Tag: hobbies

The Guilty Magpie Wants It All

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

I’ve started learning a new hobby. It would be nice if it could evolve into something someone is willing to pay me for but until that point I’ll keep it stored away in the hobby with intent file. I’ve a had a few of those, it’s probably a little fatter than it should be. It’s good to be a jack of all trades in a way but I quite fancy the relaxed possibilities that come with being a master of at least something. I heard once happiness, or at least a part of the whole happiness package, is to be a master of something because it allows you to be relaxed and content with what inevitably will take up a large part of your time. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to report on that. It only takes ten thousand hours to be a master apparently, about ten years I once worked out. Think of something you started ten years ago but didn’t carry on, doesn’t feel that long ago now eh.

What is it that makes us give up on things? Too difficult perhaps. Or we’re just lazy. I’m usually a little distracted and a little lazy. The difficulty doesn’t bother me because I’m usually naive enough to just jump in without much thought about whether I’ll be actually capable enough. I’ve also not tried anything overly taxing like theoretical physics so it’s hard to say what my limitations are. Usually myself though to be honest. I can be a lazy bugger and well I like new shinny things and once one hobby losses it’s lustre it’s quite easy to be distracted by another. Is this a thing we can blame society on I wonder, this short attention span, or is it something we need to step up to and own. Probably a little bit of both, you know how it is.

I don’t really want to talk about myself too much though, I know there is a lot of I this and I that in here. One of the reasons for this though is that we see others being successful and imagine we alone are useless, that we are alone in this world with our suffering. It turns out we’re not. It turns out we’re all useless or incompetent or incapable or whatever detrimental thing we’ve learnt to class ourselves as at something. In an ideal world I would love this new hobby of mine to evolve into something that defines my life in a positive way but I’m also aware theres a good chance it won’t. Do I beat myself up over this, let’s be honest I’m probably not going to. I know I’m not alone in this world when it comes to such things and quite often what we struggle with the most is the idea that we are, that we’re the first to have messed up. Well we’re not and I guarantee there is a long line of people who have already made that same series of ridiculous choices. Don’t beat yourself up. There’s always some other shinny thing just around the corner.

Work Life Balance Bullshit

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I was discussing with a friend / taking the piss out of the concept of the work life balance today. He owns his own company which means either there is no such thing as a work life balance or that he has created one he has to be comfortable with. I remember doing a training session for a new teaching job a few years ago in Athens and we had to do a one hour session on the importance of finding a work life balance. It is fair to say it was mocked widely as we went through it and this became clear why when the job seemed to take up six of the seven in my week shortly after, with very little reward. Now my mate works six out of seven days and this is normal for him but for me it was a travesty of existence. I had been used to working whenever I needed to and I would do it in a way that consisted of giving up on life for a month or two before giving up on work for the following six. I have worked on christmas tree farms, at language camps, picking fruit and so on. All pretty exhausting jobs but ones which as long as you’re willing to just work intensely allow you to save a little before finding somewhere interesting to enjoy life.

These days I have started to look beyond that despite it’s obvious benefits and am willing to find something I enjoy and which I would be happy to spend more time doing over the course of the year but far less intensely while doing it. People often don’t know what to do with themselves when they’re not working but I always enjoy my own company. I realised recently that my problem, if you want to look at it negatively, is that I treat life like a series of hobbies, let’s just say I’ve put far more value on life than work over the years. But that is me, not somebody else and it is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. The chef who goes into his restaurant on his day off so he can experiment and cook something for the pleasure is potentially finding the balance that suits him. My six months of pleasure were great but I always hated the extreme nature of dropping everything and disappearing into work mode somewhere random. There was a balance but it also felt like living two extremes.

Clearly there is no formula you can teach someone and people have to find their own way. We must also recognise the futility of it when we’re working six days a week in jobs we dislike but need, especially when our manages then proceed to lecture us on the importance of finding balance. There is something almost perverse about capitalism heartless joy in that respect but everyone at every level needs to hit their figures. That is the reality of the work life balance. The man at the bottom works so the guy at the top can enjoy his life. Two very different types of figures. I wonder how long that can last. In the meantime it does make disappearing away into the forest sound rather appealing.

The Hobbyists Dear Diary

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Although I am starting to become concerned that I may just be turning this into a glorified diary I’m seemingly on such a self indulgent enough trip at present that I’ll continue.

Dear diary,
Today I started a new hobby. You see dearest diary I love hobbies, in fact I’ve seemingly been treating too many things in life as hobbies. Some call it not sticking to anything, but for me I really really wanted to be a yoga teacher so I did a course and got a certificate, a tree surgeon so I did a course, a sailor so I did numerous courses, an English teacher, a philosopher, carpenter, engineer, proofreader and I’m in no doubt there were others that I have forgotten about. I loved learning all these things with the intention of turning them into a career, and in a way I did, just my own version of a career. Oh dear diary I just love to refer to them all as a series of hobbies, my life appears to be one long hobby and it’s just such fun. And now I have a new one. I’m going to learn computer science and become a coder. The ultimate jack of all trades has finally tried to pick up a computer and turned it on successfully. Isn’t that so exciting dear diary.
love you love you love you love you

But yes that is that. I’m a grown man with a diary online. It’s funny how things naturally evolve and I know I take the piss out of myself but I don’t mind or care what I am writing about or where I am now. In truth there is so much time for a hell of a lot of evolution in this thing and currently this is where I’m at. The diary phase.

Coding though, for someone who has prided himself on being a technophobe all these years and forever too cool for school, this is quite the corner to have turned. Who knows though, I’ve got to stick to something one day and this allows for a hell of a lot of flexibility, freedom and creativity. It may just be something that grabs my attention when I’m not sailing or getting beaten up by girls.

With all that in mind it is worth pointing out that there is always more to anything. We are put under so much pressure from society to achieve X, Y and Z, and to have done it by a certain age. For sure there are many people out there lost, with no idea what they’re doing or where they’re going. It is a stressful existence and it disgusts me that people have been allowed to slip through the cracks, forgotten and ignored. They may feel alone but they’re not, that’s almost the worst part. Stand up my brothers and sisters, societies outcasts who have not, can not and do not want to achieve success in a style unnatural and forced upon them. Be free and embrace your freedom. Realise you are the lucky few. And while you’re at it, why not take up a hobby or two.