So, a lot has been going on in my life lately and I feel like I need two things:
1) An outlet of some kind. Basically a hobby.
Basically I'm looking for something indulgent, something that I can do because I love doing it whether I'm alone or with others. Something that quiets my mind, or improves my physical fitness. Just something I'm doing for myself and myself alone.
2) A new group of friends
I live in a city that is notorious for being a tough place to make real friends, but I've managed to make friends before (they weren't the ideal group, but they were something), and I'm sure I can find a way to do it again.
#2 is less important than #1, I feel like I need to focus on myself above all things right now. Meeting others can wait until I've taken care of myself for a little while.
So, here's where you guys come in!
I don't need you guys to tell me what I should do, it would be unfair of me to ask that, you don't know me and there's no reason to assume you should know what my hobby should be any better than I should.
What I'd love to hear from you is what your hobby is, what your passion is, why you love it, how you got into it, anything at all you'd like to share about it!
I don't mind if it's reading in the basement hiding from the world, throwing random parties in a park, sailing, mountain biking, playing with your kids, baking, I'm open to anything at all... just tell me what makes your life feel beautiful and let me bask in the glow of your passion!
Thank you :)
Board games! Growing up, I had a board game night with my family, where we played the classic family games like Clue, Sorry!, etc. I started to get into the more obscure 80's & 90's games like Nightmare and HeroQuest, but I rarely had anyone to play them with (I grew up in the middle of nowhere). I set board games mostly aside until college, when a roommate showed me Dominion and Cosmic Encounter, which are now perhaps my two favorite games. Now that there's a resurgence in board games, there's a lot more variety, and you're able to find games even in Barnes & Noble. You can get the basic sets for Dominion, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and more just in a bookstore, and of course specialty game stores offer a ton more. There are a ton of great games out there, some simple, some very complex. Carcassonne is simple as pie to learn, and Descent: Journeys in the Dark is more like a dungeon-crawling RPG. There's a huge variety of board games genres, too. Heck, there's tons of games just about trains and railroads! (And I have no idea why.) If you've only ever played family board games, and that's your comfort zone, I recommend trying Carcassonne out. It's a game where you make a little map with other players by sticking tiles down and claiming farms, cities, churches, and roads with little wooden people pieces called meeples. If you're looking to go for something more complex than that (but still being relatively friendly), I'd suggest either Dominion or Settlers of Catan. Dominion is a card game where you're trying to build a kingdom before the other players. Settlers of Catan is a game where you're colonizing an island, and you have to trade with other players for resources to build cities and such. Both of these games offers a ton of expansions, so you can build up quite a collection just on those two games alone! If you get bored of those and want a game with more player cooperation, there's a kind of game where all players play on a team against the board. The best one I've played is Shadows Over Camelot, where each player plays a Knight of the Round Table, and you work together to save the Holy Grail and Excalibur, and defeat the Black Knight, a Dragon, Picts and Saxons. You can also add a variant where one player might be a traitor! Or, if you want to get devious, Cosmic Encounter is possibly my favorite. Each player plays an alien race out to colonize other planets, and you form alliances, attack each other, and negotiate treaties. The best part is that each player randomly chooses a race, and each race breaks a different rule of the game! So see if you can get a board game group together, or find a group who'd be happy to add you in, and have fun!
Cool! Thank you for all the info! I've never had an interest in board games, but every now and then I realize that they have such a huge following and there must be a reason for that. I'm going to go through your links soon and see what it's all about.
I have a trouble sticking to hobbies, I pick up a thing, thinking "alright, now I'm really gonna do this", do research, invest time and money in it, but it quickly ends up gathering dust either on a physical or a methaphorical bookshelf. Drawing, graphic design, photography, programming, DIY electronics, robotics (a combination of the former two), amateur game development, you name it! I'm not in the mood for it, I tell myself I don't have time for the hobby right now (even though I have plenty of time to waste on the internet and to consume various forms of entertainment). This summer I have picked up road cycling. To be fair, I have ridden bicycles since I can remember myself, but this year I bought an old 10 speed. Initially I picked it up just for commuting to work, but it's so fast effortless on longer distances that I have grown to love it. Now I join a casual group ride on Fridays, made some new friends there, and do longer solo rides on Sundays. Cycle to the beach after work occasionally. Haven't bought a bus ticket in the longest time. Good physical workout, combined with a fun activity. Longer distances on desolate roads can get mesmerizing. I tried running before, I didn't hate it, but couldn't really stick to it. Yoga too, but I want to try that one again. I also started carrying an old 35mm film camera with me. Actually the same camera that has been gathering dust, never used by me, since my last photography phase. Just developed my first roll (ever). It's fun and the quality of images produced by the cheapest 60s Soviet camera combined with expired film while blindly sticking to the Sunny 16 rule really surprised me. It's more of a solitary hobby, unless you're either shooting people or involved in online photography communities. These aren't my passions, I don't raally have a passion. These are things that I like doing for now, and I just hope that I can stick to these ones longer than my previous attempts.
