Hobbies: how to find out what you’re into
And cultivate the free time to pursue them
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In today’s article we’re talking about hobbies and the free time needed to both discover and enjoy them. I share my tips on how to cultivate free time and figure out what lights your fire.
Today’s column feels serendipitously timed, seeing as yesterday
published the joyful video conversation (with transcript) the two of us recently had: Leyla Kazim Is Choosing A Slower Life (do have a watch / listen / read).
In it we talk about our journeys of shedding consumerist (and other) social conditioning, paring down our lives, living more intentionally and how — almost a decade ago now — I decided to quit the rat race.
During our chat I briefly touch on two key topics: free time and hobbies. Today’s post goes deeper into these.
As a serial hobbyist with many different passions and interests (I am at the point of running out of physical space for all the associated paraphernalia…), I think I have some useful insights to share.
As always thank you for being here and I hope you enjoy today’s post.
And feedback is really important. So if you enjoy reading this article, I encourage you to let me know by hitting the heart icon and sharing this piece to spread the word. Thank you.
Back in the day of my ‘other life’ (the one before this one) when I used to work in a software company and interview people for job positions, one of my favourite left field questions to ask was: ‘If your boss suddenly gave you tomorrow off work, what would you do with your day?’.
This question never failed to take the candidate by surprise and many would respond with some bumf about volunteering or visiting their sick Nan, assuming that was the kind of answer I was after. But what I really wanted to know was, what were their hobbies? How did they like to spend their free time?
When I probed further, I was often met with a blank stare. Fast forward a decade and in November,
referenced me in her article Wait, I don't think I have any hobbies..., quoted some of the hobbies I reel off on my About page (I have a few) and said:“I want to be able to say that. Ten years from now, I want to know myself better, understand what I like and have a few things that I do just for myself, just for pleasure. Things that don’t involve scrolling the internet or working. I want to figure out what those things are and find the oomph to give them a go… I just don’t know how to identify what I like or how to force myself to start it.”
And so it became clear to me that ‘what are your hobbies?’ – defined as activities done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure – was a question a lot of people struggled to answer.
What even is “free time”?
One of the most precious things to me is my free time and it’s something I ringfence and defend like a ferocious guard dog. This involves saying no, a lot.
I regard my free time as a high value crop that needs cultivation. Seeds are sown in the right environment for strong growth, plants are nurtured with what they need to flourish and the reward of this investment is a harvest of free time. I try to cultivate this yield of time in various ways, one of my main ones being this weekly practice I’ve done for 4 years.
I think a key barrier to both discovering and enjoying our hobbies is getting our heads around the concept of “free time” in the first place. Free time, or leisure time, is the currency of hobbies – without it they can’t really exist.
Protecting this space so I can learn what excites and ignites me, pursue those passions, exercise my creativity, continue learning and challenging myself, keep my mind, body and spirit healthy – and have fun whilst doing all of these things – is vitally important to me.
But what does the term “free time” even mean?
“One of the most precious things to me is my free time and it’s something I ringfence and defend like a ferocious guard dog. This involves saying no, a lot.”
Traditionally, it refers to the time when someone is not working. And by work, we are referring to either the things you do to earn money or the things you do because you have to do them. Work in this sense could include your day job, caring for dependents or studying.
If most of your waking hours are filled with the above things required of you, you might find you don’t have a whole heap of free time leftover. As a female friend who has a toddler, works 4 days a week and has no family close-by to help with childcare once said to me, ‘the only free time I have is when I sleep.’