A list of things I know
and the delicate power of hobbies
I started a short course in April. It's called 'Creative writers for beginners', run at Central Saint Martins over 10 weeks on a week day evening. At the end of this post, I share one of the writing prompts, and the very surprising outcome that I didn’t expect at all.
So recently, I've been reflecting on hobbies and skills building as an adult. I have SO many hobbies.
a list of the hobbies that make me
my allotment, aka pride and joy, aka my baby. I grow lots of veg and feed off it all summer. I also talk about it to any and everyone who will listen every month of the year.
baking. started as a subplot of the allotment as I had to learn how to make a courgette cake from the 10000 courgettes that sprang up on my plot. Now I make a miso & tahini banana bread in my sleep, and bake as gifts for friends.
journalling. my journalling practice is such a joy, mostly because I really enjoy my own thoughts and even more so, I love the process of documenting them.
ceramics. I’ve been part teaching myself clay handbuilding, and part learning from a fab colleague in the clay studio at work.
Recent reflection on hobbies has got me thinking about acquiring skills as comfort. I feel familiar with the process of learning, and I feel most in control when learning something from scratch - this feels even more powerful when other areas of my life feel beyond my control. I feel productive in my avoidance when I put off important, mundane responsibilities for interesting, curiosity-evoking practice (of said new skill).
On the other hand, I also recognise the intentionality behind the hobbies and skills I'm picking up. They aren’t random - they are things I've always been drawn to (e.g. ceramics) but that always felt beyond my grasp, or things that I've recently rebranded in my head as grown and sexy (e.g. growing my own food).
Two things can be true - yes, my hobbies are a outcome of me using education as a crutch (oop 🤭), but it is also a product of me being an adult with free will and a playful centre who is building a life that has equal parts career and play. Duality.
So this creative writing course. The main reason I sought it out is because when I sat down in December to start writing the duality book, I realised I'd never had any formal writing training. Intuitively, I can write, and academically, I can write. But I wondered if I was missing a trick to writing creatively. Luckily, the perks of being a UAL academic is free access to their amazing roster of short courses so here I am, doing a creative writing course. The first half of the course has been amazing - I devoured it and it felt delicious. There are writing prompts throughout the class that we do together, alongside prompts to consider between sessions and it feels like a cross between playful improv and therapy.
One of week 1's prompts was a list - write 20 things you know to be true. It is a surprisingly complex task. It started easily - there were so many things I just ‘knew’. Then at around #12, I lost steam. I started to question - what do I actually know for sure. About myself? About the world? The duality, contradiction and opposing truths started to pop out.
I highly recommend doing this prompt if you have the brain space. I can guarantee that your responses will surprise you, affirm you and evoke curiousity as you work out what it reveals about you. My list (below) felt so personal, I almost didn’t know if I should share it here. The only guide is to start each statement the same:
"I know..."
A list of things that I know…
I know who I am
I know what I am good at
I know that I am prone to overwhelm
I know that I can avoid things that are hard and uncertain
I know what I enjoy, and seek to do it often
I know the importance of being visible; being seen and being heard
I know that God has ensured everything is working in my favour
I know that I want to be secure, understood and loved
I know the beauty in being black
I know the beauty in being a woman
I know I still have more to learn about the beauty of being a woman
I know I was destined to do something wonderful
I know that I don't know as much as I think I do
I know that I use this as momentum to learn more
I know fear is the enemy
I know that sun, sea and earth is fuel and makes us better
I know the power in whole, natural ingredients
I know that anything and everything is possible - through God and via me
I know that time is a social construct
I know that I am OK