a hobbies summer

training my summer resilience [93]:

— Small note: This post was started in June and posted in August, explaining any time difference references.

Hi friends,

Long time no see. Even though it is technically not the first day of summer (June 20th) but here in Texas, we have been deep in the trenches. For the past month, we have seen temperatures ranging from the high 20s to 39 degrees Celsius.

Apologies for being MIA, I have had more things happened to me than I expected when January of this year rolled around. Between getting a puppy, hosting family among other things, I have been irresponsible with this Substack. I hope you would forgive me.

To ease back into writing, I want to write about some of the activities I have been doing this summer. We have been lucky up until this point with *milder* (knock on wood) summer in Texas, where we can still go out and not immediately die of heat exhaustion. Last summer, I went through seasonal depression because it was too hot and we were cooped up inside for four and a half months. I treaded lightly this year with summer because I don’t want to go through the same emotional roller coaster. Even before summer started, I was determined to fill it with activities, both indoor and outdoor to combat the summer blues.

There was a stint at the beginning of the year where I couldn’t work and had to replace my working hours with extracurriculars. I knew without a schedule I would be a chaotic mess. And so I planned a quasi schedule with learning French, writing my weekly essays and cooking. I bought a bunch of cookbooks (Carolina Gelen Pass the plate, Betul Tunc Turkuaz Kitchen) and started my sourdough journey in February. I felt like a true domestic queen.

But here are some hobbies from this summer:

1. Playing tennis

I had a tennis class in college that started it all. I would never shut up about my PE classes in college because arguably, they are one of the best parts of my college experience. They taught me lifelong skills for sports which can be a strong communal activity. I would highly recommend taking them if you are in college and don’t have to pay extra for them.

Of course, I don’t remember much restarting this year but one semester class gave me some foundation to improve steadily. I have been practicing with P and my friends in the evening or on the weekends.

2. Baking sourdough

This is one of the coolest projects I started this year. I bought my starter from a local store in Austin, the brand is called the Sourdough Project.

Making bread is therapeutic and inherently requires self-improvement: self-education, trial and error. I have made 20+ loaves and thrown out a handful. I found it funny that I made P eat more sourdough than he has ever done in his life. Some resources I like are The Perfect Loaf, The Pantry Mama (I followed most of her recipes for my sourdough) and the Sourdough subreddit.

Snapshots of some of the things I made:

3. The Artist’s Way workbook

This book is by Julia Cameron spanning 12 weeks with each week offering different prompts and exercises to power our inner creative. It doesn’t matter if you work in the creative field or not, if you want to liberate your fears about creating, try this workbook.

I first heard of The Artist’s Way in a podcast a few years ago but got reminded recently and decided to give it a try. The main exercise is to journal three pages every day for 12 weeks. You can write anything, but it has to fill three pages and last at least 12 weeks. The point of this is to get out all lingering thoughts or emotions that are not expressed and at some point, your creative ideas or positive beliefs will show. If they don’t, it’s okay. You will get much out on the page that you wouldn’t otherwise if you don’t journal every day. There are other things that I don’t want to spoil but I highly recommend it. I found that I came up with new realizations and faced realities when I did some of the prompts and exercises that apply to things beyond creative work.

Also, I have never journaled more than these three months.

4. Exploring local hikes in Austin

This is my first year attempting to consistently “hike” in Austin. Austin is not a hilly city and the hikes are usually flat dirt/rocky trails rather than mountains. Since we had our puppy and he loves going outside, we have been going to more hikes and that expanded my horizons. The hikes here can be quite pleasant. Hiking is also a great friend hangout idea.

We usually head out *earlier* 8 am if we are good with timing. You have to finish the hikes before noon otherwise it gets hot. Picture of our pup being defeated by the heat one time.

Corgis can’t handle heat, ever.

5. Reading

Here are some books I finished recently:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt (3/5)

Here for a Moment by Liane Moriarty (2/5)

Dog Song by Mary Oliver (4.5/5)

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid (3.5/5)

I am open to book recommendations if you have a favorite. I like reading fiction, non-fiction that is not self-help/research-backed, and interesting memoirs.

Substack essays I have been enjoying:

I have free will? by the wonderful

bookbear express

Starting line by

inhale, scream

- her stories give such vivid images and strong emotion. As a fellow female immigrant, I relate to so much of what she shares.

My interview with Terrell at

The Half Marathoner

- it feels surreal to be featured as a long time reader!

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Thank you for reading the Life with MD publication. I am working to get back into writing long-form essay but for now, I hope you enjoy this tidbit of summer life update. Please subscribe for more essays. I never spam, promise!

How have you been doing this summer? Please share in the comment section, I’d love to know.