From the Greenagel Equations
The Greenagel Equations are a set of practical frameworks developed between 2005 and 2008 in school, outpatient and family treatment settings. They were built in rooms, not in theory, and have been used with students, families, law enforcement, veterans and therapists.
A life concentrated in one environment is a life vulnerable to collapse.
The Hobby Matrix was created in an early recovery group at Hunterdon Drug Awareness in 2009 or 2010. People were there with six to 12 months sober. We were working on increasing their activities and friends. I saw that people leaned inside or outside, solo or group.
I started drawing four boxes on the board and asking people to mark where their time actually went. Most people were dominant in one or two areas. I almost never came across anyone who had multiple checks in all four boxes.
This was not about hobbies for fun.
It was about protective architecture.
Balance does not mean equal time. It means no quadrant is chronically empty.
How It Works
Draw four boxes.
Ask where time goes.
Look for zeros and clustering.
Increase breadth.
I treated a 17-year-old who spent nine hours a day watching short videos. He watched all day, every day. During school and well after midnight. He had drifted away from friends and activities.
Inside/Solo – dominant and unhealthy.
Everything else – empty.
Interventions:
Reach back out to friends from the neighborhood
Reach back out to kids on the academic team
Start playing baseball again
Go to the gym
Hike with his father
Watch movies
He went back to baseball. The gym started but was intermittent. Still, a win. He hung out with friends and made some new ones. He even went to a couple of parties, which alarmed his mother, but I told her it was a good thing.
A 33-year-old woman had a breakup over different views of having kids. She had spent the last two years on relationship island and alienated her friends. Shopping was a big coping skill that had gotten her into some financial problems. I was concerned about her possibly drinking to escape or seeking rebound relationships. The breakup happened in winter.
Inside/Solo – biggest risk.
Outside/Group – rebuilding required, hard in winter.
Inside/Group – reconnect with friends, avoid bars.
Outside/Solo – exercise is an underused strength, more likely in summer.
Book a solo trip for summer that is high on physical activity. Exercise two to three times a week to prepare for it. Reach out to friends and plan a few group activities.
Mid-20s woman. Social butterfly. Easily had two to four things to do each day on the weekend. Organized canoe trips, ax throwing, escape rooms, fancy dinners, concerts and dancing. During the weekday, just went back to her apartment and scrolled while watching television. She could not imagine going to a movie or restaurant by herself. Had no problem ordering take out almost every night.
Inside/Group – dominant, healthy.
Outside/Group – dominant, healthy.
Inside/Solo – empty.
Outside/Solo – empty.
The inability to eat alone is the key behavioral marker. Weekday solitude becomes dysregulating because it has never been trained. Try going to a restaurant by yourself. Don’t scroll. Bring a book.
A 57-year-old retired cop. No friends, no hobbies. “When I was on the job, people contacted me all the time. Now I know it was because they wanted something. I worked nights and weekends and crazy amounts of overtime. I gave up hunting and fishing in my 20s.”
Pre-retirement:
Inside/Solo – empty.
Inside/Group – co-workers.
Outside/Solo – gave up activities in 20s.
Outside/Group – built-in contacts, built-in structure.
Post-retirement:
Everything – empty.
Interventions:
Start fishing and hunting again
Look into fishing and hunting clubs
Consider volunteering. Ex-cops like to feel useful.
Consider return to religious services
Won’t do gym; would try swimming. Good for winter exercise.
Open to getting a dog
Suggested reaching out to other retired cops to start a breakfast group
He joined a hunting club. The following year, he went on a hunting trip to Montana. He went back to Church and found volunteer work with them. Another ex-cop organized a breakfast group and he went.
A life concentrated in one environment is a life vulnerable to collapse.
It is not about hobbies.
The Hobby Matrix does not require equal time in all four areas.
It does require at least one viable activity in each quadrant so no environment becomes unfamiliar
Which quadrant is empty? Which one dominates?