Photography is oddly satisfying. I actually have some of my own pictures hanging in my living room. I've been published and have worked as photographer for parties and press events, that's less fun, but when you're doing because you love doing it, that's different story. It's really cool and you come out with photos you can be proud of. Do you have any pictures you feel like sharing?
I don't know, it was pretty much a test roll. None of the photos really stand out. I'm just happy I got the exposures right and had no light leaks.
Well, in the future, if you ever take any picture you're particularly proud of and feel like sharing it, I'd love to see it!
Hobby is definitely video games / Movies. As for passion, I've recently discovered that its physics, more specifically Cosmology. The problem is, I've already finished my bachelor's degree in Business Administration and I don't how to (or if I should) pursue Physics at the academic level going forward.
In descending order of frequency, I like to run, kayak, walk and bike. Hiking fits in there somewhere but takes a bit of effort to get to somewhere I like. How'd I get into it? Biking started because running used to hurt my knees, so I got a bike to have lower impact. That was fine for a while, but a year ago I spent some time learning how to run properly, and it made a real difference. I just used YouTube videos. I started kayaking last year, too, just on an area lake where I can rent. I started because I've lived in a city with lakes for fifteen years and had never gone out on them. Walking/hiking/snowshoeing all sort of blends together in my mind. They're variations on each other, whether you're on sidewalks or trails or snow. I suppose I started by traveling and walking around the cities I was in. A friend suggested a nature area near one city I was visiting, and that spurred more nature walks and then hiking. Then it snowed, and I did the same thing but with snowshoes. Then I snowshoed up a mountain. Crazy how that worked out. All of this stuff quiets my mind. Running, the only thing I'm thinking about is my pace, my form, my breathing rate. Cycling is similar, but add a keen eye on the pavement and an ear on traffic approaching behind me. Hiking can be fantastic because all the nature just mutes everything else, and if it's a bit strenuous, that goes even further. The bigger parks I frequent have poor or no phone service, so even if I wanted to I couldn't fiddle with my phone to do more than take pictures. Of all this, my current passion is hiking in the Adirondack high peaks. I went randomly in December simply because they had snow and I wanted to snowshoe. Sort of accidentally I hiked up Wright Peak. It was amazing. I learned there are 46 high peaks, and if you do all 46 you can register with a club. I've gone back three more times and am currently at 8/46. I'm going back again at the end of next week and hope to add three more. It'll be my first time there without snowshoes, but I'm going to add the challenge of backpacking. I managed to make it 2500 feet up a mountain in December when the highest I'd ever gone was maybe 500 feet, so I'm optimistic I can handle 3000-3500 feet two days in a row with a 40 pound backpack. I'm also optimistic I know my limits and can safely back out if it's a problem. I think getting all 46 peaks is a goal I can achieve, and it feels good to have a reason to try.or improves my physical fitness
Something that quiets my mind
I live in an area that is pretty much completely flat, so I'll grant you that I may just not know what I'm talking about, but I'm pretty impressed that you're thinking of 3000 feet with 40 pounds strapped to you. I have a hard enough time running 4 miles! That's wonderful though, and having something to shoot for is incredibly motivating.
Hobby would definitely be music. I sing a bit, but what I'm referring to mostly is just listening to music. I do it for the majority of my days when I'm on my own. I literally play music when I'm cooking, cleaning, writing, reading, and even sleeping. I tend to dance when I'm on my own, and it is easily the most liberating part of my day ha-ha. Not a great dancer, but the act of it is just really liberating. I also do a lot of writing which is usually very soothing for me.
You are one of my people... I'm the same way. I play music constantly, and I'll jump from classical, to jazz, to hip hop, to everything else. When I'm feeling sad, music makes me happy, if I'm already happy it makes me happier, when I'm worried listening to music, and especially playing, quiets my mind. There's this quote by Tom Waits, something like "I love beautiful melodies that tell me terrible things" and that perfectly describes what I love to listen to the most (which would explain why I listen to Tom Waits). Do you have a favorite style/kind/genre/or anything?
