Post #436742

2026-02-06 14:47 UTC

Okay Fedi friends, I have an important question for you. If you are a person with hobbies who likes to set aside a block of time for yourself every now and again to enjoy said hobbies, how the heck do you enforce that for yourself? Plans with other people? Sure, I&#39;ll be there. Something that needs to get done? Most of the time I&#39;m on it. Heck, I&#39;ve even mostly gotten on top of taking care of myself physically even when I don&#39;t feel like it. But when it comes time to take care of myself mentally? To actually buckle down and have fun on my own? No. I apparently have forgotten how to do that. I can make a date with myself, sure, but I can&#39;t make myself *keep* it. There&#39;s always a distraction of everything and nothing and then the window of time I&#39;d set aside for myself has disappeared.

Replies (4)

@stargrace@gamepad.club 2026-02-06 15:47

@Krikket@mindly.social I have found that in order to do this, I have to first make it a habit to set aside that block of time just for said hobbies, and then make sure not to have other stuff going on at that time. So I tend to get up at 5:30am, and I am almost always free with zero RL distractions until 7am. So that is my 'me' time. I reinforce it by scheduling my week in advance, and if I don't follow the schedule, I don't beat myself up but instead look at why & adjust.

Open ##2414552
@MsHearthWitch@wandering.shop 2026-02-06 17:40

@Krikket@mindly.social I think it comes down to habit forming. There isn't really a magical solution which sucks. You gotta set aside time and then practice holding the boundary of that time. You can definitely make it easier on yourself by IDing time in your schedule that is least likely to have other stuff crop up. But at the end of the day, like I tell my hubby, life will always be lifeing.

Open ##2414557
@anakin78z@mograph.social 2026-02-06 19:09

@Krikket@mindly.social Not sure about enforcing, but one thing that has helped me is to have a list of things that I enjoy to do. Whenever I have some free time, or I feel bored, I can look at the list and find something I'd actually enjoy doing. It seems like I'd remember what I like to do, but sometimes when I plan things it ends up feeling like a chore, and sometimes I forget about little things I like to do, so the list takes care of all that and makes sure I don't get stuck at 'what should I do?'

Open ##2414561
@mdiskplaylist@mastodon.social 2026-02-06 20:01

@Krikket@mindly.social For me, if I'm not devoting a block of time for myself/my hobbies then I'm just gonna find myself thinking about everything else in life which can be both a good and bad thing. I usually try to devote my least busiest day/evening to myself so that I can unwind in some way. Even for just 30 minutes at a time.

Open ##2414563