Hey folks,
I have been trying to find some new hobbies to keep my anxiety/depression at bay. It seems, however, that my mind is not creative enough to find interesting things to do. So, I come to you to ask: What are your hobbies? Why do you like them?
Here are the things I’ve tried:
- Going to the gym (This is more of a habit than a hobby nowadays)
- Gaming (I’ve been getting less and less out of it as I get older)
- Bouldering (It’s fun, but not without a group of friends)
- TTRPG (I can’t seem to find a steady group or one online, but otherwise, it’s very enjoyable)
- Learning a new instrument (I started playing the guitar and I love it)
- Philosophy (Is that a hobby? I enjoy reading and reflecting on it)
So, folks, what are your favorite pastimes?
Thanks :)
I’ve taken up cycling recently, it’s a great time to think about absolutely nothing and clear my head, while also getting fresh air and exercise.
Solo boardgaming: tons of cooperative games can be played solo. At the moment, my main games are Marvel Champions and Arkham Horror LCG.
Cross-stitching: maybe the easiest kind of embroidery, perfect for pixel art patterns and you don’t need expensive stuff to get in.
I have a few; the main one right now are mechanical wristwatches - learning about them, acquiring them, wearing them, taking them apart, trying to put them together again, modifying them, all of it.
That sounds really cool. I think I’d never be able to do it with my clumsy hands. How did you get into it?
The draw is the mechanical intricacy of it. I was fortunate to be given a Speedmaster at a crucial time in my late teens; if it had been a car I would likely just as easily have become a petrolhead.
There are a number of enthusiast communities out there - some superficially might seem to be brand specific or oriented around buying / selling but most have quite a lot of technical know how on them.
The stuff I play with is cheap (broken or damaged items bought second hand) and the tools are second hand too.
Sourdough. I make 1 loaf a week,.but I eat a loaf every 3. That gives me 2/3 loaves to give away. People really like you when you give them bread. The socialization is really a side effect. I enjoy baking bc I like murdering billions of yeast in a fiery death cresting things with my hands.
Okay…
Well, Programming - Except I am doing it… slowly. A lot of the days I just… feel stuck. Depressed. Buuut, I keep trying. I mainly use Common Lisp, and I try to make small games, or… things that will help me do something (e.g scrape some text and put together a epub?)
Reading books - This one, I can do a lot. Simply, a pleasure. I tend to do this with an approach of spray n pray, aka: Read few minutes of a book -> Move to next for few minutes, and I keep doing that few times a day, or more, and more often than not, It sticks, and I get actual big times out of that. (The result is, I am reading 5 books at once lmao)
Learning Japanese - This one, I am combining with my previous hobby, and I am simply aiming to read at the very least ~1 hour per day of reading in Japanese. Is fun.
There was also pixelart at some point, but I haven’t been doing that in a while. Maybe I should try again? Could be fun, again… perhaps…
Obviously, also, games. You know, some TF2 there and there, Hunt:Showdown, with friends.
Still thinking, if there are any other things I could try, and… wide out hobbies.
