I've been thinking of setting some goals for the month. I lost my primary hobby (temporarily 🤞), so I've just been reading and spending ungodly amounts of time on Lemmy & Reddit. I want to spend my time in a more healthy and fulfilling way...
What are some goals you all are working towards? What are your hobbies that make you feel fulfilled? What's something that makes you look forward to the (near) future?
I've been learning Japanese and Norwegian through the Duolingo app for the past few months.
Japanese because I lived in Japan for 3 years, about 2 decades ago, and want to sharpen my language skills so I can return one day.
Norwegian because my ancestry is Norwegian and my family line used to all speak Norwegian and English, until my grandfather passed away when my dad was 2. My dad never learned Norwegian, and so neither did I. The line was broken, but I'd like to start up that tradition again. Besides, my dad and I found living descendants of our ancestors in Norway and visited them about a decade ago. I'd love to visit them again and be able to speak in their native tongue this time instead of English.
I'd also like to learn French and German. I took 4 years of French in high school, but it didn't stick very well, so I want to make a proper effort to learn it again. And I spent 2 years living in Germany and enjoyed the language, so I'd like to improve what little German I learned while I was there.
I wanted to study computer science, but I needed to do a calculus-like course in order to qualify. Unfortunately, I didn't have this course during high school, so now I'm doing something called "Adult education", which allows me to catch up with this missed course. If everything goes well (and it seems like it!), I'll finish the course in May 2024 and enroll in September, after summer break!
Besides that, I'm also a bit bored lol. I was working on this programming project of mine, but I've almost finished it. Unit tests are the only things left and I don't like writing those, so I'm procrastinating.
Something that (sort of) makes me fulfilled, is going to the gym. I'll be honest, I don't really like the workout itself, but after a couple of months, I have seen actual muscle growth in my shoulders, back, and (upper) arms and it feels like I'm actually making progress. This has only encouraged me and now I'm lifting 18kg for the dumbbell press :D
I love going to the gym too! By dumbbell press, you mean overhead press? I love OHP too. I started going to the gym purely to get stronger but I started seeing aesthetic results way sooner haha, I have actual visible triceps and I think that's awesome
I put on a little weight since my two kids were born. My goal is to eat a little better, get back into exercising regularly, and get back to my preferred weight.
Right now I've just been trying to make everything organized and tidying. My mom is a "hidden mess" person. Her idea of cleaning is shoving everything into a cardboard box and calling it a day. I've been actually trying to organize and it's so hard when there's little room to start since it takes mess to clean mess.
Other than that I have a wood working goal to build some shelves. My house has some weird shapes and cavities that I'm hoping to utilize with some custom furniture and shelves.
It's hard but I'm very excited. Usually my workspace and room are a catastrophe and I get depressed but when it's actually organized I can work long and hard, accomplishing a lot.
I find cleaning and organizing annoying in the moment, but they leave me feeling kind of calm/soothed afterwards. And having a clean environment feels much nicer. Wishing you luck with your big project!
I got injured. Primary hobby is judo, secondary hobby is lifting - both off the table. I've just been reading to pass the time but it's just not as fun.
As for why I like my main hobbies: they're just super fun. Great way to boost mood, get hungry, sleep well. And the amount of effort you put in gets you directly proportionate results, which is something that's not true for much of life.