Channeling Energy

I told someone recently that I need a hobby, I need something to help me channel unspent energy.  I've gotten in a habit over the last few years of putting unspent energy into working ridiculous hours which is exhausting, stressful and quite frankly not healthy.  My efforts to change that are rarely successful.  Sometimes working long hours is necessary, but sometimes working long hours (and I mean ridiculously long) is out of boredom.  There are a lot of times that I work because I have nothing else to do with my time.

I really don't have any consistent hobbies.  Every time I'm asked about hobbies I have a hard time coming up with them.  My standard answer is "reading, working puzzles and watching sports, specifically football and baseball."  All of which are true, but I don't do them consistently and I'm kind of bored with them to be honest.  I do read quite a bit and I've made an effort in the last week to read for pleasure every day.  I have several puzzles and when I take the time to get them out, I enjoy the challenge of assembling them, but I don't get them out very often.  What I most enjoy doing with my spare time is traveling.  Sounds goofy huh, since I travel all the time for work?  I love to travel.  I love getting in the car and heading to a new place to see local sites or visit friends.  In my restlessness last night I decided that I needed to hit the road.  I traveled a good bit this week, but I was ready to go somewhere just for fun.

I had hoped to take a spring break trip this year similar to the one I did last year.  My first plan included a trip to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, followed by a couple of days in Denver with Christy and her family, then a venture to Cheyenne, Wyoming so that I can add another state to my list of those visited, finally ending up in Keystone, South Dakota (another check on my list) to see Mount Rushmore.  When I figured out that wasn't going to be financially feasible I thought I could just make a quick trip to Denver.  Then I decided that wasn't financially feasible and I thought I'd just spend a couple of days in Kansas.  I know there are places there I haven't been and it would let me travel for a bit.  Then I got sick and spent several days at home in bed and ended up not traveling anywhere.

When I started getting restless last night wanting somewhere to go, I knew it had to be somewhere I could get to and from in a day because I have my dog and I didn't really want to travel with her.  I decided I'd go to Stillwater to a Cowboys baseball game.  I haven't seen much baseball since the season started so I thought that would be a good Saturday activity.  I knew if I stayed home today I'd work and I didn't want to work.  Then my friend Kelli mentioned, jokingly, that I come watch her son play little league.  I say jokingly because she didn't really expect me to make a three hour drive for a one hour little league game.  I decided that drive was exactly what I needed!  I left home at little before 7:30 a.m. and headed south.  It took me right at two and a half hours, but my route wasn't a good one.  The route I took was round about in places, I'm going to have to fix that next time.  Our friend Lindsay met us there and we all enjoyed watching the kids play, despite the wind.  It's always windy in Oklahoma, but today was particularly rough.  Here's our very windblown picture...

After the game Kelli, her daughter Abby and I went to lunch at a local diner.  I figured I'd leave in enough time to head north and go to the OSU game on my way home.  The game started at 3:00 and I left Elgin with enough time to get to the game just a little after the first pitch.  Then I got stuck in traffic.  By the time I got through the bottleneck I would have been over an hour late to the game so I decided I'd just come home instead.  I've read some since I've been here, but haven't worked (personal victory).

I've decided I need to make these one day trips a regular thing.  There are plenty of places within driving distance of here that I can enjoy.  When I was driving back to Enid from Woodward on Thursday I passed a couple of sites I'd like to stop at the next time I'm out that way, or that I should make a special trip to see.  There are tons of little museums around the state that I'm sure I would enjoy.  Beyond that I am within a decent driving distance of Wichita, Dallas and even Kansas City.  I'm not sure it's a hobby I can entertain all the time, but maybe I can add it to my short repertoire of hobbies.

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On a separate note....I lost two more pounds this week and am down eight pounds total in two weeks.  I blew it today and will be starting over tomorrow, but I'm determined to make this a lifestyle.  I've had more energy, been more productive, felt better, slept better and my clothes are even starting to fit better...all excellent motivators to getting back on track tomorrow.