Conclusion

CW: mental wellness, depression, anxiety, death/loss

Under “normal” working circumstances, it is difficult to satisfy our writerly identities. Collectively, we teach 225 writing students per semester, which leaves little energy for us to invest into our own writing and research. We love teaching, and we love that we don’t face the pressures to publish that some of our tenure line colleagues do. However, during the pandemic for Brandy, and pre-pandemic for Landon, devoting time to our own writing and research simply hasn’t been fathomable. The normal duties of teaching are challenging on their own, and finding the brain power to do much outside of that has been and still is taxing. And yet, we found we had the capacity to write and research in pursuit of our hobbies, not only because they quiet the mind, but because these projects give us joy and we can see the fruits of our labor all around our home.

Now, more than ever, we realize that having hobbies is essential for our carework. It is also an integral part of caring for our home. We are still learning and growing in our hobbies. We experience frustrations, and we experience joy and accomplishments as well. We have goals for our hobbies just as we have goals for our home. We will keep realizing those goals, and in doing so, we will care and be cared for.