Activities and Sam Bennnett Part One

This is a picture I took when I was exploring with some friends

I’ve mentioned Sam Bennett before. She is a motivational speaker and writer and I own several of her books. Today I am going through some of her suggested creative activities that resonated with me. Some I do already, some I plan to do in the future. So keep your eyes peeled.  You might catch an idea.

Book: Start Right Where You Are

Pages: 70-71

Chapter 18: Activating Your Well-Being

Activities I Already Do:

• Acting. Although I am not in a play now I do plan on making a return to community theater. I did summer theater alot growing up but in high school the theater students were cliquey enough for me to not pursue it in college (plus I was very busy). I’ve done a variety of shows from musicals like Oklahoma and Grease to dramas like 12 Angry Women and even Shakespeare (I was a witch and murderer in Macbeth). 

• Crafting. I started crafting in earnest in sophomore year of college when I had to make a book for class. I liked it so much I started making homemade poetry books for myself. Then it expanded to collages and cards. I started working with multiple mediums like Distress Ink or Alcoholic Ink. I got an outrageous amount of stamps and stencils. My craft collection is kind of like a black hole.

• Doing puzzles. I need to do these more because solving puzzles is very gratifying. I should mention I don’t do crosswords or sudoku. But I do have several puzzle books I got from a charming shop in Provincetown called Puzzle Me This. Ironically, I was very good at the puzzle challenge of listing types of cheese (probably because I used to view it as the enemy. As a child I had an irrational fear of the food and could recognize it in all it’s forms)

• Erotic play. For the sake of my privacy and my boyfriend’s privacy I won’t expand on this

• Getting a massage. There is truly nothing like it

• Helping someone in need

• Interviewing someone in need. I haven’t done this in a while and I have several interviews that I have yet to type up or publish. I like doing interviews because people are so fascinating even the little details. But it is tedious to type up interviews which I have mostly switched to email interviews. I know it might not be as “professional” or “legit” as sitting down with a tape recorder but it’s easier on me and enables me to do four times as many interviews.

• Knitting

• Playing music

• Poetry

• Praying. I try to pray as frequently as possible (and yes, prayers of frantic desperation count). Maybe it is for this reason that I never truly feel alone. Even if I’m having a depression breakthrough and I’m in bed crying I know I’m not alone. I try prayers of gratitude too. And there is plenty of things to be grateful for.

• Reading

• Taking a bath (I prefer Justin’s bathtub much more cuz I can actually fit)

• Writing

Here are some things on the list I would like to dabble in  or get involved with:

• Outlandish behavior. This was on the list. I’m not really sure what it means but it sounds fun. Hopefully you can do this sober

• Painting. I have one painting I’m proud of. I took a painting lesson and planned on taking more but then Covid hit and the place closed down. Anyway I did a water color of cacti.  I would never have been able to do that without careful direction.

• Photography. I have a small collection of pictures I’m proud I took. This will sound very pretentious but I try to get pictures of things most people don’t think of- weird angles, shafts of sunlight, a clever filter (yes I use filters on one or two of my pictures). 

• Pickleball. We played a little on vacation and aside from the torn muscle in my father’s leg (which led to minor disaster) no one got hurt! I had trouble hitting the  ball because my medicine throws off my eyesight, hand eye coordination and balance. But in the volleys I did have with my mom I felt like I did in the days I played basketball, soccer and volleyball: capable. Like I could actually do something with my body besides grunt and sweat. Bam. The ball made contact with the paddle. It was all my doing.

• Ping pong. We also played ping pong on vacation (we had a table in our basement). I didn’t win against my brother and I think he might have been playing lefty against me but I made some impressive hits. Not bad for someone who only plays once or twice a year. 

• Playing laser tag. I actually played this back in March at a friend’s party. It was so much fun, ducking behind hot dog stands and barrels in a dark room hearing shots and not knowing if they were friend or foe. Unfortunately, we had to leave early because I exerted myself and almost passed out which yes, was mortifying. But I’m working on getting in better shape. One day laser tag won’t be so out of the question. 

• Pottery. I did this at camp one year. My vases looked like cakes that had gotten wet and were collapsing. But using a wheel is actually very soothing especially if no one else elected to do that activity. My dad and I did pottery on vacation last year and gave it to my mom for Christmas. Like painting this is something I could take lessons for. Which brings us to

• Studying/ taking a class. I would like to take a class with an author again soon. I’ve taken one with an idol of mine, Jennifer Close. She is a master writer. I took another on short story writing which is harder for me. Novels are a bigger time investment but I believe overall short stories are more of a thought investment (hot take?). It takes a lot to get that ending right.

Well I’ve dumped alot on you. But I strongly recommend this book and going through this exercise for yourself.