How do you find the time for other things?

[Wines Not Whines]

This is sort of H&F related, but sort of not. For those of you who work FT and/or have kids, and who work out an average of 1 or more hours a day, do you also have other interests/hobbies/activities that you regularly engage in? If you do, how do you find the time to fit everything in? 

I've been thinking that many of my friends have varied interests and hobbies, like they sew, or paint, or take music classes, and I couldn't figure out how they have time to spend several hours a week doing that. And then I realized I can easily spend 10 hours/week running, doing yoga, and lifting weights, so that's basically my "hobby" and how I choose to spend my free time. 


Do other people have time to cultivate multiple time-consuming interests and activities? 

[runaways]

Well, per my previous posts this doesn't really apply to me at the moment, but when I was working 70-80 hour weeks last year fitness was about it. It really was my (only) hobby. I have other interests (music, fashion/sewing, cooking, etc.) but those are expendable whereas working out doesn't hit the chopping block unless there is literally no time left.

[lb2006]

We don't have kids yet - I work FT and my H works 60-70 hours per week during his busy season. But, I work a part time job from home (~5-10 hours/week) and am on the board for a dog rescue. The dog rescue is really time consuming and is considered my other hobby. I work out in the early morning and then maybe one other evening per week.

I try to outsource lots of other things - i.e. I order EVERYTHING I can from amazon (prime member) and meal plan. But, running & dog rescue are my hobbies With renovating our house, I had to give up some of the dog rescue duties, and still feel like I'm having a tough time keeping up with everything.

[sadlebred]

I don't have kids and a almost single most of the week. I work FT. My other major "hobby" is running my cycling website, which is one of the largest on the east coast. It's more like a second job. I also love photography and indulge when I can. A lot of it is cycling photography. I mostly shoot during cyclocross season since I'm at the races anyway. I also try to photograph 2-3 big events/year.

My others hobbies are pretty boring--watching tv, reading, being a foodie/eating out, etc.

[breezy8407]

Yeah my workouts are my only "hobby" right now. I almost read a whole book on vacation, but I have no clue when I will finish it.

I'm typing this on my work laptop. I would say 3 nights a week lately I do work from about 8-10pm. The kids go to bed around 7:30.

H has been taking classes and has been busy with his work (as he sits next to me grading tests) otherwise we would usually watch netflix shows together. Is that a hobby?

I think right now I would just be happy to see my friends a few times a month. All of my friends have kids the same age and work fairly demanding jobs, so we are all in the same boat. It kind of sucks, but I accept it as part of my life with two toddlers and two parents who work full time!

I'm hoping that as the kids get older I will find some time to cook and bake again, but that's probably a pipe dream because as the get older, they will just be in more activities and extra curriculars.

[taratru]

Uh...I don't. I read and on some weekend days I go shopping. I'm okay with it.

I do miss doing "friend" stuff, so I'm trying to do more things like happy hours, but I also know if I'm not doing my workouts, it's hard for me to really enjoy doing other things. Also, I've never really been a "do something with people all the time" person. I spend all day with people, and I need alone time.

[Brit]

I don't do much else. I am pretty much commuting/working from 7:30A-6:15P each day. H works at night, so I can't do anything after work until DD goes to bed at 7:30P. After she goes to bed I run (if I didn't do it before work) and/or do more work/calls with the US until 10ish. Rinse. Repeat. My life sounds so dull.

Our only family time is on the weekends, so we try to do stuff together. (So not a great opportunity for me to take time for a hobby.)

[chw57]

Teach full time, 1 kid, training for an ironman. I'm lucky to sleep 7 hours a night. I'm on spring break this week so I have read a little bit and sewed a dress for my daughter, but when I'm at work I pretty much just train, eat, sleep, and try to spend as much waking time with my daughter as possible.

[thom]

Me: No kids, 2 dogs & a husband plus working about 60 hours/week and another small part-time job about 15 hours/month. Besides running I volunteer at church, biggest time commitment is with the kids after-school program several hours each Wednesday. We garden in summer & cook a lot generally. Blogging & keeping up here are also hobbies.

