"Our hobbies should be a form of dissent, a radical expression of our individuality, a celebration of doing things that we’re not obliged to do."
  • BirdOhEnglish
    1•2 years ago

    I’ve been struggling with this lately. It seems the ‘what are your favorite hobbies’ question has popped up for me a few times lately and forced me to reflect. I cook, bake, see, grow edible and ornamental plants, bird watch, and so much more. But those have become so tightly woven into my everyday that I don’t see them as hobbies but rather parts of my day like meditation or sleep. Sometimes they even border on chores. They’re definitely hobbies, but I guess I am just wondering if my hobbies have become so ingrained in me that I need new hobbies to keep them feeling like hobbies.

  • BrightFadedDogEnglish
    2•2 years ago

    It is less important that our hobbies are something that we are “not obliged to do” than that we are actively engaged in them.

    Many people spend their free time in activities of passive consumption - watching TV, shopping and doing packaged, purchased “activities”. The only active component is searching for the next thing to consume.

    An actively engaging hobby is very different, it involves growth and learning. Many hobbies can be engaged in either passively or actively - think of the difference between a photographer who goes out every weekend to take photos and improve their technique, compared to one who spends hours researching and purchasing equipment but rarely “finds” the time to actually take photos.

    The real difference between them is the mindset, and that can be applied to things you are obliged to do as well. My hobbies tend to be extensions of things that are necessary - cooking, gardening, sewing. All can be approached as necessary chores, but an approach of active engagement turns them into hobbies. Even scrolling the internet can be turned into a hobby - although I’m not sure if moderating a group and trying to learn enough javascript to automate things will make me a better person or lead to madness at this point!

    I guess my argument is that it is not doing things outside of what we are obliged to that is important, it is doing more than we are obliged to do. It does not matter whether that “more” is different things, or things we need to do done in a different way.

  • Meow.tar.gzEnglish
    3•2 years ago

    This! I have a passion for open source computing and I do that outside of work time. When work is slow, I can often engage in this passion while on the clock.