Hobbies are jobs with expenses and without an income. Hobbies are things we do with no greater requirement than that we want to do them. You might call hobbies an interest or passion in action, an exciting educational tool, or an alternative to staring at the web or TV.
There are about 16,894 hobbies (just guessing.) Hobbies can be grouped by the amount of physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional involvement, and whether you create, collect, grow, alter, interact, or observe your unprofessional field, but I can’t imagine any reason to bother grouping them.
The primary reasons to have hobbies are
- you have an interest and no way (yet) to earn money doing it,
- you have an interest in some benefit from it,
- you want to do something exactly your own way,
- your doctor, probation officer, or spouse told you to,
- you want to join friends or a community that share that interest,
- you simply want to.
Hobbies can be personal or for other people. Knitting, baking, or basic wood working can be a friendship tool. Baking cookies for a new family on the block, or a cozy pair of socks for a guy at church, or a cool bookmark can be delightful gifts. Some hobbies only offer self-gratification. Keeping a journal, for instance, or collecting things that are very personal to you, and never to be shown to the world or even your closest friend.
The difference between a hobby and a pastime is purpose and action. There is a reason for hobbies. Whiling away time is a pointless escape. Sitting in front of the TV will allow time to go by less painfully, or it might speed up the hour you have to kill before something more important, but it has no real purpose. Even if you have a reason to watch, like catching up on the news, it remains a pastime unless you do something with it. Maybe you blog about it, or summarize news reporting for your friends, or study journalistic slant, etc. The more you do with a pastime, the more it becomes a hobby.
Keeping an aquarium is a good example. A goldfish that lives in a bowl on your desk can be a hobby, but not much. You feed it daily (or almost daily) and change its water under the kitchen tap once a week or so. You stare at it once in a while while deep in thought or bored. That’s the extent of it for some. Others keep several aquariums, arrange beautiful displays, special plants, and hiding places. They study the conditions for breeding and raising baby fish, and attempt cross-breeding. They learn methods for changing and maintaining water conditions, temperatures, and special water motion to induce happiness for their fish. Some go whole hog with saltwater fish, experiment with filters, lights, gas injections, pH levels, tidal patterns, corals, mineral alterations, and protein skimming, and share information with groups of like-minded enthusiasts.
Whatever hobbies you participate in reflect your character. What hobbies do you enjoy? Are there any you would like to consider?
Recent Comments