I’ve been stuck in the work, recharge, repeat cycle for about a decade now. I’m looking to get back into hobbies and activities to enjoy my free time and possibly meet other folks.
I’ve heard you should have 3 types of hobbies: something to keep you fit, something to keep you creative, and something that can make some money. I’ve considered gym/triathlon (fitness) and woodworking (creative/income).
What are your hobbies? Anything you recommend I try out?
3d printing and role-playing. I print miniatures that my friends and I paint. Then we use them in our games.
I do:
Yoga
Gardening
Baking (sourdough)
Do occasionally draw or paint too.
I think you have to find something you actually enjoy. If you are good at swimming, triathlon is a great idea but the long distance ones do take a lot of training time.
I don’t try to monetize hobbies anymore, it’s a drag.
Triathlon is 3 hobbies!
I do woodworking as a hobby. It doesn’t make money unless you invest in a full workshop and scale up production to the point where it would basically be a second job. Often the material costs alone are as much as it would cost to buy a completed item.
I’d still recommend it as a creative outlet though. There’s something satisfying about seeing that coffee table in the lounge and thinking “yeah I made that!”
Adding to the interesting lists here: As a sport for me I found bouldering and climbing. I don’t like sport but bouldering is not about sport but about getting up that stupid wall, and it feels amazing.
I have multiple hobbies, some require my brain (programming, electronics, engineering and stuff like that) Others not so much (music production/playing live sets, building dioramas, woodworking, metalworking, working on my motorcycle or cooking) And I can highly recommend to get hobbies that both require some concentration and creativity so you can have some balance :) Good luck!
If you work with your hands, rest with your mind. If you work with your mind, rest with your hands.
There’s a lot of crossover here but off the top of the dome:
Hand-based hobbies -playing music -cooking -woodworking -lifting weights, running, climbing -building dioramas/models -art (needle craft, drawing/painting, sculpting) -**casual video games **
Mind-based hobbies -puzzles -fast paced video games -programming -learn a new language
Those in bold are what I do. Also starting to learn art. It’s one of the lowest barrier to entry hobbies. All you need is paper and a pencil.
My hobby is reminiscing about the days when I had time for hobbies.
My theory also is to have 3 hobbies but a different take: One that you can do at home when you have free time, I play guitar. One that gets you out of the house, I fly fish. One that gives you something to look forward to, I used to go on monthly backpacking trips but as I get older they’re turning into fishing trips
3D printing, maille, video games, board games, and bicycling.
maille
What is this?
It’s a brand of mustard. Other than that, I don’t know.
I’m heavily into sport kites. These are controllable kites with 2 or 4 lines. It’s an outdoor activity that can get fairly physical depending on what you are up to. There’s a very small community, mostly focused in coastal areas, but it exists all over the world.
Once you get some basic skills, most people shift toward flying to music as a ballet individually or with a group as a team. If you get good enough, there are travel opportunities where kite festivals pay for all or part of your travel expenses to perform at festivals. I’ve been all over the US and to 11 countries across the world to fly kites in my 18 years in the community.
Past that, there’s also kite making that is a nice extension of the hobby. I build my own sport kites, and build them for others on occasion. There are open source sport kite plans out there, I’ve got a few on my website (https://watty.us), but there are even more at https://kareloh.com.
A good starting place to get into the hobby might be https://sportkite.org, or some Facebook groups like Sport Kite Pilots Lounge.
PC gaming, being bi sexual, eating hot chip, psychedelics, disc golf
Now playing Huarache Lights by Hot Chip
Warning - do not make your creative/fun hobby the one that also makes you money. I’ve met several people who were into woodworking as a hobby, started doing it on commission for family, friends, referrals, etc, and it quickly became a job rather than a fun hobby. The timelines and demands that come with doing commissions killed it for them, they still occasionally do woodworking as gifts/favors, but very explicitly just for family and close friends without timelines, and only charge for materials
The funds go in, the fun goes out.
I am strongly considering hanging a shingle as a furniture maker. A few stars have to align first but it’ll probably happen in 2025.
Your warning is valid. I was a project manager for a custom building/rapid prototyping shop before the pandemic, I’m used to customers, deadlines and budgets. Compared to what I’m doing now, I think I’d rather be in command of a workshop again.
Hobbies are not for making money. That’s what a job is for. Hobbies are where you sink the money you have left from your job and all the other expenses are paid.
That said.
Hobbies for me include:
Hiking (lots of good trails nearby)
Making sounds on my Synth (I’m building a case right now)
TTRPGS (when you can wrangle enough folks)
Skirmish Games (mainly Gaslands)
Video games (slay the spire, and casual WoW)
A lot of people have a hobby that they can either recoup some costs of the hobby, or earn some beer money. Arts and crafts may have the occasional fair or flea market, or even an online store or ko-fi.
In my experience though, once you try to turn a hobby into a primary source of income, that becomes a job and is no longer as fun as it was as a hobby.
IMO as soon as a hobby produces any sort of money, it becomes a side gig. Maybe not a profitable side gig, but a side gig none the less.
I am a filthy hobby hopper and I spend most of my disposable income on these.
- Tinkering with retro game handhelds and sometimes playing them
- Tinkering with bikes and sometimes riding them
- Tinkering with DIY watches and sometimes using them to tell time
- Also bird photography
3d printing, soap making, mantis keeping and board games when I can find people to play with.