My house is never as clean as I'd like it & I wish I had more weekend/evening time to see family and friends. I feel like there are many hobby things I want to do more & just can't make time for, but I guess I'm not alone. Many of you might not realize it, but you've got it together. Great priorities in spite of being busy. All you moms especially are super women!

[AAM2012]

We have no kids. Usually I run early in the morning (i.e. 4:30-5am) and then I'll do my studying after work. I don't really hang with friends unless it's the weekend and don't have other hobbies. I lead a boring life

[al320]

There are no other things.

We dont have kids. I have a very long commute. Most of my free rime during the week is spent working out - t the gum and my swim team definitely have a social component. I do most of my socializing over the weekend, and i dont really have any other hobbies that are nearly as time consuming.

[wambam]

I'm with everyone else: lifting heavy things is my hobby.

[runblondie26]

Yeah, not doing so well with that right now. Getting anything extra done is at the expense of sleep. I work out at 4am to fit it in.

I'm tired all the time.

[mrshandy]

Two kids, work full time.

I read on my commute and pump breaks and sometimes a little before bed. I'm working on DD's baby scrapbook hoping to finish before her 1st birthday. I do that on nights I've teleworked since I've already run during the day.

My H home brews and I help. He'll take a random day off work to brew or find time on the weekend.

[cinco]

I SAH, but 3 keep me surprisingly busy (not complaining at all). We have one day/night a week that doesn't revolve around the kids activities, and they are only in one each. Saturdays and Sundays are game/meet days. I'm still trying to figure out how to work dinner in with out resorting to sandwiches or hot dogs. Running/ working out is my only hobby, and that is fine by me. Sometimes after the kids go to bed I can read for a little bit, and I do have time to GBCN here and there I don't know of too many people our age that have lots of hobbies to be honest.

[lauren170]

Now that I have a kid, I'm realizing I'm lucky to get in 1 hour a day and its totally my "me" time. Health and fitness was my hobby before my kid and it still is. I just have time constraints now. I do less reading, less going out to eat, and less shopping for me now.

[labbie]

We both work full time, no kids, a dog. My job is often more than 40 hours (it varies). We spend our weekends on house/family stuff and occasionally getting together with friends. My closest friends are either parents of young kids or single parents, so their schedules are tight as well.

I consider reading my other major hobby, since that is what I do when I get a spare minute and every night before going to sleep. 
We also both enjoy cooking, and in summer I spend most Sundays cooking our CSA haul and stocking up our freezer for the upcoming year.
DH is a home brewer, and we hike or snowshoe with the dog as much as possible. Luckily trails are right down our road so that can take as little or as much time as we want.
I volunteer with my dog as a pet therapy team, and that commitment is a few hours a month.

[hannahb]

Apr 4, 2014 5:05:48 GMT -5 runblondie26 said:

Yeah, not doing so well with that right now. Getting anything extra done is at the expense of sleep. I work out at 4am to fit it in.

I'm tired all the time.

This.

[Wines Not Whines]

Y'all are making me feel much better.

[gt7301b]

I fell asleep on the couch last night around 9 while attempting to read about gardening, so yeah, not a lot of other things get done during the week at my house.

[shellfish26]

I work 9 hour days and my commute is an hour+. And since I have to be at work at 7, my alarm goes off at 4:23 (but I am not regimented at all...haha). There is no way I can squeeze a workout in the mornings. So once I get home, I cook dinner, run, and prepare my lunch and clothes for the next day. By that time, it's usually 8:30 or so and time for bed. Honestly, I don't really feel like anything's missing from my life. Sure, I would like a little more time- I can't remember the last time I sat on our couch when I wasn't sick. But I'm okay with that.

[Susie]

I don't have kids, but I have 2 energetic dogs, am a partner in a law firm, and train for HIM's, which I find to be a particularly time consuming event to train for (more so than training cycles where I'm just running). I hear you on the time.

