Pure Enjoyment

Over the weekend I finally saw Julie and Julia. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, it’s about writer Julie Powell’s struggle with finding something meaningful in life as she nears her thirtieth birthday (played by the cute Amy Adams). She loves to cook, and this leads her to a year of blogging about her adventures of cooking her way through Julia Child’s cookbook. The movie also portrays bits and pieces of Julia Child’s life (played by the very talented Meryl Streep). The movie goes back and forth between the two lives and stories, but it’s done in such a way that where one story leaves off, the other begins in a related fashion. It was well done, in my opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, probably more than I should have given that it wasn’t a “great” movie, nor was the story itself “great.” But it was entertaining and humorous (though not laugh-out-loud-funny) and I enjoyed every morsel of the film. I got to thinking why this was so – it’s not a ground-breaking movie by any means. I came to the realization that I enjoyed it so much because I felt I related to Julie Powell’s story: she wasn’t unhappy with life but she wanted a little something more, just for herself; she loved writing and wanted to do something in that area; she loved food and wanted to make a hobby out of that.

I, too, at times have found myself wanting a little something more out of life, even though I wasn’t unhappy with it. I have always found that writing is not only a creative outlet for me, but a therapeutic one as well. And I have also wanted to do a little more with a hobby of mine.

Throughout the movie, and while watching Julie’s blog and experiences unfold, I often thought of my own. I started this blog as way to expand my hobby and enjoyment with planners and organizing, but I have found that the sheer act of writing for it has meant more to me than the actual hobby. It has made me try new things with my planner simply because I could then write about it. And writing the blog has made me come up with new things to put in the planner. I am amazed at the number of things I have to say about my planner. (And I’m sure many people would question whether or not anyone cares what I have to say about such a mundane topic. But thankfully, those people aren’t reading this anyway.)

As many blogs will do, mine has expanded slightly from writing strictly about the very thing that caused me to start in the first place. I often wonder if I should stick only to discussing planners and organizing, since that was the point of the blog in the beginning. But then I think, I have so much more to say. Maybe no one does want to hear all that I think about. But if writing about whatever it is that’s floating around in my head helps me to take in the world around me and make sense of it, does it really matter? All that does matter is that what I do and what I write about makes me happy. And it does. Oddly, the same things could be said about my planner—it helps me to make sense of the world and put life’s chaos in a neat and orderly fashion. And organizing all of that chaos makes me happy. It makes me calm. So what if people think I’m nutty for spending my time in this way? It’s a hobby just like anything else, just like cooking.

If Julie can add value and substance to her life with cooking, there’s no reason that I cannot do the same with writing about planners and organizing and anything else that comes my way.