Hi, I'm Monica Packer from About Progress, and this is a hug and a kick, a series where I share a short excerpt from my extensive podcast archives, one carefully selected to give you the validation and or motivation you need for the weekend.

We have 168 hours in a week.

You're going to spend a lot of those hours parenting,

but at the same time, it doesn't necessarily mean there's not going to be anything left over for you.

And I will admit that when my kids were younger and in certain phases, hobbies certainly,

you know, came in and out of my life, although at certain points, things that I think of as part of my job, like my blogging, was even a hobby. So I found time for those passions even when I was

quite busy. And I guess, yeah, having great role models that worked, had families,

and still enjoyed doing other things and would make note of the fact that doing those other

things gave them life, you know, provided those little sparks of enjoyment that even though

they love their core activities of parenting and working, just made everything feel like more

fun and more worthwhile. And so, yeah, that's kind of how things got started.

And I would say my biggest hobbies specifically, I mean, not that we're going to talk about them in detail, but currently I read a lot.

You know, some people read hundreds of books a year.

I'm not one of those, but I'm usually up in the like 40 to 50 books a year range.

I have a book club in my neighborhood, which I'm usually up in the like 40 to 50 books a year range. I have a book club

in my neighborhood, which I started, and I run, like marathon train. Like I'm into it.

So, and I do feel like, yes, those have ebbed and flowed and my kids getting older has allowed

me to expand on them a little bit more, but I never let go of them.

And I think a lot of that is just a permission issue.

Like if we had that permission slip as parents, that it's okay, that we can hold on to at least

a little sliver that we can then expand on when things become less crazy.

That's a really good connection to what I wanted to bring up next is why women resist,

...