hobbies

Sometimes it's hard to tell if there is much of a difference between me and young non disabled people I come in contact with. We have jobs. We live away from our parents. We don't have support staff. When I actually think about it, the difference is that I don't have any hobbies but I don't have what non disabled people would consider a good reason not to have hobbies. Basically, I'd have to either be pursuing some really intense goal like being a doctor, or I'd need to have been saddled with a lot of responsibility, like having custody of my brothers and sisters. In the first scenario I guess it seems single minded and tough of me not to have hobbies, and in the second scenario it's something that people would feel sorry for me about.

I don't feel tough OR sad about not having hobbies, because I enjoy all of my life. I have a bunch of things I'm trying to maintain, which go something like:

1. Work full time.
2. Shower every two or three days.
3. Do the dishes.
4. Eat regular meals and cook a lot of them.
5. Don't self injure or lie in bed crying all day or lie in bed all day at all.
6. Spend time with my roommate.
7. Keep in touch with 4 friends.
8. Wear clean clothes.
9. Brush my teeth so I don't get 7 cavities again.
10. Sleep 8 hours a night. (I love sleeping but if I don't sleep a lot the other stuff isn't possible, so maybe it's more of a means than an end.)

I'm having a little trouble with a few of the things on the list, but generally, they are all working, and I'm really happy with how things are. Which is good, because this is all I can do. I think that at some point I might be able to add more things one by one, but it's only going to be a few more things, and I already know what else I would want to do if I could.

I'm not an especially overscheduled or conventionally busy person, but I can't really add things to my life just because I'm interested in them, because it's not worth the effort. I don't like anything more than I like the first ten things on my list and I will not be able to do those things if I'm trying to pursue other stuff.

Of course, other stuff falls in my lap sometimes and I'm really grateful for that, but it's not a hobby.