revisiting old hobbies

Thursdays are one of my off days. Before the coronavirus pandemic, I'd usually go to the grocery store, do some chores, then maybe meet up with a friend for dinner, or Ben & I would have a date night. Now, going to the grocery store on Thursdays is pretty much the only time I leave my home other than going on walks/short runs.

That contrast is even more apparent on days when Ben has to work — suddenly I have the whole day with really nothing to do. And while I'm a firm believer that you don't need to be cranking out new project after new project during this time to feel like you're handling it well, today I felt creative. But I had no idea what I wanted to do with that.

So I ventured to our little craft corner, and got some markers and paper and doodled for a little bit, but it wasn't looking quite like I wanted. I knew Ben had paint and brushes somewhere but didn't want to dig too hard to find them. I didn't want to waste my spurt of creativity, though, so I pulled out my laptop, and revisited an old hobby of mine — (minimalistic) graphic design.

I dabbled in some graphic design in college, most notably when I'd help design pages for the weekly newspaper, but the extent that I design things now is the header photo for these blogs, and any quick graphics needed at work.

For the first time in over a year, I think, I opened up Adobe to a blank slate and waited to see what followed. I played around with shapes and different colors, trying different techniques and styles, until I finally settled on a few different versions of one design that I liked. I sent it to Ben, set it as my new desktop background, and enjoyed the feeling that I fulfilled my creative urge.

I told Ben I feel like I'm not producing what I want to be, and he reminded me — you've got to start somewhere. So I'm hoping I'll be a little more creative in the weeks to come, maybe even venturing off my computer and trying to paint or pursue some other medium. And I'll make peace with the fact that I may not love what the end result is for every project, but they're just steps on the way to where I want to be.

(This one, though, I like.)