Anyone using their hobbies to cope?

I love reading, but when I'm depressed I want to lay on my couch and look up at the ceiling. I have managed to make myself read, just one chapter at a time. And in the past 4 days I'm now on page 224 of a fantasy book. I love fantasy books. I had 3 redwall books delivered yesterday from amazon and it took the depression away for a brief 15 minutes as I was obsessing over my Christmas present I got for myself. I also am obsessed with my dog. She gets organic, GMO-free food for 20 bucks a small bag (even though I eat mcdonalds and taco bell regularly) I love doing things for her. I take her on walks near the riverwalk where I live. I buy her toys she never plays with. I feel like fantasy books and my dog are the two hobbies that keep me alive. If I'm spending time with my dog, it's like I'm doing something nice for her, even though I can't do anything nice for myself. And the fantasy books also let me go to another world when this one is crap. What are your hobbies that keep you going?

Redwall...
That makes me hungry for some zoup! Fantasies are my favorite read also. Sometimes I get a quick fix from the YA section; so many old school fantasies require a serious time commitment.

My main hobby is painting. I do oils on canvas. I love it when I treat myself and get a really huge canvas. Once I got one so big I couldn't fit it in my car so I had to borrow a friends SUV to get it home.

I absolutely love my blog. Writing posts and reading others' posts. I also love cooking and baking, and the occasional flower arranging.

I also enjoy reading sci fi and fantasy. My favorite fantasy novels are by Patrick Rothfuss. Right now I'm reading books of The Expanse series since I like the TV series so much.

I’m glad that you have some hobbies to help you cope. I find that when I get really in a mood, I have no desire to engage in my hobbies. The only things that can help are my daughter and my dog. I don’t think I’d still be here if it weren’t for my daughter.

When I’m doing well or even manic I have lots of hobbies. Reading. Knitting. Scrapbooking and card making. Yoga.

I used to read a lot. But now I ride my motorbike. Whatever the weather.

Can u share your blog link?

I used to have a blog that I really loved. It took a ton of work and I had unrealistic expectations, but it gave me a purpose and enjoyed it as a project.

That is so awesome! One of my dreams is to buy a motorcycle and tour America. I once road all over the country of Colombia for two years on a 650, talk about a manic adventure!

Wow! This is my bike Bobber | Triumph Motorcycles
The wind blast is too strong to tour, but once I do more miles, I'm going to get a sports tourer.
Ride safe!

You guys are lucky, I have a billion hobbies but I can't seem to find the motivation to do much of anything these days besides work, eat, pay bills, and sleep, even when I feel like I'm at baseline. Though, I did just get over a programming project milestone this weekend out of sheer curiosity on benchmarking the results of a couple ideas... But that sort of spurt of directed motivation doesn't come often anymore like it used to...

Me too - so I have hierarchies of interests and activities (although I hate the term hobbies) graded in terms of amount of energy and motivation they require from me. I enjoy reading, writing (mainly poetry for myself but I'm also a researcher so write research papers and articles), painting, gardening, cooking/baking, walking, cycling, badminton, yoga, natural history, watching films, listening to and composing/playing music.

When I am well I can do all of them, when I am most unwell (like this summer) I can do very little, like yourself, but do find I can at least take myself outside and cycle or walk, even if not far, as it feels like an escape and doesn't demand too much.

Things like cooking/baking and gardening demand a bit more from me so I need to be more motivated and have more energy but are still relatively low demand and easily gradable so I can just do a little amount - but when I'm really feeling bad these too are out of reach for a while.

The creative stuff takes a lot more - I need to be in touch enough with my emotions to be able to create, but not so overwhelmed by them I feel powerless and useless as that just stops me doing anything or if I do I feel it's no good. That's a fine line and I need to be in the right frame of mind, there is some gradeability though, for example I currently don't have the energy to paint physically but have been making some digital artwork on my Mac which is less demanding and I see these as sketches for bigger things when better functioning. It enables me to get ideas down without having to setup my studio space which is beyond me right now. Music at least I can improvise stuff but at the moment my motivation is pretty low still, not even been listening much lately.

The things that takes the most from me are the research writing, I'm seriously behind and feeling overwhelmed by that, and also I am tending to read slowly as concentration isn't good, and confining myself to light stuff (LOTR, scifi like Iain M Banks etc). Same with films, can't bring myself to watch the heavier arty stuff I usually prefer when well.

Sorry tldr

Point is activities are my therapy, more so than so called psychotherapy, I don't like to see them just as hobbies, they are so much more.

Reading for me too, mostly mysteries (cozy and police-procedural/PI type) and jogging. Though jogging is a fine line for me. I had an eating disorder in college, and part of that was spending hours and hours exercising, so I have to be careful with it. I'm at a low-normal weight now and eat normally, but that still doesn't mean I'm happy with my body, and I definitely wish I weighed less.

The depression is overwhelming when it hits me. I usually just go to bed and sleep. It's awful. The mania is bad too; I tend to shop and spend a lot of money with it.

I wish I could find the motivation to put together a jigsaw puzzle again. I like doing that, especially while listening to music.

I try to, but it doesn't always help. My concentration gets so affected. I do read a fair amount, and I do that as an escape as long as I can focus. It really helps me with anxiety as a way to try to get my mind off whatever I'm so anxious about.

Puzzles aren't a hobby, but sometimes I'll do them when my mind races to try to force myself to focus on one thing.

Not much seems to help with depression except sleep.

Such a beautiful bike! How many miles on it?

I had an 2008 Kawa KLR 650 enduro which was built like a tank and not much wind issues. I had to give it up and have not had a ride for five years or so but hope to get back in the saddle in two years!

Adult coloring with gel pens. Its focusing my brain on something other than my current issues.

I cant wait to do this!!! I got my markers, just waiting for Amazon to get the book to me by Friday. SOOOO excited, thanks for the rec.

I read anything from James Patterson or Stuart Woods. I also like adult coloring with glitter pens and spending time with my pets. Since I’ve been out of my depression though, I find these hobbies hard to engage in.

A BIG yes to that!

I write poetry and I'm currently using it as an escape.

I tried adult coloring books but my perfectionism won't let me do it for fun. The pictures have to look perfect so I won't even try. I'm hoping to get over that.

Today I bought a skateboard.

I knit hats, mittens and scarves for a local homeless shelter.
It makes me feel like I've helped a small corner of the world
I can't change it all, but if I can help one person stay warm then I have made a difference

I play competitive Scrabble but it's a love/hate thing. I love it when i win, i hate it when i lose. In that sense it's not really a good activity for me because it's so black and white and that's the type of thinker i am. I try and tell myself: it keeps my mind nimble, it gives me some social contact and it passes the time. I just wish i could do something that wasn't so intense. I bought $50 of art supplies last month and took out a book on carcature drawing from the library but i can't get myself to do it. People-watching at the mall seems to be all i can do aside from napping. The cold weather is good for sleeping.

WOW! That is amazing, come to my city there are over 10k homeless n growing

I’m a pianist, but I mostly play when I’m hypomanic.

When I’m down and anxious, I don’t feel like playing.

My T wants me to start singing because it has the same effect as deep breathing. I’m trying; I just don’t enjoy music when I feel like this. I half heartedly sang just a little to the radio this morning