Hobby Horse
If I had a silver dollar for every time my wife has told me recently that I need to find a hobby, I could make coin collecting my hobby.
I’ve been looking for a hobby for a while and have been stumped. I just don’t seem to want to do many things. Nothing sounds all that appealing for the long haul.
Something that complicates this for me is that I have this trait. Maybe others do, too. I’m not sure it’s a meme-able “toxic trait,” but it’s something that has long crippled my ambitions of being a decent golfer or an adequate guitarist. I hate being not good at things.
I’ve been golfing on and off since college, and I’ve never been any good. In fact, I think I have improved exactly zero since the first few times I tried the game. My scores in college are pretty much the same scores I shoot today. I fix one problem and another one appears. I take a lesson and things feel better, until they don’t. I just don’t seem to improve, and I don’t like to keep doing something I’m not good at. I love the outdoors, but golf can’t be my hobby.
I’ve also tried to teach myself the guitar a couple times. Granted, I’ve given this less time and effort than I have golf. I’ve learned some chords and techniques but have never been able to hold my interest long enough to fight through the awkward, discordant start. I’ve recently considered guitar again as a hobby – the banjo, too – but I’m not sure the people I share a house with would get onboard.
Here’s the thing about any hobby I choose, and my previously mentioned trait of needing to be not bad at things. As I approach 50 and start to think about the period in life of free time, early meals, and getting up at the butt crack of dawn (a.k.a. retirement), I realize I need to get this hobby thing ironed out soon so I can be practiced up enough to not stink at whatever I choose by the time I really need it to do its thing.
So, I recently did what we people do now when searching for answers to life’s questions… I Googled it. “What are some good hobbies?” I typed into my phone. What came up was an article titled, “The Ultimate List of 75 Hobbies for Men” from an appropriately named website, Art of Manliness.
Eureka!
And I say “eureka” because one of the 75 suggested hobbies is actually prospecting for gold. The list is entertaining and great, and veers widely from the mundane – “People do that for a HOBBY?” – to the extreme – “People do THAT for a hobby?”
Number one on the list is reading, which feels about right because I’m not sure there is a hobby that requires less from its participant to get started. Can you sit and see? Yes? Then you can probably read. Happy retirement.
Golfing made the list. We’ve covered that. So did other outdoor sportsman-like activities like hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and canoeing. I’ve always been intrigued by sailing (on the list), but all the knots – wind and rope – have so far kept me aground.
Parkour. This was one I hadn’t considered, or even heard of. According to the Art of Manliness, parkour is “that sport where you jump from buildings and vault over walls.” They go on to explain, “It’s captivating to see someone able to traverse a landscape in ways not previously conceived of.” True that. It also seems like maybe not the best time-filler for those approaching the broken hip stage of life.
Some listed hobbies feel like work to me. Gardening. Woodworking. Metalworking.
“Metalworking has all the benefits of woodworking,” Manliness explains, “except instead of the sweet smell of sawdust, you surround yourself with the delightfully noxious smell of burning metal.”
Can’t argue with that.
The barrier to entry for fishkeeping seems on par – my golfing background here – with reading. Got a bowl? Water? This could be perfect for you.
A few seem to fuel the less flattering stereotypes we have for people of increasing age. Scrapping and metal detecting. Antiquing. Survival prepping. These all sound like gateway hobbies to a happy retirement of hoarding.
Rock climbing. That’s exciting.
Birding. That’s less exciting.
Flying a plane. Programming a computer. Both a little more challenging than owning a goldfish.
Volunteering. I thought we were focused on me.
Learning another language. Talvez. (“Maybe” for those who don’t hobby in Portuguese.)
I could literally whittle away my time. Candle making would be handy at holiday time. And everyone needs to know someone who can pick locks.
As I scrolled the list, the idea that maybe I was overthinking this started to enter my mind. There are some things I like to do, some more challenging than others (reading is on my list).
I enjoy writing, when I have something to write about. And writing is on the Manliness list, so double check mark.
Journal, as a verb. Letter writing. Start a blog, about as quaint and old fashioned as writing letters. All offer some good mental exercise without the risk of manslaughter that comes with knife throwing.
Maybe I give this a shot. Writing – not for work – a little bit, as often as I can.
Initially, my instinct was to type “writing a little bit every day,” but let’s keep this realistic. Hobbies are to be enjoyed, not to be regular reminders of one’s failure to meet very modest expectations.
No, the daily grind and obligation that comes with writing every single day is really only for those with the personal drive and self-discipline needed to tend bees.