This is a post from a blog I toyed with creating, so timescale is slightly off.
Filling the day used to be a rather simple task, it was a mirror of the average working joe. Awake at 6:45, eat some breakfast, watch the daily news and head out to work. Arriving home I would get changed spend an hour or so in the gym, then spend the rest of the evening with my wife.
Being out of work has posed a real issue of what to do with all my time?
I am no longer able to partake in my favourite hobbies due to my lack of vision. Even watching TV is a bore as I am subjected to an oddly edited version of any show, where characters have only half a face and I am never quite sure of the plot.
Traditional reading has also become incredibly difficult, with me having to angle the book just so, to be able to see the text. The incredibly amount of concentration needed to read one page is not sustainable, so I find myself limited to reading 20-30 pages at a time. I have however solved this issue thanks to audiobooks and the recent use of Adobe Readers fantastic accessibility features.
Video games, oh how I miss this area of my life. This used to be one of my favourite hobbies. I even worked in a video game store for a few years. I am currently battling through playing what will no doubt be one of the last games I ever play, LEGO Indiana Jones 2. The only reason I am able to play this game is down to multiplayer. I do the simple tasks and drop in and out while my wife continues through the levels.
Rather than listing all the hobbies I can no longer enjoy its time to look to the future and think of adaptations or new hobbies I can enjoy.
Thanks to a few close friends I still enjoy my main hobby of working out. Everyday a friend pops round and either joins me in my personal home gym or walks me round to the local gym to use the treadmill.
Hi, I just came across your blog. I am also finding that deteriorating vision is changing my “free time” activities. Like you, I find that reading printed books takes too much concentration and tv is too hard to follow. I have also had to give up quilting, but I was never really very good at it anyway. To replace these, I have fallen in love with audio books, except that each book takes soooo long to finish. I borrow them from the library and find it hard to finish one before I receive notices that it needs to be “deleted.” My main new hobby is photography, which has opened up the world to me in a new and amazing way. I agree with you that it is better to look ahead to new activities than to waste time mourning the ones I can no longer do. Good luck with your running and your blog.
Thanks for the kind words Belinda.
Looking forward and adapting is definitely the key.
I do use audiobooks myself and have the same issues. I tend to listen to them at 2x the speed to get through them faster. I used to be an incredibly fast reader so enjoy the increased pace.
I will place a link to your blog on the sidebar and start reading.
I have added you to my blogroll. Thanks.
I didn’t know you could adjust the speed on audiobooks. I will have to figure out how to do that.