What are your hobbies?
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.
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's such an underrated skill! Constantly seeing people on Nextdoor asking for help fixing their old watches. If you have a repair cafe then it's worth volunteering, you'd have a lot of practice!
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.
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've been trying to find solo board games for ages but they're hard to come across. One day I'll have the courage to go to the board game cafe but not yet
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.
I love Lego, been getting into it more as an adult than I ever did when I was little (was too expensive). I love the botanical collection, have a nice bouquet at the moment
What kind of you do?
Oh, my Lego interests are extremely varied :). I have a lot from when I was young, now I mostly do nice architecture sets or Lego icons. But I recently bought 31120, an ages 9+ 3in1 castle I I'm having a lot of fun with it too. I can really recommend creator sets, even though they are aimed at children the bricks and designs are very cool and charming and allow for a lot creativity afterwards!
I've gotten into writing with fountain pens lately. It's been pretty fun!
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 deathcresting things with my hands.Reading, knitting, crochet. Also journaling! I like gaming sometimes too.
Programming. I love making small command line programs in python or automating something. Someday I want to make a music desktop app that syncs songs to my phone.
Hot swappable mechanical keyboards. It can be pricey but there's hot swappable keyboards on amazon for cheap, and you can get your own keycaps and switches to create a keyboard that you are really happy with. I love being able to tinker around with my keyboards and swap things out if I don't like them.
Making a "second brain" or personal wiki. I love taking lots of notes (recipes I like, about what I learned, how to fix a software problem, etc) so I can find things easier in the future. I use Obsidian for this, it's really fun.
Lock picking. I got into this for a bit, bought some lock picks and bad padlocks. I watched a lot of LockPickingLawyer's videos and thought it looked fun so I tried it. I was bad at it, it's a lot of feeling when the pins move and stop. It takes a lot of patience but it's really fun.
Making edits to Open Street Map. If you see something wrong, you can go edit it if you make an account and use a map editor.
Raspberry Pi self hosting. I think they are hard to find right now, but it's cool to have a small computer running Raspberry Pi OS (linux) where you can install pretty much anything on it. I run Pi-Hole on mine and it blocks so many ad and tracker domains it's insane.
Making a game. I'm slowly trying to learn blender and unreal engine to make a game. I think it will be fun but also a nightmare.
Sim racing. There's an initial expense to buy the wheel and pedals, but it's a really fun hobby and if you find the right people a great community. I recommend starting with a Assetto Corsa which is an older game with an amazing mods. Avoid the temptation to get into iRacing until you're sure you like the hobby.
I had a co-worker who was super into sim racing. He had this insane setup in his living room with a chair, pedals and so on. What wheels and pedals do you recommend to get started? 🤔
Most people start out with a Logitech wheel and pedal set. The G923 is a great option for buying new, but you can also find the G29 or G27 for cheap used.
Once you have the wheel and pedals, there's tons of games you can use them with. I also love American Truck Simulator and Dirt Rally 2. There's lots of people streaming those games as well as Assetto Corsa so you can see on Twitch or YouTube what they're about. Also, if you go on Steam and type in sim racing you'll find tons more games, but these three titles are more than enough to get you started. I have hundreds of hours just in these three games.
skateboarding, smoking weed, weed edibles, ketamollycaine, nitrous oxide, eating food, watching tv, video games, dubstep, hot tub, snowboarding, disc golf, music festivals
Too bad weed is not legal here. I reckon that'd help with the anxiety.
Is CBD available where you are? Some people find that helpful (I have some CBD gummies that help my back pain)
Unfortunately, it is not. At some point CBD oils were allowed, but they had no THC in them, so it was not super helpful. :(
Honestly I have a lot. ADHD has me running in circles trying new things all the time lol.
Programming (until I turn it into a job). I'm just about to start on some small personal projects, and maybe some open source development. (Maybe contribute to lemmy?)
Voice Acting, though I haven't done much in a couple years. Really need to get back on that, it was fun.
Gaming/TTRPG. My friend groups for this overlap and it's a good time. I am (willingly) stuck in the forever DM position.
Watching TV Shows/Anime. Just anything that catches my interest, and I like to do some minor reviewing.