One of my hobbies is listening to music in general but I get special satisfaction from finding great stuff that is super obscure. Any genre except not usually pop. And I love hip-hop, funk and jazz. Something like this stuff: 1970s Soviet Funk Jazz. I would ad to that list this from the same genre. And as you may guess my other hobby/passion is learning about things, especially historical things. So I can go deep just because. When I look back it was scary how much I knew about musical history when I was 25. Alas, I am sure I have forgotten most of it. Also, if you want check out my latest post which is probably the one and only gospel song I have ever loved. Well, that is not entirely true. I also really like The Doobie Brother's Jesus is just Alright and I suppose ZZ Top's Jesus just left Chicago is gospel too!
I kind of love everything. Regardless of genre, if it's good I probably like it. I have season tickets to the opera, frequent jazz bars, I love all kinds of rock bands, but really, I listen to just about everything. Good is good, regardless of the style of good.
Is music a hobby if you aren't doing anything? I can understand how it can be a major interest - hell, I listen to music whenever I can - but in my head, a hobby is something you explicitly do or achieve - like writing, dancing, climbing mountains and everything in betwen.
I don't mean to offend your interests or activities - I'm trying to make sense of the world we express through words. So far, I'm having difficulty justifying the status of a hobby of listening to music. It may be pleasant and even euphoric, but it seems too passive for such a definition. It's an activity and a way to gain pleasure and spend time, no doubt. I have no difficulty calling reading books a hobby because it requires active participation - otherwise, no reading occurs, or, perhaps, no understanding of what you've read, which is the point. But listening to music - at least, if you aren't engaging to it actively, with all of your mind's attention - is hardly an exercise in activity, especially when you do something while listening to music. I've never heard people calling taking hot showers a hobby, and most people won't call eating their hobby either. So, why is music-listening on the list?
I'm very critical of the music I listen to. Whether its lyrically, or instrumentally. I have a wide spread collection of music just for listening. I have friends and groups at my university that share music we find not necessarily to critique the music in any meaningful matter, but to share the experience of listening to the music. I would say that listening to good music is a hobby. Eating food can be a hobby. Food critics are very critical of the food they eat, but their jobs are simply to eat different foods, and explore taste. When I take a shower there is really only one way to take a shower, but there are an infinite number of ways to experience listening to music.
The only way I determine what good music (Music I like) is by listening to music all the time which is what I do. Listening to music is a very active part of music, and really isn't passive in any sense. If you are passively listening to music you really aren't listening to the music, you are just hearing it.
I've started doing vinyasa flows recently, I'm still a beginner, but I love it. My friend is encouraging me to try Bikram but I think the hot room for 90 minutes may kill me... Do you have any favorites you'd recommend?
I'll check it out, thank you. It sounds especially good for work trips. I'm probably already "that weird shirtless dude bent over by the window" to my neighbors, so I might as well creep out my work trip roommate as well!
Not really much of a hobby, but I like to travel. I go on long road trips at least once a week. Doesn't matter where, I just drive. It's amazing. Very relaxing.
I just got back from New Orleans, I love traveling too... losing yourself in a new city, or even a place you've been missing is a really wonderful thing.
While I don't go on road trips, driving is one of the things I enjoy most in life as well. It can be so many things. It can be soothing, exciting, entertaining, exploratory. Every new road is a chance to find something new and even though I have some routes I take on the regular, I won't shy away from taking a different turn than I usually would.
I watch anime with the fiance. She picks the majority of them but occasionally I pick one as well. I also play video games but I haven't been as into it lately. Slowly going through Elder Scrolls Online with the fiance though. As for solitary hobbies I like to make and listen to music. I usually don't care about the genre I just care about whether it sounds good. I mostly stick to digital production when it comes to creating music. I may eventually post some on hubski whenever I feel like I have something worth sharing. I play the acoustic guitar as well but that's more like therapy for me. I like that I can sit there and play some riff I've known for a while and let my mind wander while I loop through the patterns or when I'm frustrated I can smash the sound out of it with noise and force. I find solace in music.
I can absolutely relate to the music bit! I've been waiting to restring my guitar for the last couple of days because I don't want to get it over with in 5 minutes. I want to sit down, remove the old strings, nut, and saddle, clean and polish the whole thing, and put on the new strings. It's therapeutic, and when you're done you get that crisp, sustained sound. Yeah, you have to tune it every 2 minutes, but still... it's such lovely sound.