I was meant to do a simple short status on WhatsApp as to why it’s important to have hobbies as an adult. The more I thought about this note, the more the underlying thoughts about what I needed to share grew wider and deeper. That a WhatsApp status alone could not carry the weight and depth of my words without being limited to the 700-word count. Including emojis😆.
As a growing adult, I have come to the realization that we do need hobbies. It doesn’t matter what they are, but we just need them. How you intend to carry out the hobby is up to you, but we need one urgently.
A hobby is not another business idea, nor is it a side hustle (even though some side hustles began as hobbies). But just something that you do outside your normal, mundane tasks. It could be an act of service, an activity, or just an indulgence you get lost in that not only passes the time but also gives you some kind of fulfilment while pursuing it.
I have had the privilege of discussing hobbies with my therapist. And boy oh boy, I think I just had the wrong idea of what hobbies are. Or what they are meant to be and the importance they hold in your life. She helped me classify them, and I’ll share the same here as we go along. At that time, she began our session, Faith, do you have hobbies? I wondered, what do hobbies have to do with the underlying issues in my life that brought me to therapy in the first place? But along the journey, she helped me demystify how many of our adulting problems can be half-solved or resolved with the mere fact of just having a hobby or hobbies. And just our curious commitment to keep engaging with them frequently.
She started by giving me some homework: to make a list of hobbies that appeal to me. This meant things that I have either indulged in or things that I could indulge in, or even things that just look like fun and I’d be happy to engage in. To be honest, I had total fun doing that list because I wrote about things that I never imagined I’d do. Mountain climbing! To say the least. I’m one of those people who keeps saying, “You will find whatever you go looking for in those mountains 😆”. But who knows, I might grow into it, or it might grow onto me.
After I was done writing my list, she asked me to now classify them further. She gave me three topical classifications. One, hobby section; two, passion projects; and three, life-skill section. Out of the list I had written, I had to pick which of those hobbies fall under a hobby section, which fall under a passion project, and which ones fall under a life skill. To share an example of mine, the hobby section had dancing, reading, and cooking, just to mention a few. Under passion projects (these also include things you can monetize). I had photography, writing, cooking also featured here again. Under life-skill section, I had swimming, mountain climbing 😆, running, and walking. Just but to name a few from my list. And having done that, it made me clarify my passions and hobbies better. I told her my greatest struggle was separating hobbies from side hustles, where she clarified that not all hobbies must have a financial reward in the end, some hobbies are just there to bring you fulfilment to your life, that’s all.
If you have read up to this far, you might want to pause and make your list, then classify them further into the three categories discussed above.
That way, once you know what goes into which basket, it becomes easier for you to indulge without expectations or fear that there’s no absolute reward for you doing some of your hobbies. That is if you haven’t figured out this classification yet.
Why hobbies?
One would ask. Someone will say I don’t have time to do my hobbies; I don’t even know what my hobbies are? What are hobbies even? In simple terms, a hobby is something you do that helps you pass time actively, while bringing you joy at the same time. It’s not done to bring you financial fulfilment in the end, just something that brings you joy. But kudos to you if you gain a financial reward in the pursuit of your hobby. A hobby is something you do to get your spirits high when you’re feeling low. Something that you keep doing regardless of how and what you are feeling. For example, a hobby is that thing you still pursue during your highs and at the same time pursue it on your lows. It’s like, between life happening and you responding or reacting to life’s happenings, the hobby still remains constant and intact. I call it the light that keeps shining when doom glares.