Reading. I'll read pretty much any medium. Books, graphic novels, manga.
Learning Japanese. I've made some pretty good progress here, though I've fallen a bit behind in my flashcards.
in the colder months, i enjoy yarn crafts (crochet and knitting).
Cooking is one of my favourite hobbies. I can get lost in creating a new dish and playing around with all the ingredients. I sometimes feel like a painter when creating food. It's super relaxing for me.
Needlepoint. Even if you're following a pattern, it's creative, takes time, and is quite meditative once you get going. Materials are cheap and accessible. Just need good lighting, a comfortable seat with space to move around. Be aware that you're holding sharp object and there will be loose threads, so no small children or animals nearby.
I cross stitch. I haven't done it in a long while, though. I ought to get going on my sampler again.
I have a wife and a three year old, so I don't have a tremendous amount of free time these days. Still, I fill what I can with PC gaming (wife and I are playing Valheim together currently), reading fiction, and occasionally writing. Occasionally.
I'm in a similar boat with family obligations -- our almost-two-year-old has no respect for bedtime! 😅 -- but I make time once a week to play a rotating collection of co-op survival games with college friends, and occasionally find time to work on making mods for racing sims. I used to autocross and would love to go club racing again at some point, but there's just no time or budget for it at the moment.
I figure eventually here these kids are going to be old enough to get in on these co-op survival games. I hooked up my old Wii recently and my daughter loves to play Mario Kart, even it she only drives in circles and shouts, "Find me, Dad!". We just have to get through the sleep deprivation and maybe another thousand bedtimes or so, and then hey.. It'll probably get easier.. 🫠
When kiddo's down in the home office with me his favorite thing is to play with my simrig. He'll point to the wheel and ask "Dwive? Dwive?" and then when I set him up he'll happily saw away at the wheel for a half an hour at the time -- usually right into a wall, but I can't expect perfect apexes from a 20-month-old, can I? 😅
Bouldering sounds fun! I'd love to try that at some point. But first, I'm gonna try to rope some of my friends into starting off with indoor climbing.
My hobbies are drawing, reading, and learning a language! Haven't done a lot lately though. My main 'hobby' right now is studying. For school. (☍◡⁰)
I love drawing since it's relaxing. I might doodle whatever comes to mind or accidentally create something pretty lol. I read webcomics as a replacement to bingeing shows. Not always a good thing but it can serve as a good distraction. Then there's learning languages... I was studying German a while back and fell off. But opening yourself to a whole new culture is thrilling, especially once you get past basic level. Definitely hoping to travel abroad to Germany someday.
One more thing. Maybe volunteering? You meet different types of people and they all tend to be friendly and laid-back. I joined a volunteer club last year and it's been pretty fun, even when I had some depressing or anxious days. Plus it can be a nice way to socialize.
Walking my dog - Better awareness of my neighborhood/getting to know my neighbors. Fresh air, sunshine, and time to work through my thoughts helps me stay clear headed. Cardio is good for you.
Fencing - both physically and mentally challenging. It is basically violently enforced meditation. Hella fun and is great stress relief. Cons - can be expensive and relatively few adults.
Reading fiction - I enjoy getting lost in other worlds. Helps to disconnect from the internet from time to time
Yoga - reduces random aches and pains from sitting all day at work/high impact activities. It just generally feels good afterwards.
Curling - team sport I do with my spouse. Throwing shit and drinking/eating afterwards is nice. Good community to socialize with.
Watching movies/tv/YouTube - Lots of great stuff out there. Easy to do too much of this one, especially youtube.
Oooh... How... how expensive can be fencing? Because, kinda.. sounds fun?
It can depend on where you're located and how deep you get into the sport. For beginner classes, in my area, they are ~$100 for 6 weeks. It gets more expensive once you need your own gear and if you choose to compete and/or take private lessons.
I think the most comparable comparison in costs are probably club hockey and club soccer.
Oh That is actually.. not that bad. I think, once I find a job again, I will definitely go for it. Thanks
Oof, I don't know if I want to recommend anything I'm interested in as it cost lots of money to really enjoy these hobbies.
I guess at the base of it, my biggest hobby is generally upgrading every aspect of my day to day life.
