Having hobbies is a great way for carers to carve out some “me” time and get creative!

My latest hobby is photography …… I’m certainly not an expert yet but am loving seeing the beauty in things that I hardly noticed before.

It’s opening up a whole new world for me. A lot of carers are taking some beautiful pictures with their phones. I’m trying to advance from that and am slowly learning all the different options with my camera.

It has been said that taking pictures of the sunrise or sunset is on a par to meditating, I get totally absorbed in the motion of the sun whether it’s rising or setting.

Another hobby is walking and they both go hand in hand. When I have the opportunity of working in the countryside I generally jump at those bookings because the surroundings help to make the job enjoyable. Walking in the country also helps you to notice more about the beautiful surroundings and having my camera with me makes it all so much more enjoyable

I used to love knitting. But unfortunately the arthritis in my fingers is stopping me from doing much. I still love embroidery and cross-stitch and have the odd surge in making something nice.

I loved making teddy bears from scratch.

Thanks so much Heather Surfontein for the step by step instructions, I would have been totally lost if it hadn’t been for your help. I made three altogether. One was quickly whipped out of my hands by an 8-month-old gorgeous little girl, one was given to a very dear friend and I kept the third one for myself …. He sits and waits for me on my frequent visits to Cornwall.

I’ve seen some wonderful and clever pieces of craftmanship that carers have made whilst sitting with their clients, during their breaks, or whilst watching tv in their spare time.

There are also those special carers who make little blankets, bonnets and booties for babies in need. And so the caring continues, even across oceans …

Some of the carers who work with dementia clients have made fidget blankets. This helps to keep the client busy and helps to calm them. It slows down all the repetitive questions that we listen to about 100 times a day.

There are some very talented carers who are artists, what a fabulous way to escape from being a carer for a while and express yourself in different forms of art.

One way to calm yourself is to buy the colouring in books and do that in your spare time, or get your client involved and have a book each. That could possibly keep them happy for an hour or two.