Allow me to touch on the financial angle just a bit. Indeed, there are some hobbies that have the potential to be monetized. And I was also urged not to lose sight of those. Because I am very aware, and so are you, that there are some businesses which are thriving today that began as hobbies. You were perhaps pursuing your craft, and then one day it became something that extended beyond the warmth of your hands and found itself within the walls of a consumer. For example, your passion for baking cakes for your kids and family extended to the home of another where you were able to bake the same cakes for other people’s families and kids. Of importance to note is that the moment this happens, that hobby is no longer yours and now belongs to the consumer. There are lots of expectations with these dynamics where you will be required to meet clients’ expectations and satisfy their different unmet needs. Which only your product created out of your hobby can fulfil this. When this eventually happens, you need to be prepared for this change. So, in the end, you no longer treat it as just a hobby but a business. And your purpose is to give it the right business attention it deserves, where you ought to be ready to meet the demands of your clients, alongside the business (former hobby).
While still on this, it’s important to note that it’s not every hobby that ought to be turned into a business. Because, as mentioned above, as soon as it turns into a business, it is no longer yours. It belongs to the consumer. If there’s a hobby you can still guard and keep as just yours, then guard it jealously, but if it’s blooming and growing beyond you, then let it bloom and grow into its full potential. When this happens, what you should do is go back to your list and find something else that still interests you and continue pursuing those as you slowly let go of what you already lent to the consumer. At the end of the day, I read a very important quote: do not let a business get in the way of your hobby!
I will not end this without also mentioning that there are those hobbies that we do that have the potential of becoming life skills. These may have a positive impact on our lives, with even a health angle to it. While you may enjoy taking a dip into the pool, it’s also helping you exercise and, at the same time, helping you to be well prepared to save yourself or others in case of an eventuality. If you enjoy running, it’s not just about wearing fancy running gear or measuring your distances and miles; it helps you stay fit along the process. It helps you guard important aspects of your body, managing high blood pressure, managing weight, boosting mental clarity, amongst others. It helps you kill two birds, if not three, with just one stone.
Hobbies are essential for longevity of life. And I cannot emphasize this enough. Encourage your kids as well to have hobbies. As these will help them grow holistically beyond their academics and even beyond their mundane duties. They will always have something to look forward to. Because that’s what hobbies are for anyway. In the midst of a long, draining day, I can look forward to reading a book later on; I can look forward to dancing later on; I can look forward to crafting something later on or planting, gardening, etc.
As I almost conclude.
What are not hobbies? For the avoidance of doubt. We have things we diligently engage in, which we may confuse with hobbies.
Watching TV. Doomscrolling on the internet. Watching football. Drinking alcohol. Hehehe. Things that don’t keep you involved. Playing football is; creating content for fun is. Connection with friends and allies is important for your well-being; if at all you do this with alcohol in the mix 🤦🏽♀️. It’s important to know the difference between what a hobby is and what mindless passing time is. I keep telling my kids not to be couch potatoes. And they’d laugh at this all the time. I tell them to do something whenever they are free, and that something is always them playing football all the time and everywhere in the house. Yesterday I had the privilege of kicking a ball out of the lavatories, and I wondered how it got there in the first place 🤦🏽♀️. Talk of taking my lessons too far, I presume.
Hobbies help you connect with yourself. They help you use idle time dutifully. They help you become resilient. They help you discover your own potential. They help you nurture a talent you never knew you had. They help you connect with that inner child. The hobbies you engaged in while you were a child could be the one single puzzle missing from your busy life today that could bring more meaning to your adult life.
An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Have this at the back of your mind always. Whenever you have so much time and too little to do. Hobbies also help to keep your mind engaged and even support mental clarity, which is an important aspect in our lives today. As adults, we have grown to learn that, were it not for the hobbies we have chosen to engage in, who knows what would have become of our lives today. Imagine the thousands of running communities that have been established so far, bringing meaning to what would have been just an ordinary weekend. Imagine the many hiking groups that have been created by people to support people with their mountaineering escapades. And many more communities that have been established in the pursuit of people working on their hobbies. Imagine how boring life would be without them.
Do you have hobbies? Has this reading pointed you in the direction of where to start as far as hobbies are concerned?
#sensesnhumor.
This definitely needed an article.
sensesNhumor 