In Defense of “Just a Hobby”
When your hobbies get in the way of your work — that’s OK; but when your hobbies get in the way of themselves. . . well.
-Steve Martin
So, what are your hobbies?
A new colleague and I had been having an amiable conversation as we stood at the coffee station, but this direct inquiry threw me for a real loop. I stared into my steaming mug, unable to formulate a response. Eventually I stammered out an incomprehensible reply about work and parenting and how I liked to read but wished I had more time.
“Oh, and exercise. Sometimes I exercise,” I added.
As she walked away, I wondered why I had found it so difficult to answer her seemingly innocent question. I don’t normally struggle with casual conversation, but in this instance I had sounded like a guilty witness under cross-examination.
It was in that moment that I came to a stark realization:
I don’t have any hobbies.
I don’t collect anything. I don’t golf or bike or play video games with any sort of regularity. I buy my beer instead of home brewing it. I don’t know how to work with leather or wood. The only time I paint is with my five-year-old.
I fretted over this for a week. I even went so far as to search online for “lists of hobbies.” (As of…