Building PC's
I've got 3 gaming PC's in the house (wife's, mine, and another for the tv with steam-big-picture) and also an Unraid server for media.
Desk Setups
I have 2 separate desk I put together. One for work and one for gaming. Both desk are wood countertops bolted onto sit-and-stand desk frames.
Work desk has a 34inch ultrawide. I also have a Herman Miller Logitech Embody which has helped my back immensely.
Gaming desk has a 38inch ultrawide which is awesome for gaming. And I have a Herman Miller non-logitech Embody. There are some subtle differences in how they feel and I need 2 chairs because I sit a little differently if I'm working or gaming.
Audio
I fell into the audio trap for my gaming and work desk partially thanks to r/headphones.
Headphones wise I have:
Amp/Dac/Mixer:
Everything above has been collected over the last 4-5 years or so.
Oh also OP if you made it this far down, check out twitch streams for a "board game" called Blood on the Clocktower. It's a social deduction game you can play in person, but the community built a pretty comprehensive web-based tool to play online. My wife and I watch the streams every week it's a lot of fun. She plays in some of the games too, I mostly just like to watch.
I love pickleball. Social, active, easy on the body, and loads of fun.
Something I have recently been trying to get into is sewing. I am still working on making it a daily routine, but I have enjoyed it so far. It is rewarding, relaxing, and a great way to get off the phone.
Playing games. I like games because they catch my attention for a long time. I enjoy card games, action games, driving simulators, RPG, platformers, arcade. I'm starting to get interested in TTRPG and I found a community you like that talks about playing them solo: !solorpg!solorpg@lemm.ee or you could go for !solorpg@lemmy.ml I also read, do crossword puzzles, and do puzzle games on the computer. I think gaming, doing puzzles, and reading are good because they keep my mind working. I also like to doodle. I have a book about keeping a doodle journal that I like called Doodle Art and Lettering with Joanne Sharpe: Inspiration and Techniques for Personal Expression I like doodling and lettering because it's a nice way to get my thoughts out of my brain and into some other space. I also like walking and hiking, which combine well with reading.
Programming used to be my hobby. Unfortunately I went and turned that into a career, so I had to get some new hobbies. :)
Fishkeeping. I have 2 aquariums currently - a 20 gallon with freshwater tetras, and a 6 gallon shrimp tank. Moving to a new place soon, and bought a used 120 gallon tank (that I need to set up).
Videography. Ever since me and my wife had kids I've been using GoPros to film events and vacations, and then putting together video collages. Recently I got a real camera (Fuji X-T3) and kitted it out with accessories to make better home movies.
Homelabbing. It started out with a single external HDD enclosure with 2 disks for backups. Many years later it turned into a 12U rack with a network switch, firewall/VPN, 50TB storage server (for umm.. Linux ISOs mostly) that runs various VMs and Docker containers, and some other machines like Plex server and game servers for my kids. I'm slowly learning about self-hosting things like photos and other media.
The fact you have depression/anxiety and have managed to turn going to the gym into a habit is impressive, tell me your secret!
I sing choral music (I'm a soprano) in a couple of choirs. Summertime can be rough as during the rest of the year I'm busy a few nights a week but they break up for the summer holidays which isn't great for my mental health.
I also do jigsaw puzzles - started during lockdown and it's good to be able to do something manual rather than screen based. Calming too.
Also just started crochet, making a baby blanket for my incoming niece. Not very good at it but hoping the baby won't care.
Otherwise I go to comedy shows regularly and try to read as much as I can.
Something about pushing my body to its limits just makes me feel very good. I can't really explain it. I don't like the pain or the effort, but doing one more bench press always makes me feel so good about myself. I suppose it's the sense of accomplishment. The first few months were very hard since I was 30kg overweight and hadn't done any kind of sports in a long time, so just the thought of exercising made me anxious. Nowadays, I'm much more accustomed to it. I've lost a bit over 10kg, and the challenge has become somewhat addictive.
