Becky

What Do You Enjoy Doing?

I went for a run Saturday morning, and I planned on 6 miles but ended up doing 4.5 miles because I had a side stitch on my right side that caused me to walk a bit more than I wanted. I considered it a decent run, especially since it was sunny and 60 degrees. That afternoon, after showering and eating lunch, I saw that two people I follow on Instagram post their post-run mileage in their stories: one ran 10 miles while the other ran 13.

I had gone through a phase earlier this year where I hated running. I felt like I wasn’t good enough, that I’ll never be good at running. This concept of “being good” at running started in the fall and got worse over the winter while I was training for the March 10K—the one that never was because it was canceled. I didn’t feel like I was good at running, but really, what does “being good” at running even mean? I know that for marathon runners, you should probably be a strong runner and have the endurance to run really long distances, but like for the every-day, regular person runner? For a time, I thought you had to run X miles to be a good runner, but, really, it’s not like that. In this case, I feel like “good” is subjective: what I consider good would be different than yours, probably based on your experience with running.

So I don’t say that I’m good at running. (However I have begun to call myself a runner. I went through an identity crisis with that, but we’re all set now.) I say that I enjoy running—which I know makes me sound crazy, because who actually enjoys running? I know that I’m going to have good runs and bad runs, and I need to be able to see the good in the bad ones. (I also started to count the number of dogs I see on my runs. A lot more people have been out walking, and many of those individuals bring their pups. My record so far is 22 dogs in one 6 mile run.)

I think that you don’t have to be good at something you enjoy. But you can be good at it. Or it’s something you’re working on. I think, especially now, we need to recognize the things we enjoy and enjoy doing, whether or not we’d be considered the best at it.

Here’s my list of other things I enjoy:

  • Reading (I’ve read 19 books so far this year. The Harry Potters are slowing me down haha.)
  • Painting/drawing/coloring (Yes, I do own a few of those adult coloring books. They’re very calming.)
  • Crocheting (I recently found my bag of yarn. Worth doing just to kill some time? Granted, all I can really make is a scarf or smallish blanket, so…)
  • Writing (I haven’t touched that new story I started last year in months, but I do still think about it every once in a while.)
  • Photography (I went through a phase a few years ago when I dragged my parents to local hiking trails and parks so I could take photos of the fall foliage. I own a Canon digital camera that I probably should get back out after all of this is over.)

For this week, I want you guys to think about things you enjoy, and you may be good at them or you might not be. All I care about is that doing those things makes you happy or relaxed or whatever. Feel free to leave those things in the comments of this post or write your own post! (Especially if you’re looking for something to write about haha. If you do, link back to this post so I can see what you wrote!)

11 comments

  1. Well, the #1 thing I enjoy is paper crafting. I can do that all day long. A couple of times I’ve even done it for 24 hours straight! Reading is another one of the things I enjoy. Running…not so much. I do like taking our dog for his walk though. Sometimes I take pictures while we are out and about too. I agree that you don’t have to be the best at something to enjoy it. Great post.

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  2. How is Harry Potter treating you? I’m into book 5 as of Friday 😃

    And I’m thinking of starting some crochet as well! The tenant upstairs is pregnant and it would be nice to make her a blanket. Not sure if I have nice colours though. I’d have to check my yarn bag

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  4. I just picked crocheting back up! We have some pretty ugly hand me down throw pillows that I’m trying to crochet new covers for. I like what you said that you don’t necessarily need to be good at something to enjoy it, I feel like I have a lot of hobbies I’m not really good at but I enjoy trying to get better at them!

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  5. I’ve called myself a runner for nearly seven years now and I still don’t think I’m good at running… I was decent back home, but the air pollution/pollen is messing with my asthm aher ein the UK and my ‘performance’ has never been the same. I worried about it a lot at the beginning, but like you said… I won’t be the next Mo Farah, might as well just enjoy myself!

    You and I have very similar interests! I’m also missing photography these days… I’ve burned out a few years ago and I’ve barely touched my camera since, but now I’m looking forward to getting it out of retirment after the lockdown is lifted!

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    • I’m waiting for my allergies to act up but *knock on wood* I’ve been okay so far. The pollen gets to me too and there’s normally 1 or 2 days in the spring when I can’t even go outside haha.

      I definitely think I’m going to make it a goal of mine to do more photography once we can move around freely again. It was a lot of fun and I kinda fell off somewhere in the last couple of years.

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      • My allergies have not been as bad this year either! I think the lockdown has brought air pollution down and it’s probably helping a lot. Let’s hope they don’t come back with a vengeance later this summer!

        I find photograpy is such a relaxing hobby. Almost like a meditation? I hope you share some on your blog, I look forward to seeing it!

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