Changing Pastimes

I have a lot of free time on my hands and have had so for a long while. Our culture has a cure for free time not just one cure but many different cures. Music, television, books and my personal favorite video games to name a few. Recently I've been persuaded to get away from that particular medium.

It's really just because I want to do things that other people can appreciate. I've found that the best feeling that a I can get is positive feedback from other people.

Next to that is the feeling of creating something. It's gratifying to have an object that you have made, or participated the creation of. I've appreciated the work of many people when I've played video games but I'm finding that I just end up spending more time than I originally intended when I pick up the latest title.

So I'm trying to wean myself of the habit slowly. It's not something that a person can easily quit cold turkey. Good games absorb your mind more than anything else I know. Part of the fun of them however is sharing the experience with others and nobody else I'm talking with now is gaming so it's naturally falling away.

For the next couple or so I'll be building a model airplane as I feel like I should be making something but as an art student school takes up most of my creative ideas. Refilling the mind juices on doing something someone else has designed ought to improve my artistic skills and detail orientation.

Part of this the feeling that I seem to always have that a person needs to strive to be improving at all times. I think that our global culture promotes this idea. At least until a person has been recognized as one of the best. Then everything is in it's maintenance.

And now that graduation is near and I'm looking to start off working wherever I can I feel like I need to up my art skills so that I'm more marketable. Having something to work on helps.

I'll sign off asking what it is that you like to do with your free time. Is there something that helps you unwind?