How Your Hobbies Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

when i was in third grade

i knit my first sweater and it looked

like this

even though it wasn’t even close to

being perfect

it sparked the beginning of my interest

in crafting

from there on my love for the handicraft

accompanied me as i grew older

but it wasn’t until recently that i

really understood how much this skill

had served me

in our school and work-centric lives

we’re not asked about our hobbies much

in fact it almost seems like a bad thing

to be spending time on

activities that we do for fun even at

the dinner table our conversations are

mainly focused on

so how did your day at work go or what

did you do during school today

when we do our hobbies we feel guilty we

feel

stressed thinking about the assignments

waiting to be completed

and sometimes we feel pressured to stop

but when we work we feel right even when

it does

get mentally or physically exhausting

however this outlook can blind us from

the actual purpose that hobbies are

meant to serve

hobbies add balance to and create

dimension in our lives

they teach us virtues that help us

achieve our biggest goals

and they teach us valuable skills that

help us create change in this world

for me that hobby is knitting and i was

able to use the skill of knitting to

create change in the middle east

like i said i grew up knitting in third

grade my teacher had us knit all the

time in class because she said it helped

us develop our brains

that year i also learned several new

knitting patterns for my grandparents

in turkey where my family’s from

knitting is a really common skill so

almost all the girls learn at growing up

i was able to use this humble skill

to connect with my relatives in turkey

and through this shared interest i had a

piece of home to remember

now i’m in high school i still knit

but now i lead a global movement based

on the skill of knitting

now how does that work how does a high

schooler find herself in such a position

and how does she use knitting of all

skills to accomplish that

well it began when i learned about the

syrian refugee crisis

a humanitarian issue that was taking

place in turkey

due to the internal conflicts in syria

millions of citizens were being forced

to move out

many of them fled into neighboring

countries like turkey

lebanon jordan and iraq others

crossed the mediterranean and makeshift

boats risking their lives for a new one

in sweden or germany

over 3.5 million syrians moved into

turkey alone

children mothers students lawyers

mechanics professors

i couldn’t believe it in an effort to

provide support for these refugee

families

i picked up my knitting needles and

favorite yarn

and spent my spare time making little

hats and sweaters

i even got my grandmother mother and

cousin involved and managed to turn them

into knitting machines

in fact i practically turned my entire

household into a knitting factory

but sometime into this endeavor despite

the hours that all of us would spend

knitting together

i realized that we weren’t making much

progress

after all how much could one family of

crafters accomplish

if they were trying to knit for millions

of people

so i opened a website and created a

shipping address

and just posted online letting people

know that we are collecting handmade

items to donate to syrian refugees

and that they could join us in this

mission i called it

woolly wishes because we were sending

our best wishes

in the form of warm comforting handmade

gifts

praying for the welfare of their

families

i didn’t know what to expect and didn’t

really think that others would want to

support

some high school student all the way in

california

but the results shocked me not before

long

i was receiving packages from across the

united states

new york florida pennsylvania nevada

texas

alabama new jersey they all came

flooding in

and then i started receiving

international donations

from countries like canada and australia

i was so surprised and every time we’d

opened up a package that had been

shipped to us

i and whoever i was opening it up with

would not even believe the amount of

effort that people would put in

from the most intricately knitted socks

to the most

precious of toys and to the most

delicate scarves

we received over 1 thousand donations in

less than six months

of course it wasn’t easy especially

early on

many people surrounding me questioned

whether others would actually donate

we were brand new had no connections in

the broader knitting world

and had insignificant statistics on our

work so far

the first couple of months were

extremely slow

in fact we probably only received one or

two packages a month

but i still remember coming home and

opening up those packages

even if it was only one or two with so

much excitement and awe at what people

had created

only later on did the number of incoming

shipments begin to accelerate

just two weeks later i also remember

coming home to my mother

and this time showing her not one but 20

packages

that we had just received as i look back

in retrospect

i realized that throughout this endeavor

knitting didn’t only provide the

basis of the organization but it also

helped me foster the commitment

and dedication that i needed to bring

complete strangers together to

accomplish this big mission

one knitting we’re forced to dedicate

our attention to a single project

if we fail to commit for just one moment

while working on any given project

we may make a mistake that we might not

even realize until rose later

and let me tell you it is not fun having

to go back

seven rows later when you finally notice

that mistake and try to fix that stitch

in addition finishing a single knitting

project can take weeks

sometimes months and although it is

sometimes

easy to get bored of our projects we

have to fight that temptation and push

through

until the finishing line for this reason

concentration and dedication are key to

becoming a successful knitter

and ultimately that’s how this humble

hobby helped me grow wooly wishes onto

an international level

now you don’t have to become the

knitting addict that i’ve become

but it is important to find the hobbies

that interest you

whether it’s reading training for a

marathon or sketching

because what’s beautiful about these

hobbies is that when applied correctly

they have this powerful ability to equip

you with the skills that you need

to achieve your biggest goals in life

thank you