I live quite a simple life. I go to work, I go to the gym, and I sit at home. Of course, I hang out with my family and my boyfriend but that's... about it. I always said that my workplace was my social outlet, working in the service industry has always felt very fulfilling as an introvert. I get to meet and talk to people while on the clock, then I get to clock out and have time for myself. 

Except, when I started working the night shifts about 2,5 years ago, that social outlet got drastically smaller. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, and I really do feel like I can utilize my free hours better than I ever could working "normal" hours. But there are not a lot of guests awake to take care of so naturally, it can get a bit lonely. Combine that with mostly spending my spare time at home or at the gym, I have felt isolated and alone. 

So a few months ago I started thinking about getting into a new hobby, something I hadn't tried before. A hobby where I get to meet an outside group of people. I was looking at pottery/ceramics classes, sculpting or painting. Really anything where I had the possibility of being creative. I saved a bunch of links and almost signed up to a class when I had another thought... Horseback riding. 

"Hmm... It's been almost 10 years since I spend time in the stable. Perhaps that could be something to get back into again"

Said and done, I scrapped all my previous ideas and after pitching my thoughts to my boyfriend (who thought it was a great idea), I immediately emailed the club. They got back to me in just a couple of days and we decided I would try out in a group on Tuesday evenings. The first lesson after summer break would be in 6 weeks. 

6 weeks sounds like a long time. I thought time would go soooo slow (guess what, time flew by as it always does).

What happened in those 6 weeks, though?

I discovered Pokémon cards. Okay, not quite. But people started popping up on my tiktok feed, and they were opening booster packs of Pokémon cards. I was instantly fascinated. The only relationship I have to Pokémon is Pokémon Go that I still play in periods, mostly during the summer. So I made the "mistake" of showing these videos to my boyfriend. Turns out, he had also seen some of them, and was also quite intrigued in the hobby of buying packs and collecting cards. 

From there we pretty much went from 0 to 100 in just a couple of weeks. It started with the TCG pocket app, which I thought was enough and a good outlet to collect stuff without having to spend money. My boyfriend however was more persistent with the idea that we should start collecting actual cards together.

The thing about me is that, if I'm slightly interested in something, it really doesn't take much at all to convince me to go through with something hahah. So after very intense week of TCG pocket playing, we went to the toy store in town and bought a small tin each with two packs of cards. 

That was last week, now I'm sitting here with my cards sorted in a binder and have spent close to, if not  1000 sek already. But I feel excited, it's something new to explore and learn about. And most importantly, it's a hobby we can have together as a couple (which we don't have too many of). We have decided that moving forward we'll only buy packs or collections when we get payed every month as to not spend too much money too quickly, but we'll see how that goes.  



Suddenly, 6 weeks had passed... and yesterday it was finally time for my first riding lesson in yeaaars. 

When I get to the stable I see that I'm written up to ride Fredde, who just happened to be my favourite horse 8 years ago. Couldn't have gotten off to a better start. This was only the second day of lessons for the horses after being on summer pasture, which meant it was a very simple and chill lesson.

I was incredibly thankful for that, because I really did feel like a beginner again. Like yes, theoretically I remember how and what you need to do, but actually sitting there and doing it felt extremely awkward for the first half of the lesson. I felt like a bouncy ball and my legs and core strength got humbled fast.

The teacher was calm and amazing though, and by the end I felt like I was getting the hang of things again. I was thankful for my boyfriend who could join me and get some videos so I could watch it back and see how it looked. I truly did not believe him when he said it looked better than I said it felt, but looking at the videos he was actually right (shocking for a man, I know).

Two things are certain.
1. I have missed the horses and the sport a lot more than I thought
2. I am going to be the fittest I have ever been now that I incorporate riding into my weekly workout routine

I thought I'd feel to old to go back to riding lessons, I feel like most people move on from the public riding clubs and start riding privately instead. However I don't have the time, money, or knowledge at the moment to get access to a private horse/stable, so this feels really good. And I will be able to volunteer as much or as little as I want during other events or competitions. 




I guess the real lesson here is that one is never too old to pick up a new hobby, or to rediscover an old one. I hope I will feel more satisfied in my day to day life now that I have an extra place to go to. And we'll see how far and wide this Pokémon phase will go... Only the future will tell.