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 :)
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.FRESH sourdough is SO good! The next day… enh.
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.
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.
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
- playing with Lego bricks
- reading graphic novels
- listening to fictional podcasts (audio dramas)
- kick boxing :)
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!
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. :(
- training my dogs
- fostering dogs
- walking other people’s dogs
- camping
- cycling
- tarot
in the colder months, i enjoy yarn crafts (crochet and knitting).
I’ve gotten into writing with fountain pens lately. It’s been pretty 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.
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.
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.
Reading, knitting, crochet. Also journaling! I like gaming sometimes too.
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.
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.
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.