I write music! I originally used the free program Finale Notepad where you can write sheet music with digital instruments "performing" it. I switched to Musescore which is also free but has better-sounding instruments and more versatility for things you can do within a composition
I flip balisongs (butterfly knives)! I got a trainer earlier this year and I've been slowly learning more tricks. I find it's somethitg quite relaxing since I tend to be quite fidgety and it's nice to be fully focused on something once in a while.
That sounds incredibly cool. Knowing myself I'd probably cut a finger off, but that's definitely something I'd like to try at some point!
Haha yeah it's pretty fun!! I'm pretty sure I'd also cut myself if I used a live blade but that's what trainers are for, they just have a blunt edge so the worst you'll get are a couple knuckle raps :)
Would definitely recommend! It's really fun learning new tricks n stuff and with enough practice you can do some really cool stuff (I'm not there yet though :P)
Balisong flipping is a ton of fun! The cuts not so much haha.
What kinda trainer do you have?
I got an ownall addax after not too much deliberation because I didn't want to go too deep down the rabbit hole and just got my hands on something and it's been serving me really well !! My country has a ban on bladed balisongs though so I don't think I'll get one of those anytime soon...
I do have trying to make one myself at one of tde workshops at my uni as a project in the back of my mind though so that should be fun!
If you like TTRPG have you tried Warhammer? Where I live there are Warhammer stores in most large towns which regularly host games and events with other people. It can get very expensive I must admit but you can buy 2nd hand miniatures from eBay for much cheaper.
I have nine planted aquariums in my living room.
I'm also into gaming, when I have a few minutes.
I'm full-time carer to a 73-year-old man and two autistic offspring who are in their 20s. So besides that and the aquariums, I'm lucky I have time to breathe.
Oof, there's a long list and I wish I had time to do them all properly ... my advice would be to find out what's happening close to you that includes a social element and go try that. That's how I got into archery and I'm really enjoying it because when I go to the club there's always some friendly chatty people there :-)
3D modelling, digital painting, photography, cycling, and knitting although it's been a while since I did the latter. Need to get back into it.
Gardening / container gardening. I like being able to wake up, go water some plants, and over time they get bigger and bigger. And then eat them. :) I've been having a bit of a rough time since we moved - I've not figured out the best place to put the plants yet. Even still I've gotten some tomatoes, a bunch of lettuce, and the start of two catnip bushes for the local cats. We also converted one of our flower beds into a wildflower garden and that's really nice.
My main hobbies are baking, reading, and video games. I love looking up recipes and combining parts of that recipe and techniques I learned from other places. I enjoy baking because it is so scientific and I can experiment and see what turns out well.
For books, well I have ADHD and have a hard time focusing. so I listen to audiobooks when I drive or clean my apartment. I'm a big fantasy nerd and am very into Brandon Sanderson specifically.
Other than that I tend to cycle through artistic hobbies and have accumulated quite a lot of art supplies. l
My hobby is collecting hobbies. If I listed all of the ones I pick up and put down I’d be here all day, so here are the most consistent ones:
doodling (it's both creative and a kind of meditation)
reading (physical books, usually before going to sleep)
playing bass (6 strings is too many)
TTRPG (preferably always in person)
My new hobby is watching Asian drama series over the internet. The cliches and conventions are new to me and I like how the series are longer so they can do more than is typical in shorter UK and European ones. They also tend to cover a much broader range of the emotional spectrum and with greater depth. A lot of drama addicts tend to go racing on to the next one but when I stumble into one which puts me in a better head space, I'll let it linger. So from that, my second current hobby is learning the words (in Mandarin, Korean or Thai) to some of the theme songs. My different approach leaves me feeling like a bit of an outsider in the fan circles but it's what's working best for me.
This has been a gey dreich not-summer for gardening here so that feels like more of a albatross than a hobby right now. I listen to opera, traditional musics from around the world and try to read a fair bit too, but just getting through the day takes up so much of my energy it doesn't happen as much as I'd like. I used to do a lot more things and be a lot more interesting. I miss that.
Good luck with all of yours :)
There's a Korean reality TV/game show that I really enjoy, called "The Genius". Sadly, it's no longer airing, but I think it's one of my favorite shows that has ever aired. I used to be into Chinese dramas back when I was living there, but nowadays my Chinese is very rusty, and I don't get the same satisfaction from watching them.