| Ask a room full of people what hobby they have and | | | | noreal outside activities, you're probably not always the |
| you willget as many answers as there are people. | | | | mostfriendly person to be around. |
| Others willconfess that they don't have a hobby. They | | | | Conversely, if you bury yourself and it seems to |
| probably do; butjust don't label it as such. By definition, a | | | | others thatall you care about or all you ever want to |
| hobby is anactivity or interest pursued outside one's | | | | do is fly all day |
| regularoccupation and engaged in primarily for | | | | (or hang around the airport), you're setting yourself up |
| pleasure. | | | | orprolonging discontent. People deal with depression in |
| Whether flying, stamp collecting, chat rooms, | | | | manyways. Some sleep all the time. Others want to |
| trains,softball,scrapbooking, golf, reading, painting, | | | | do nothing butread,read, read. Still others will spend |
| tapdancing, yard work, crafts, auto mechanics, music, | | | | hours upon hoursdownstairs building a bigger, faster |
| huntingdown garage sales, sewing, fishing, cooking, | | | | widget, just to avoidthe real cause of their frustrations. |
| boating,furniture refinishing, javelin tossing or a plethora | | | | Hobbies are supposedto be a healthy outlet, not a |
| ofother activities or interests the key element is | | | | catalyst to ignore issues thatneed addressing. |
| balance. | | | | Likewise, hobbies can get very expensive. Sure, flying, |
| You must find balance between your family life and | | | | snowmobiles, motorcycles and ski equipment are |
| yourextracurricular activities. | | | | obviouslyexpensive. But sometimes those seemingly |
| Too much of a good thing turns bad. Everyone should | | | | low costactivities can add up. You start out with trying |
| have anoutlet and a special interest that they enjoy | | | | to budgetfor the weekly flying lessons. Then you need |
| doing forthemselves. Self indulgence, to a point, is quite | | | | (or want) theunnecessary (but fun) goodies that we all |
| healthy. | | | | "need" to pursueour passion. "Let's see, do we pay the |
| Escaping from day to day grinds to take some time to | | | | mortgage this month,or get that (fill in the blank) that |
| devoteto your flying hobby or concentration is | | | | you just have to have?" |
| therapeutic. | | | | If your flying hobby is doing more harm than good, if |
| You've all heard, "if Mamma ain't happy, no one's | | | | it'sdipping into the family budget and time allocation, |
| happy." | | | | morethan you can or should be spending, it's time |
| It doesn't matter if your role is father, mother, | | | | toreevaluate. Not stop the flying, mind you, just make |
| husband,wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, son, daughter, brother | | | | sureit's appropriate for you and your family and its |
| orsister, if you're just going to work or school and have | | | | lifestyle. |