Taking the Break I Didn’t Want to Take
At the beginning of last year, I wrote daily, whether I posted it online or kept it for myself. I had ideas every day and actually took the time to write. I also painted and experimented with different art styles to see which ones I was actually good at. I went to the park and took photos of wildlife. It was going well until life happened and I had to cut out several activities I enjoyed. This hurt more than you’d think. Art, whether it be painting, coloring, photography, or making cat trees, had always been a huge part of my life. Having to give it up, even temporarily, felt like I was giving up half of my life.

New Job. Long Hours
I had started a new job as a structural fitter and had a required forty-eight hours a week. I took all the overtime I could get because rent isn’t cheap and ended up working sixty or more hours most weeks. If you’ve read my past posts, you know that I have a sleeping disorder. Working a physically demanding job with idiopathic hypersomnia is, to put it bluntly, horrible and exhausting. Also, learning a new skill is difficult on its own because my brain has difficulty retaining information. It’s especially difficult if I’m the least bit tired when I’m trying to tackle a new project and have to remember what all I thought I learned and have to refer to my notes or constantly ask for help.

Suck it up, Buttercup!
So, I took a break from my hobbies. I focused on learning new skills and retaining as much knowledge as I could. It was going well and my supervisors were impressed by how quickly I was learning to read prints and use all the tools. I was familiar with the work from past jobs in the field. But, of course, it had to come to an end. I had finally found a job that I wanted to be at. But who was going to get my kids to school? I had to end up leaving the job because school was starting back and I didn’t have the back up I needed. I cried like a baby leaving. I didn’t want to leave. I LOVED my job and coworkers but my family had to come first.

See? That Wasn’t so Bad!
I took a job in a carpentry shop that was able to work around my schedule (thank heavens!). I knew how to do most of the work already but worked on improving my skills. After working with wood for a few months, I realized how much I missed my hobbies. I soon started taking scrap wood home and making boxes and wood scrap art. I even started buying more supplies to get back into making wood art and home decor items. Then, the need to create started coming back. Soon enough, I was in my garage after work every day making so many pieces that eventually took up the spare closet and half of the dining room. Maybe having to leave the structural fitting job was a blessing in disguise. I may have been making half the money and working half the hours in the carpentry shop, but I had more time with my family and more time doing the things that I loved.

Sometimes, things don’t work out and that’s okay! A lot of times, it works out better than your original plan, anyway.