Life is generally busy. Between home and work, and the all the maintenance that goes into keeping life running, there isn’t much time for anything else. Until you make some.

Over the past 6-8 weeks most of us have been under lockdown or ‘shelter in place’. During this time, many have asked me what I do or how I spend my time. The fact is that I really have had no time to ‘spend’. It has been busier than ever and as always, when I have any spare time, I just route towards doing things that matter to me.

On the other hand, even when life is routine. I ensure I make it a point to dedicate my time to those things that define me, make me who I am, grow as an individual.

There are 1440 minutes in a day, times 7 days, times 52 weeks. It is hardly possible that we can’t find the time to do the things we want to do. The question is never about time. There is always enough time for everything. Talk to people who speak about the quantum realm and they will be first to point out that time will warp to allow one to do the things they are passionate about.

For many, perhaps I should say most, the hardest thing is to know what they would like to spend their time on. Before we can be passionate about anything, one has to know oneself.

What do I like to do? What would I like to spend my time on? what do I want to create? What impact do i want to leave behind? What do i want to be known for when i am done? What problems do i want to solve? Who can i help? Who can i serve?

Most people go about life living through the drudgery of tasks and when they look at others doing things that matter to them, it appears like those people are blessed. The fact is that those people are neither anymore blessed than us, nor are they gifted with any more skills that we have. The fact is that those individuals have identified one or more things they are truly passionate about and they pursue it relentlessly.

In simple terms, some of these ‘things’ are known as hobbies. they are different from interests. They are not pastimes. Hobbies involve deep engagement, a form of ‘doing’.

I consider myself very blessed to have had a passion for aviation. This passion has led to various related hobbies and I have more than one. Model aircraft building, drone flying, simulator construction, real world flight, aviation photography and videography, composing guitar solos to mirror the sentiments that aviation produces. These keep me grounded and level-headed. Working on my hobbies brings in a focus, keeps the mind engaged, provides a sense of calm, generates immense gratification, and increases creativity exponentially.

One of the questions that i get asked when someone sees my work is how did i begin. I don’t think there is a single day when a hobby becomes a part of one’s life. Most of my hobbies came in naturally. They grow on me. Aviation has been a passion since my childhood. Music has been with me since my high school days. I was building transistor radios when i was 12. So most of my hobbies have stayed with me since i was little. Indeed with time, the size and scale of my hobbies have grown much. Where I would build a small scale model aircraft, I am now inspired the next larger one. Where i used to have one certificate to fly, I am now inspired to pursue the next block of learning and get the next certificate. Where a couple of decades ago, I was only interested in finding out how to eliminate the keyboard and replace real switches and knobs into a flight simulator, I started on building a scale size flight simulator. It turned into a 20+ year project and to this day gives me immense satisfaction. I call it it my life’s work.

Yes, hobbies can lead to life size work. There is always something to do. Replace the engine on a model aircraft, try a new propeller to test for efficiency, build a foam plane with electric propulsion. Fly to a new non-towered airfield in the real-world. Plan a project to fly to the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk where the first powered flight occurred. On the simulator side, update navigation data, upgrade the software, add a new aircraft, or fine tune performance. If all this is finished, sit by a small airfield and do some plane spotting, or curate some aviation pictures. When this done, come back to composing a new solo in A minor to mirror the feelings of being in the air. There is no end of the avenues that hobbies open up.

The hardest for many is to identify what they are really interested in. The best way to get past this point is to try a few things. Its easy to gravitate to one or more things if we try them, It’s also important to separate out pass-times from hobbies. Hobbies are most likely things to do. Pass-times are meant to pass one’s time. Rest assured that having a hobby will leave very little time to pass.

A hobby can be in any field or realm. Tending a garden, collecting stamps, curating pictures of building architecture, sewing, knitting. cooking, painting, woodcraft, restoring a vintage car or plane, curating artifacts for a museum.., there is no end to the various things that one can do with time.

At few points in our past would having a hobby be as immensely valuable as it has been over the past two to three months with the COVID-19 situation.

In the spirit of not leaving the sight of a goal without taking a step towards it, let’s begin!
Let your creativity blossom.

CJ