One of the joys of midlife is the opportunity to pursue new interests and hobbies. Freed from caregiving for children and work responsibilities, many mature adults take the time to explore assembling new collections, experiencing art in new ways, and learning new subjects. For some, the adventure is in seeing new cultures and civilizations through travel.
All the retirement columns and books caution people to plan their long anticipated free time. Instead of figuring it out the day after you retire, people are advised to invest in planning for the healthy use of new time. To prevent feeling useless and depressed, pre-retirees are encouraged to think about crafts, social groups, sports, avocations, and pursuits for their new life. Many have long wanted to explore painting, ceramics, or study a particular subject and know what their focus will be. Others need to embark on an exploratory journey to find meaning and satisfaction in their new lives.
Our recent JWOW! Zoom program on projects old and new was designed to offer participants a potpourri of crafts and creative endeavors by peers. Inspiration and encouragement to try new activities would result, Miriam and I thought. And we found way more than we anticipated. One member told us how the art she showed on screen began with rudimentary outlines offered by artificial intelligence which was further refined. We learned how another woman uses corks that her neighbors save for her to create trivets from wooden trays and boards. A third told of her healthful tweaks of contemporary recipes into healthy pastries that have neither refined sugar, oil, nor white flour.
Sometimes the inspiration for new hobbies comes from unexpected places. A woman showed us the glass mosaics she produces in her tiny Jerusalem studio after participating in Sherri Mandell’s group for bereaved parents. Another learned calligraphy to satisfy her desire to create something beautiful for her sister’s wedding many decades ago; it turned into a simcha business. Another woman participates in journaling and art through online classes with Yocheved Rottenberg and Amy Muscoplat respectively. Along with her participation in Torah classes, she knits for soldiers in Israel and has begun different books for each of her fifteen grandchildren in which she writes different insights, Torah thoughts, and art.
Creating legacy projects for grandchildren and art and/or crafts for evacuated Jews in Israel were two themes that ran through our hour and a half session. Our JWOW! women are very connected to their generations and create life cycle gifts in the form of photobooks of art photography, bris pillows, and ceremonial objects. Ruthie Feldman of Philadelphia now sells art cards based on current natural landscape images photographed in Gaza and sends the proceeds to United Hatzolah.
Sarah Chana Silverman reminded us that when we express our creative sides, we are emulating Hashem, the Ultimate Creator who gave man the ability to create. How unlike the secular view of the artist as the ultimate owner of his art. The Western world sees art as key to man’s identity as an individual and resists infringement on his artistry for commercial or other reasons.
What if you don’t know what you want to try? What if you don’t know that you will pick up a paintbrush and become an instant colorist or miniaturist? Julia Cameron, the bestselling author of The Artist’s Way books on creativity, proposes four tools for designing a retirement-era life. In her book It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again: Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond, she proposes that an individual take a one-hour solo date each week to explore new shops, processes, and experiences. They are planned for the fun of it, to rediscover a sense of wonder in a new art or connection to an old memory. An artist date could be visiting a children’s bookstore, a historic site, a florist shop, or trying out a kickboxing class. It’s like an assignment of play which provokes curiosity and joy in the new, as well as in the particular subject. The other activities she proposes are regular micro memoir writing, solo walks, and daily stream of consciousness journaling which allow for refining of thought and emotions.
I’m planning to regularly schedule at least two of these activities when the time comes. Meanwhile, got to go write a JWOW! column.
Wasn’t it creative of me to write a piece about our recent peer to peer program on craft projects? I didn’t have to show and tell at the session. I’m doing it my way. In the paper!