I ended up not writing today. I had to make a trip to the grocery store before the 20 inches of snow settled in. Since I have two books to get through, I decided to do some reading instead. I’m in the middle of Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox of Choice. It’s interesting so far, but we’ll have to see how it turns out. I’m reading it for a reading group at work, which I’m excited about being a part of. It’s an opportunity to have some intellectual discussions with some smart people, something the faculty are able to do quite frequently, but the staff don’t get the opportunity too often. I miss that about being an instructor. There were always plenty of lectures, discussion groups, and conferences to participate in. And there are still plenty of those, but we’re not always encouraged to participate. Other tasks get in the way.

I was thinking about the way I’ve filled my life with all these extra intellectual pursuits–reading, writing, blogging. When I stayed home with my son for a while, I tried to do the same thing, but I don’t think there were as many outlets then, or perhaps I am better at motivating myself. I was much more isolated then too. In a small rural town surrounded by people whose interests were completely different from mine. Now I’m in a bigger city with more options in terms of people to relate to.

I was just thinking about all of this because I was realizing how important it is to me. But it seems like it’s more valuable to me as a hobby than as something I do for a living. I wouldn’t want to depend on my intellectual pursuits for my livelihood. It’s part of why I think about staying home so much, now, as opposed to 10 years ago. Now that I’ve developed some things that I’m interested in, I think being a mom as my main job with reading and writing on the side could work. Then again, I turned my previous hobby into a career. It would be a long trek, though. Just something I’ve been thinking about lately.