I have other hobbies besides tri's, but I tend to back burner them during training plan cycles. We backpack, we do home improvement projects, travel, that sort of thing. Calvin was teaching me guitar for a while, but that died a "no time for it" death.

I think it's good to have some balance. When I was out of running with a stress fracture, I still swam and biked, but there was a hole. It was good to have another hobby to fill in! We renovated a bathroom that summer; took it down to the slab and the studs and redid it completely. It was nice to have something else to throw myself into.

I also think that anybody who does just one thing, and talks about just one thing all the time will become boring no matter what. New moms and runners aren't annoying on FB because kids and running are inherently obnoxious and/or boring, but they're often annoying on FB because they stereotypically talk endlessly about that and nothing else. Keeping other hobbies, even at a low level*, helps me not be that person (either on FB or IRL).

*For example, right now I'm painting a few pieces of furniture. It's a very mild form of home improvement project to balance with my training, and not too physically taxing, so I"m still up for it after a long workout. But I'm still doing it.

Some days though... I was up at 4:30 today, swam 4400 yds, now I'm at work, and I can tell you, that'll be all I've really got today.  Some days you do better than others.

[skwcm80]

I have 2 kids and work FT. Outside of running I like to read, but running my major hobby. Does shopping count? Because I do quite a bit of that too.

[kams]

I am in a place in my life where I have more flexible time than ever before, and probably will again for many years. I work very part-time, and DD is 3 (her schedule is pretty open, lol). That's a big part of why I chose this time to do Ironman. And, between ironman, my light workload, and the day-to-day with DD, every day is maxed out right now (in the peak of training).

I love to cook, sew, read, but those happen (aside from basic cooking) very rarely right now. SO, add a full time job or another baby into the mix, and I would be toast.

[joenali]

I teach and the schedule I have let's me do more things like train for an ironman etc. but right I'm looking back on last year thinking, how did I do that? I have a tough, energy sucking class this year and I'm exhausted by the end of the day.

[kellydelq]

haha I wish! I guess running is my hobby because it is the only real Me time I get- it was actually the reason I started running in the first place!  We both work full time and have three kids, one that is 13 with his own social life and plays hockey. After working, cooking, homework, bedtime, practices and any other household things that need to be done, I crash. it is a challenge to find the time to run but I have found that if I am registered for a race and am "in training" I find the time to make sure it gets done. I used to read, would love to do that again one day! Other than that my only other hobby is drinking wine when I can stay awake!

[arch01]

I don't have many other hobbies-between 2 jobs, a husband who works an opposite schedule than I do (leaving me solo parenting at night during the week) and a toddler, working out is about all I have. I can barely peel myself up off the couch at night to get upstairs to bed, much less have energy for much else. Housework gets done on the weekends for the most part.

I sacrifice sleep to get my workouts in; if I didn't, you wouldn't want to be around me. Trust me. I'm 1000% ok with the fact that my workouts are my hobby; and most hobbies are there for "me" time, so this satisfies my desire to work out and my necessity to be disconnected from everything and everyone (for the most part) each day.

[gumi]

I do not have other hobbies.
But with running, biking, swimming and yoga, I don't feel a void or need for another hobby?

95% of my friends are runners and the other 5% are cyclists so I sorta live in a bubble of like-minded individuals. But it works nicely when you can combine a 2 hour bike ride with 2 hours of social time.

I guess hanging out with my husband and watching Dance Moms are also "hobbies." But he is a butthead and won't watch Dance Moms with me.

[andrealynn]

I'd like to tell you that I am super mom and super worker and super athlete, but I'm not. Every day is a struggle to prioritize and fit things in. I try to read before bed and multi-task other hobbies (ie knit while I unwind with TV or while reading, but it does always seem that something I want to do is at the expense of something else, usually sleep, but sometimes family time, too.

[Wines Not Whines]

I think this is also making me realize I need to find a new running group (my old one kind of disbanded) and/or some new friends who enjoy the same things I do (running, yoga, etc.). Not that I want to replace my current friends, because I love them. But if I can combine socializing and running, that would be great. Multitasking!