Category: Hobbies

Finding A Hobby, Part 2

“NS 8081 leads through the Shenandoah Valley”
Photo by Brian Breeden on Unsplash

As I mentioned in my previous post, Finding a Hobby, Part 1, I think people who have a disability, especially Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), should find a hobby to occupy their time helping to keep their minds from focusing on their health problems. Hobbies distract from thinking about the aches, pains, and what you cannot do. I started using hobbies to deter my attention several years ago and will probably continue forever. It has allowed me to explore the world!

When I retired, I moved to an area near where I grew up. On moving day, I was pleasantly surprised to hear train horns in the distance. I had forgotten about the trains. How could I? There weren’t trains near my previous home, I was busy with life including my marriage, a career, and trying to stay ahead of CMT.

After settling into my home, and hearing more train horns, I became interested in seeing trains roar by so I started exploring the area. I quickly found places where I could safely, and legally, watch trains go by and photograph too.

I became interested in trains as a young boy by spending time every summer at my grandmother’s house in West Virginia and living near the Southern Railway. She lived across the street from the mainline of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. To me, besides hanging out with my grandmother, the trains were the greatest highlight of my summer. It didn’t hurt that I lived not far from the railroad tracks of the Southern Railway where I often heard train horns, including whistles from steam engines.

So I dove deep into the Railfanning hobby doing as much as I could possibly do. I met some great people who enjoyed the hobby immensely. I learned how to chase trains, where great train watching locations are throughout Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. I found some great websites, a few historical societies, and several magazines which provided me with a wealth of railfanning information about trains and railroads. I was hooked. I learned how to use technology to determine when a train could be coming by and how to get to the tracks in time to see it.

Since I cannot always drop what I am doing to go watch trains, I found two great streaming websites where I can watch trains from around the country. One offers streaming from other countries. I subscribed to Railstream and began streaming trains on my devices any time I want. The other site, which I haven’t subscribed to yet is Virtual Railfan. Virtual Railfan offers free views of some cameras on their YouTube channel too.

I enjoy this hobby immensely. However, it wasn’t too long before I was overwhelmed. This happens with CMT people. A hobby shouldn’t overwhelm. So much to learn, so much information coming at me, and so much stuff fellow railfanning guys said that I had to know, it took the fun out of the hobby. So I took a step back. I don’t want to be “overwhelmed” with a hobby as it’s supposed to prevent me from being “overwhelmed” with my disability.

After much thought about how I can enjoy the hobby without it being overwhelming, I took a step back and tried to determine what I like best about railfanning and trains. For me, I don’t think I need to know every single detail in the entire universe of every single train which goes through every single community and train-watching location that I could watch throughout the entire universe. Nope. I just want to enjoy watching the trains go by, creating videos, and photographing. I have found Classic Trains and Trains Magazine to be my favorite publications. These magazines have websites where subscribers can learn more about trains. Also, the publications of the Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society and the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society are my favorite as they are well-written publications aiding the person new to the hobby to understand much more.

My point is to find a hobby that you enjoy. Decide what you enjoy about it and get into it. If you should get discouraged about your symptoms of CMT, get into your hobby to make time to relax. However, do not use it as an escape to a point of neglecting your health and not seeing your doctor or following their advice.

Find a Hobby!

“Audiophile, Stereo System”
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

I believe hobbies are a really great idea! They can help to keep you busy and not focusing on what Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) is doing to your health. In some cases, they can help you feel better physically and mentally. The fun part is the discovery of what you enjoy!

For me, this was a challenge as I found I have many interests that make great hobbies. Over the years, I dabbled in many hobbies but really didn’t specialize or become really good at any particular one. Mostly, I was limited in free time as I worked a career with a commute of an hour each way, spend time with my wife, dog, and volunteering at church. However, what free time I had, I needed something to enjoy. Before you go all out to pick a hobby, a few things must be considered first.

What do you enjoy the most in life? What keeps your interest and you want to learn more? For me, I love being outside in nature. Pretty much whatever hobby I choose, it’d be great it is was always outside. Unfortunately, CMT does limit some outdoor ability. For example, being outside in cold weather for long periods of time isn’t something that I can do because of the neuropathy in my legs, feet, arms, and hands. BUT, that doesn’t mean I cannot enjoy the outside. Snow skiing, long winter hikes, snowboarding, and the like are not a choice- at least for long periods of time. For me, that doesn’t mean that I cannot take full advantage of the warmer weather and sneak in some activities in the colder.

Having a love for nature, being outside, birds, wildlife, and warm weather, I took up the hobby of landscaping and gardening. At first, it was painful to use garden tools, carry bags of topsoil or Miracle-Gro, and plant any plants including simple annuals. What I found odd though is I enjoyed being outside enough to push myself to enjoy the gardening as painful as it was. I was definitely sore at the end of the day and the next day. However, I noticed I felt better than before I started the project usually within two days. Interesting. Over time, I found this to be a hobby that is great for me.

For me, every hobby cannot be a physical challenge like yard work and gardening. I need something for those days when I am in pain or uncomfortable and need to relax. However, I found that I should not allow my relaxing hobbies to my immediate go-to all the time either. Doing that, would allow the progression of CMT to become more of a problem.

Over the years, I have developed a taste for Classical Music. It started in college and grew especially during the time of the Desert Storm in the early 90s. A buddy was in the war and it was stressful. The music created a calmness for me helping to de-stress. As the years went on, up to now, I have loved the music and began collecting it on CD. As the collection grew, I determined that while the music is great, I know nothing about it. This began a journey of exploring, reading, and listening.

Since i had a new personal computer, which were fairly new things back in the day, I began creating lists of the classical music I had in my collection. These lists served as resources for me to know what classical music I have in my collection, information about the composers who wrote the music, information about the artists who performed and created recordings of the music, and just about anything else I could think of that I wanted to know about my collection of Classical C.D.’S. This was quite the hobby and project until it got difficult to buy new recordings in my area. Since my collection was extensive, I had to compare the works on C.D.’s with lists to be sure I wasn’t duplicating. Ordering C.D.’s through the mail or online (at the time) was a challenge too. I still love the music and do some cataloging.

I will share about two more hobbies which has turned into one of my favorites in my next post.

What are the hobby(ies) you enjoy? Please comment below.