by Karin Lehmann

Created on: May 27, 2009   Last Updated: June 02, 2009

Time is yours for the taking

I used to enjoy watercolor painting, calligraphy, writing, photography and gardening . That was before a stroke robbed me of a good part of my life. Now I live in a nursing home and I am much restricted by lack of mobility and space. Watercolour paintingsover one wall of my small room, my laptop computer is stored in a drawer unless it is in use and instead of tubes of paints easeland stacks of paper I now have several small jars filled with colored pencils.There are a few pads of paper in various sizes and textures anda 15 inch shelf to hold my few reference books..

Staff come in and admire my paintings, often wanting to buy them. Invariable their comments are "Oh, you are so talented, I wish I could do something, but I having no talent..which is of course utter nonsense because everyone has one special gift. If I prod people to find out what they would like to do IF they had time they all have a secret longing to do something special.They allhave a wish they've long considered unattainable, mostly for lack of time.If you fall into that category and have given up, or always say "later, later when I have time. Meanwhile weeks, months, years slip by and you get no closer to your wish.. because that's all it is: a wish. So the important thing is how to fit it into your lifestyle somehow.

See how you might change your work hours. Perhaps you could work a 9 hour day and then have an extra day off. Or cut their lunch hour from one hour to half an hour. Now willpower comes into play. It doesn't help to change your hours if you just fritter the time away counting aunt Bertha's silver. If your special activity needs a special place, then arrange your living space to accomodate your need. When I first got interested in photography I used the bathroom as a makeshift darkroom. I made sure that no one would need the room for a certain stretch of time, then I put a big sign "'Workroom - Stay Out" At first both husband and kids considered it mother'slittle foible. However when I was able to show them pictures of themselves as well as flowers and favourite picnic spots, they took me more serious and were always eager to see mom's next darkroom session.

I agree, convincing family of your need for special time for yourself is not always easy. But if you are unattached there's no problem, even with your nuttiest ideas. A friend of ours worked for the government and his greatest joy was his powerful Harley Davidson bike.. It was pampered like

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