Suzanna Wojnowski In the past year or so I have come to the realization that I have become much more in-tune with myself.
After reflecting upon why this might be, besides the inevitable growth as a human-being, I have noticed that it is because of the hobbies I have started to pick up again.
One thing in particular that I noticed about these hobbies is that they are all activities that I used to express interest in when I was younger.
In middle school, high school, and even early college you could say that I was heavily influenced on what other people would think of me. Now, I have reached a point in my life where being my true authentic self is something I strive to improve on every single day.
An exercise you can do to discover what your lost interests are is to write what you used to do for fun as a child. For me, I enjoyed playing “dress-up”, solving puzzles, singing, coloring and so much more.
After looking at this list I noticed a connection right away. My current interests are thrifting, learning to play the guitar, solving crosswords/sudoku puzzles and designing logos/brands.
While they aren’t the exact same activities, there is an obvious theme to what I enjoy doing. With that being said, I may have aged but the same type of things seem to make me happy ten years later.
This makes me think, what happened during those years I wasn’t engaging in those activities I once loved?
The answer is, I steered myself away from things that I knew I liked but was too scared to do because of being judged.
I remember I owned a pair of houndstooth patterned corduroy pants my freshmen year of high school. I thought they were so cool and were completely “my style”, so I decided to wear them to school one day.
I vividly remember a classmate making fun of them and after that I was terrified to wear anything out of the ordinary again.
This memory encompasses the significance of not letting what other people think bother you because looking back I wish I kept dressing the way I wanted to instead of limiting myself to what was “normal”.
On a positive note, now I can confidently say that I participate in whatever makes me happy without second guessing myself.
Getting ridiculed for doing something I liked has happened to me many times throughout my life which is why I strayed away from some of my favorite hobbies and interests.
It is sad to see how easily my younger self would get influenced, but looking at where I am now I am grateful that I was able to overcome the need to care what people think.
Moral of the story is that getting back in touch with your younger self will allow you to realize what you truly love to do, no matter how odd or unrealistic you might think it is.
