I started 2019 determined to embrace the hobby-hopper in me.

I’m the kind of person who dabbles in an activity or topic for a time and then moves on to other hobbies or interests before coming back to something months or even years later. As I started 2019, I set a goal to honor that. To learn a lot, try new things, and just embrace this side of me that is always eager for something new.

I wrote a very specific list of things I wanted to do or learn this year and I didn’t completely achieve any of them. But I think the spirit of this goal very much stayed with me throughout the year and I thought it would be fun to record some of the things that I worked on.

Here are some of the things I learned about, practiced, explored, or tried for the first time in 2019:

1. Spinning wool. I’ve wanted to learn how to spin for ages and ages and never got the opportunity…that is, until I started working at a living history site and had the chance to learn. I also learned how to weave.
   
   
2. Cooking and baking. Some of the dishes I made completely from scratch this year for the first time ever include: pasta, savory pies, hot water crust pastry, short crust pastry, choux pastry, gnocchi a la parisienne, spinach and mushroom turnovers, vegan cake, vegan cupcakes, lemon curd, apple pie, gluten free brownies, gluten free pastry, and molasses applesauce cake. I also baked with a wood burning stove for the first time ever this year and churned out delicious cookies and cakes from it.
   
   
3. Sewing. In 2018 I completed the first item of clothing I ever sewed: an 18th century shift. In 2019, I completed or almost completed: a 19th century corset, an 1850s day dress, a medieval veil and fillet (by hand), a medieval cote (by hand), a medieval sideless surcote (by hand), and two cross stitch samplers (obviously by hand). I also learned a bit about quilting, and helped piece and quilt by hand.
   
   
4. Painting. I took an art class for the first time this last fall and learned about watercolor painting. I also attempted to paint en plein air in the summer for the first time…but ended up getting snowed out. At the end of June. In the mountains, but STILL.
   
   
5. Music. I practiced a Beethoven piano sonata and had loads of fun relearning the recorder, picking up the violin for basically the first time ever (minus a very brief time experimenting with it more than ten years ago), and trying to learn about medieval and Renaissance music.
   
   
6. Languages. I spent some time studying French, Esperanto, Spanish, and a little bit of Greek.

When I look at 2019 thinking about learning and trying new things, it was an unqualified success, and I love that. I learned so much, and tried more new things than I think I’ve ever tried before.

My biggest takeaway from being able to spend time with so many different hobbies is increased patience with myself. Perhaps the most constant thing during my year was the feeling of being a perpetual beginner. I learned how to spin, but of course did not end up with a perfect skein. I learned a few basic things about sewing, but felt consistently over my head with anything I attempted. The examples could go on and on. I had to learn to forgive myself the imperfections that come with being a novice. More than that, I had to learn to enjoy learning and practicing new skills for its own sake, rather than seeing it only as worthwhile if I achieved an exceptional end product.

Filling my life with these things was so rewarding – not because I’ve miraculously become a world-class pastry chef, am suddenly fluent in French, or can paint like da Vinci – but because it helped me find joy in growth rather than only in accomplishment.