WHEN DID WE STOP DOING THINGS JUST BECAUSE WE ENJOY THEM?

When you're a child, you're allowed to be bad at things.

You draw because drawing is fun. You kick a football around without wondering whether you're particularly talented at football. You make things, collect things, climb things and become briefly obsessed with subjects that serve absolutely no practical purpose.

Then somewhere along the way, many of us get much more serious.

Our time starts needing to be productive.

Exercise needs a goal. Learning needs a qualification. A hobby should become a side hustle. Volunteering should strengthen a CV. If we're going to spend two hours doing something, we'd quite like to know what we're going to get out of it.

But perhaps we've lost something in that.

YOU ARE ALLOWED TO ENJOY BEING A BEGINNER.

Trying something new as an adult can feel strangely exposing.

We become accustomed to knowing what we're doing. Walking into a room where everyone else seems more experienced can be uncomfortable.

So sometimes we don't.

But there is something freeing about doing something you're not particularly good at and discovering that nothing terrible happens.

You can paint a terrible picture.

You can grow a plant that doesn't survive.

You can join a walking group and discover you're the person at the back.

You can try something once and decide you never want to do it again.

It hasn't been wasted time.

ENJOYMENT COUNTS.

When life has been difficult, enjoyment can sometimes slip surprisingly far down the priority list.

There are more important things to sort out.

And of course, sometimes there genuinely are.

But rebuilding a life can't only be about becoming more employable, more independent, more organised or more resilient.

At some point, there also has to be room for being a person.

For curiosity. Friendship. Creativity. Laughter. Getting outside. Making something. Learning something completely unnecessary. Discovering that you like something you never expected to like.

Not because it fixes everything.

Not because it leads anywhere.

Just because you enjoyed doing it.

Maybe that's reason enough.