume that was never made, half-made sewing patterns that would need to exist fabricated over again from scratch if ever to exist used, all found its way into either the garbage or donate box. The only hobby supplies that remained were a few skeins of quality wool yarns, crochet hooks, and my favorite fabrics for making clothes.

I took Pinterest off my phone

…and determined that I would non offset a new projection until I finished the current one. I started thinking about what hobbies I get excited nearly. What hobbies bring me the almost joy and don't feel like a chore?

Gardening, reading, writing, and the outdoors.

I stopped thinking of crochet equally a hobby. Information technology is something I can do to fill a need instead of make an excess of blankets. Since it isn't a hobby any more I no longer feel the need to "make all the things." I nonetheless crochet when we demand a hat or a new sweater for the girls. I nonetheless enjoy information technology. Simply I'chiliad not making blankets or hats or tea cozies just for the sake of making them.

It's something I can exercise. It isn't something I exercise.

By decluttering my hobbies I have been able to focus on what really brings me joy. I accept started writing again. I have been able to read two-3 books a month (and if you accept minor children you know how hard that tin can be). I can take my children outdoors and am able to be present in the moment.

There is no project waiting for me to get home or waiting for me to pick up another supply particular at the store. I don't have a mess of yarn or cloth waiting for me to clean it up when I go domicile. I can be present with my children without guilt of something else that needs to be done. And I come home renewed.

I've been able to focus more than on my garden and read different gardening books. And because I've focused on my garden I've constitute a new interest that truly excites me, herbalism. Had I been too distracted with hobbies that don't excite me, I would never have focused on gardening as I did. I would never have thought about herbalism before. And now information technology is all I read well-nigh. I am so eager to beginning my own herb garden next spring.

I've found new interests and passions that truly bring me joy by letting go of the ones that made me feel pressured.

What hobbies do you feel are pulling at you merely non giving y'all the same return? What hobbies are starting to feel like a job and not a joy? Are you ready to cutting back? Information technology's time to focus on hobbies that brand you feel live, motivated.

Get rid of the supplies that yell at you, the supplies that make you feel guilty every fourth dimension you lot laissez passer them past. Let those projects become and have back your joy in hobbies. If y'all love to craft, than craft. Simply don't feel pressured to do all the dissimilar types of crafts. If you love to make tea cozies, than make tea cozies till your counters are covered in brightly colored tea pots. But don't feel pressured to make sweaters.

Follow your interests, ignore Pinterest, and take dorsum your gratis time.

From Heather: I'm a Holistic Nurturer. I do my best to create a healthy environment for all to abound and thrive in using sustainable ways. I garden and home-educate. I aim to consume less and grow more than equally a woman. I dabble in herbalism and minimalism. I write for Holistic Nurturhood. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram!