The Importance Of My Hobbies

I haven’t had this much free time since 2013. Since being cast in Les Mis six years ago, I’m very lucky that time between jobs has been relatively short or non-existent. Even in the short gap I had between The Christmasaurus in 2017 and Heathers in 2018, I managed to fill it by recording and releasing an album and putting on a concert at Cadogan hall! However, I handed in the first draft of my novel a week ago and I’m now waiting for edits and I have no performing jobs until I’m a guest in Jason Robert Brown’s concert on March 31st so I currently have actual free time. I have no work commitments and no obligations to do anything other than what I want to do…which is completely alien to me and in all honesty, I feel a bit lost!

I often feel that if I don’t have a specific goal or a purpose for the day, I tend to get up, make a coffee and after ten minutes of sitting doing nothing, guilt starts to creep in. This very loud voice in my head starts screaming “YOU’RE WASTING TIME! STOP BEING LAZY! GET UP AND DO SOMETHING!”. I’ve realised that I can’t just do “nothing”. Sitting and chilling is just not me. Even watching a series or a movie feels too still and I get restless (unless I’m at a cinema and I’m forced to do nothing but eat popcorn and watch). So I’ve come to realise that hobbies are my friend. If the only thing that can get me to sit still and focus on something other than work or social media is something creative and crafty then so be it! I also think it’s really important for me to do things that are solely for me. I feel real guilt when I’m doing something that isn’t financially lucrative. I recognise that I’ve done very well for myself as a twenty-six year old with two properties but I’m not "rich" by any means and I absolutely, categorically can not afford not to work. I have two mortgages, bills to pay and groceries to buy and no one else will pay any of that for me. I have  my Youtube channel and a couple of brand deals to tide me over whilst I'm not currently employed in a show and have no steady income but even so, panic is starting to set in slightly. However,  despite the panic, I do feel it is still important that I have a few things in which that kind of pressure doesn’t exist. Something I won’t ever make money from that no one else will ever see that is completely stress free and most importantly, completely mine. So here are some of my favourite things to do in my free time. 

1. Doing My Make-Up

I know this isn’t really a hobby but I’m counting it as I get so much joy from putting my make up on every morning. Even when I’m not going anywhere and no one other than me and boyfriend will see my face, I love getting up, getting showered and then spending a good forty minutes on my make up. Finding good eyeshadow colours that go together, watching YouTube tutorials and copying along and using my fancy new “Bad Apple” Spectrum brushes that I bought just before Christmas! I find that there’s so much creativity in it and nothing quite starts me up for the day quite like doing my face!

2. Junk Journaling

Whilst I was sick and off work from Heathers, I was driving myself crazy watching social media at home. As well as my tonsils being the size of tennis balls, my mental health also took a real nosedive as I was reading tweets from people telling me how disappointed they were that I wasn’t there and even sending me pictures of their crying children due to my absence. I find being away from work when I’m ill hard enough because I feel like I’m failing in some way and that I’m letting people down but to then see physical evidence that that is, in fact, the case, I knew I needed a distraction. As it was around Halloween, I did a bit of pumpkin carving but  this was something I did every year and I wanted to try my hand at something completely new. I can’t remember how but I stumbled across “Junk Journaling”. It’s basically just scrapbooking in a messy, haphazard, fun and creative fashion and I very quickly fell in love with it. I save everything, anyway, from receipts and tickets to packaging and newspaper cuttings but I’ve never really got around to scrapbooking any of it and junk journaling seemed like the quickest and most fun way of saving it all in one place. I started by using a journal I was given at stage door in Singapore but it very quickly started to bulk up and now it’s literally bursting open. Then I discovered that making your own journal wasn’t as difficult as it seemed. I took a quick, quiet trip to my local craft store and bought things like hand needles, waxed thread and card and then went to a charity shop and bought an old, dusty hardback book that was a little worse for wear with it's pages ripped and the dust jacket missing. Then I went home and learnt via YouTube tutorials exactly how to make my own junk journal and now I can’t stop! I’ve made about ten overall, each one totally unique and I feel I get better each time. I keep being asked to make tutorials on them but, if you're interested, I think you're better off just watching the videos I watched right here. Johanna Clough is a junk journal genius!

Finally, 3.Morning Pages. 

This is very new. By very new I mean…I started this morning but it’s something I want to continue so I’m adding it in here as a little bit of pressure to make myself push forwards. I’ve always heard people talk about Morning Pages and it’s always sounded a bit…I dunno…new age, hipster-ish? I guess I’d just never looked deep enough into it to really understand what it’s all about and why it would be beneficial for me to begin. But then I read a blog last night that convinced me to give it a go. I have an abundance of unused notebooks so I picked a pretty one from the V&A museum and started this morning. Morning Pages simply consists of getting up, making a hot drink and then sitting down for 30-40 minutes and writing a three page stream of consciousness. Apparently, the reason you write in the morning is to try and catch your brain off guard before your ‘ego defences’ come into play. There's less chance you're own self-involvement will, well...get involved! It’s a way to sweep your brain clear of any cobwebs before starting your day and as someone with few too many brain cobwebs, it’s something I can totally get behind. So, I’m only just starting out on this one but I love the idea and I will update you in a few weeks. 

If you’re a busy person, who is constantly giving time away to everyone but yourself, I feel like hobbies are so important. We all need a little bit of "me time" and I personally feel so much better when my hobbies have a physical result as I often feel like time has been wasted if I don't have anything to show for the time spent. That’s why journaling and writing morning pages seem like exactly what my soul needs to cleanse and recharge. 

Let me know what your hobbies are and why they’re so important to you!