During the pandemic, I feel like everyone seems to be discovering new hobbies and things to do. For a while, so many people were learning how to make bread. Then people were expanding to just learning to cook and bake other things. There were a lot of people picking up new crafts like painting or knitting. I loved seeing the things my friends were creating and making. Everyone was so creative and could make amazing things.
I did start doing more cooking and I’ve done a lot of reorganizing around my house, but I don’t think those count too much as hobbies. I never thought about making bread except for a short time when I was craving bread and I couldn’t find it in the store. But now the stores seem to have things again and I’m not really eating bread that much. But as far as artistic hobbies go, I never really have had those before.
I have heard interviews with people talking about how they don’t know if they have hobbies and if that’s a good thing or not. And I feel the same way. If someone asks me what I like to do, I have a small list of things. I like to read, watch tv, go to the movies, go to see musicals, and go to Disneyland. Most of those things are not things I can do right now. And while I know that having a hobby could help to fill my time, I don’t have a pull to do any specific hobby.
I’ve tried to pick things up from time to time because they seemed interesting. I thought adult coloring books seemed like fun a few years ago, but I never really got into them. I did discover an app for my phone that is like a coloring book that I like, so I started to do that more. When I was younger, I did some needlepoint projects, but I was never very good at them. I remember wanting to be better but also not being motivated to try harder. It was something I thought I should be better at and I’m not. That idea was frustrating.
When you see so many people on social media doing new hobbies, it can be hard not to be tempted to find those supplies so you can try it too. I’ve only had one thing this year that did that to me. I discovered some cool videos on cake decorating and using frosting to create things and I thought that might be fun to try. I already had the frosting tips and I found a recipe online of a fake frosting I could make that wouldn’t go back. It’s not tasty so you don’t eat it, but it’s the right consistency to practice with. I got the things I needed for the recipe, and then I never got into it. I do think I should try the decorating videos and I know I’ll do it eventually. But the excitement about trying it was gone once I had everything I needed to do it.
And that’s what scares me about trying hobbies. I don’t want to spend money getting things and then never feel the same push to try them. And there are a million ways I could spend money on introductory kits for hobbies. So while I would love to find something to help fill my time a bit, I don’t want to waste money.
I know there are some things I can try that I either have the supplies for or don’t need much to try, but it always comes down to motivation. I know that sometimes I will be more motivated to try and that’s when I should go for it. I don’t want to force myself to try a hobby when I’m not feeling up for it. I need to get a list going that I can look at in those motivated moments so I can take advantage of when I feel that way.
But I also know that there is no requirement or expectation of me to start a new hobby during this time. Sometimes, it’s just too stressful or overwhelming to do much more than get through the day. But it would be nice to have something to fill my time when I’m craving something to do. So hopefully, I’ll find the perfect combination of something that doesn’t cost me money and I want to do and I can test out that as a hobby. Maybe it will stick and maybe I’ll hate it. But I should at least try.
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