Fulfillment 101: What You Need to Do

Hobbies: those things that I do that prevent me from going batshit, balls out crazy. I blog. I write. I do photography. I paint. I read. I study Buddhism. I enjoy the finer things in life when I can, like wines and cheese wine. I do yoga, Zumba, and hike (when it's not 100 millions degrees outside in AZ). I used to play the cello, I speak German (and occasionally take a stab at French, Spanish and Japanese). I've volunteered at an animal shelter, attend many cancer walks, and regularly donate funds towards children, cancer and animal related charities. I travel often to L.A. to spend time with family and my beloved ocean. All in all, I try to stay busy and fulfilled.

Sooooo....why do I still feel like my life isn't complete in every way it "should" be, or that there's a piece still missing from becoming the person I REALLY want to be?

Here I was, on a random Tuesday afternoon, describing a typical "day in the life" to the greatest therapist in the world (yes, she reads this blog, but she really IS the most amazing therapist in the history of all of the everything) and it went something like this: I woke up, I spent 8+ hours at work, I worked out (Monday was Zumba, wheeeeeeeeeeeee). I watched six episodes of Community, blogged, pissed away an hour on Pinterest and playing Mahjong...and went to sleep, only to start the same thing over again tomorrow.

First of all (duh), my entire day was spent in front of a screen, one way or another, and I felt the only two activities that contributed to the betterment of my soul were my exercise and my creative outlet of this blog. I realize that with all of our busy schedules and hectic lives during the work week, it's difficult to not want to completely check out at the end of the day, face-down in pajamas and ice cream and drooling on whichever one of our pets we happen to fall asleep on. Hence, I have now scheduled into my daily routine something I call: "My Italian Hour."

Yes, this is a direct answer to my friend's blog, Chantelle Says, in regards to "the pleasure of doing nothing" referred to in Eat, Pray, Love. Americans work too hard, rest too little, and "play" in ways that seem to exhaust ourselves even more. So no, it's not about sitting in a cubicle for most of your day: it's about the conversation you make with a complete stranger in a waiting room and making them laugh. It's  about helping someone clean up their dropped lunch in the kitchen at work when no one else bothers to lift a finger. And as much as I love being a couch slug as anyone (especially justifying laziness after a good workout), I want to LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!! ZEST! NO FEAR! A PLAYFUL ATTITUDE TOWARDS EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE! And truly ENJOY what I am doing in that moment, with mindfulness and positivity at all times.

So- any thoughts on what my next hobby should be? Skydiving? Pottery? Art classes? Needlepoint? Crafts? (CRAFTS!!) I'm open to suggestion! Let's get happily busy, people. But most importantly: STAY happily busy.