I sometimes feel like there are two versions of myself. The first is from the past when I was a journalism student in college posting on Odyssey while also being a part of a sorority. The second is myself now as I am in graduate school while working in social media and marketing in addition to managing my travel and lifestyle blog on the side (@AB_SeeTheWorld, shameless plug). I stopped posting on Odyssey once I began grad school as it became too time-consuming to write an article every week while navigating a new job and school workload.

(Disclaimer: grad school is not for the weak.)

I was starting to miss having a creative outlet that was just mine and only mine. I missed having a place to write my thoughts for others to read that went beyond an Instagram caption or Tweet. People who used to read my articles were telling me that they missed reading them and that I should write again. I thought "why don't I start writing again?" I obviously missed it, and people who enjoyed my writing were still talking about it all of these years later.

There were countless nights of overthinking and worrying about all of the details of getting back into the field. I thought, "maybe it will be too time-consuming, or will I still have relatable content, or maybe people will think I am lame for returning to a hobby that I had in college."

After discussing my thoughts with multiple trustworthy sources of mine, I realized that if it is something that I want then I should do it. I have been craving a new creative challenge for myself and really believe that this is the right time to get involved.

After my undergrad experience and with my current situation, I have come to the conclusion that we could always use the extra hobbies and activities to be creative outside of the workplace. Whether it be writing, exercising, art, hiking, music, etc., you need to have something that you can enjoy and that will bring peace and happiness into your life. Our life is stressful enough and we owe it to ourselves to have a release so that we can live healthier.

One thing that I have experienced since undergrad is that it feels like we do not have a lot of time in our day. Whether you start working full-time or continue on with education while working part-time, it leaves very little free time which may lead to having to give some of your hobbies up in order to balance work, school and social time.

But does it have to be like that?

Our phones. As much as technology has advanced our society, I feel like it is also holding us back a great deal. The time we spend scrolling through feeds of other people's lives or editing a photo to get that perfect Instagram aesthetic, we are wasting precious time to invest in activities that are good for our soul.

I hope that in 2019 we can all pursue a new hobby or find an activity to dedicate some of our time to so that we can enrich our day-to-day life. So my unsolicited advice to you is to find that hobby that you used to love but became too "busy" for, or that hobby that you've always wanted to try.

Life is too short, but life is also too long for your days to only consist of work and school and just living for the weekends.