Feeling an Itch to Create Something New?

In one of my recent articles, I introduced the idea of making plans for a transitional period before you leave a job. One of those components is a reflection you’ll probably want to give a whirl whether you are thinking about leaving your job or not—how to spend your free time in a way that makes you feel fulfilled and rejuvenated. Maybe you actually enjoy your job. You find it satisfying while you’re there, you’re challenged and enjoy your work, but you’re looking for more in other areas of your life. 

If you’ve been feeling an itch to create or learn something new, don’t brush it aside like a non-essential. You may find that discovering something new to do that sets you alight and excites you, is not only personally fulfilling, but also a great way to maintain your stamina in your professional life as well. 

We all get stuck in routines sometimes, feeling like every day is a carbon copy of the next. When this happens, having an outlet can be really worthwhile and instrumental in changing the course. Also, there are many ways to take seemingly unrelated activities and use one to find meaning in or solve a problem for the other. 

Let’s say for example you take up stone carving as a hobby. You’re hitting one particular area of a large stone with your biggest, heaviest tool and it’s not breaking in the way you want it to. It may not even be making a crack at all. Try as you might to hit with harder force, it just won’t budge. 

Might there be a task at work that you’ve been hammering at voraciously but to no avail? What if you were to use a different tactic for both your work situation and the stone carving. Perhaps by taking a smaller tool and making gentler, more precise taps to the stone, you can get the result you want. What detail might you have been missing in an attempt to obliterate that work problem? Perhaps if you take the same approach—a lighter touch and more attention to a smaller detail, you’ll get the result you really want! 

Some hobbies and activities can have very practical, tangible by-products and uses. If you register for a sewing class, you might start creating a new work wardrobe for yourself. You can fuel your hobby as well as have more creative control over the designs and styles you wear. You knows? You may even be able to build a side business with it. Imagine seeing other people wearing your own designs! 

Whatever activities you do choose, be mindful of the effects that engaging in them will have on you overall. If you’re enjoying your new hobby but constantly feel stressed due to the time constraints it leaves in your schedule, revisit your plan and find a way to incorporate it into your calendar in a more stress-free manner. The point is not to add more “have tos” to your list but to explore your desires and whims through creating and exposing yourself to new activities. 

Enjoy your time to play! 

—Victoria Crispo, July 2015 Career Coach