Refill with Randy – Pursue hobbies and activities that nourish your mind, spirit

By Randy LeBaron

One of the things that we talk about a lot at both the Caregivers and Grief Support Groups is the concept of self-care. It is essential that while emptying yourself for others that you take time to do those things which fill you up and feed your soul.

Take a walk. Work in your garden. Watch a good movie. Fellowship with a friend over coffee. Take a bath. Read a book. Listen to music. Play a game. Go to a spa. The list goes on of things that might help you relax and focus on something else. Today I would like to share just a couple of the things I enjoying doing as part of my self-care routine.

For me, I like to access my creative side. Back when I was in middle school there used to be a program at my local community college during the summer which offered a number of courses that anyone could take. The two that I decided to take were photography and creative writing.

It’s funny to think about now, since almost anyone can master photography with just their phone and some good photo editing apps, but back in the late ’80s everything was still done with film and you actually had to submerge the pictures in chemicals before hanging up to dry in the dark room.

In fact, taking it one step further, not only did I have to develop my own photos for this class but I also had to build my own camera out of cardboard. I won’t go into all of the details here, as you can Google how to make one yourself, but an essential part was knowing how long to open the lens and expose the film. I fell in love with capturing images and continue to do so to this day. Similarly I found great in expressing myself with page and pen, in particular through poetry.

Nowadays I enjoy taking photos of ordinary things that might stick out in an unordinary way and often times the poems that I scribe bring meaning to a particular moment. Below are some samples of my photos as well as a poem that I wrote while spending time at The Abbey of the Genesee during my Sabbatical after the deaths of my parents in 2012. The photos I have included were taken either at Holley Falls, The Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, NY, or my home in Albion.

So what do you like to do for self-care? If you are reading this in the Pennysaver or on The Orleans Hub, feel free to e-mail me at randylebaron@gmail.com with some examples.