Decades ago I did a paper making workshop and still have the frame thing in the shed somewhere though I doubt I'll ever make another piece of paper again. I used to make bread once a week or take all day to cook a meal starting with toasting and grinding my own spices etc. These days, I can't be bothered to cook much and finding time to garden is getting harder too. I've never been interested in embroidery or knitting and don't have patience to learn those skills. But I can spend two hours on two or three sentences, trying to work out where they fit, the order of the words and so on. I was talking with a neighbour the other day; all the kids have left now and she's unsure what to do with her time outside of work. I feel "lucky" I don't feel that way but I've worked hard to get to the place where I am at the moment (like you, living in a place of my own, though I'm not there enough). Perhaps as we get older and decide how to use our time, it gets easier? And choosing to go for a walk with a friend is always time well spent. A recent wake up call after some injuries: "you've got no muscle strength in your legs" despite all the walking I do. It seems that musculoskeletal strength will help stave off dementia (I'm caring for elderly parents who have dementia) so that seems to be another "creative activity" that needs doing as well ...
Decades ago I did a paper making workshop and still have the frame thing in the shed somewhere though I doubt I'll ever make another piece of paper again. I used to make bread once a week or take all day to cook a meal starting with toasting and grinding my own spices etc. These days, I can't be bothered to cook much and finding time to garden is getting harder too. I've never been interested in embroidery or knitting and don't have patience to learn those skills. But I can spend two hours on two or three sentences, trying to work out where they fit, the order of the words and so on. I was talking with a neighbour the other day; all the kids have left now and she's unsure what to do with her time outside of work. I feel "lucky" I don't feel that way but I've worked hard to get to the place where I am at the moment (like you, living in a place of my own, though I'm not there enough). Perhaps as we get older and decide how to use our time, it gets easier? And choosing to go for a walk with a friend is always time well spent. A recent wake up call after some injuries: "you've got no muscle strength in your legs" despite all the walking I do. It seems that musculoskeletal strength will help stave off dementia (I'm caring for elderly parents who have dementia) so that seems to be another "creative activity" that needs doing as well ...