Good Hobbies, Bad Hobbies, and Not Being Boring

Some people may feel lost in life, but opportunities are abundant

I decided to expand on recent tweets since hobbies are an important topic.

The average American is overweight, doped-up, and staring at Instagram or TikTok while Netflix plays in the background. Falling down a bottomless pit into a depressing and unfulfilling life.

You don’t want to be average.

Having a “productive” hobby helps people move forward in life. Something which adds value to yourself and the world. The flame of vitality burns brighter when you’re doing them. "Good" hobbies translate to spiritual and/or physical development. They aren’t just a hobby; they’re also self-improvement.

Some examples:

• Fishing, hunting, gardening - useful skills, feeds families, meditative.

• Rock climbing and hiking - fitness, touching grass, appreciating nature.

• Painting and drawing - dexterity, creativity, enhanced mental health.

• Martial arts - combat skills, mindfulness, more personal responsibility, etc.

• Church volunteer - networking, connecting with one’s community, spiritual development.

• Soapmaking, candlemaking, knitting - practical, traditional, can be a business.

• Reading - mental dexterity, expanding knowledge of the world, learning new things to improve one’s life. (Note: reading for the sake of reading isn’t a good hobby. Seeing words on a page isn’t enough; those words must be applied to something, or help you connect some dots.)

The possibilities are endless.

Good hobbies also make people more interesting. You go places, you meet others, you do cool things; you automatically network with like-minded people, and have topics to discuss at length. Becoming an expert in certain fields is also valuable. A teacher or influencer may have profitable opportunities.

When in doubt, try art or writing. Tons of variety in what you can do, and plenty of practical options. Woodworking, pottery, etc.

BowTiedSurvival gave me a cool personal example.

“I’ve busted my buns for the last 5 years building everything in the project house custom. Fences, cabinets, some furniture, countertops, etc etc. I think maybe some of my friends were kinda skeptical. They’re really practical people who don’t really make stuff to look nice. And now i have the house on Airbnb for a good sum nightly. Never planned it that way but it works out. There’s just a lot to be said for the payoff on aesthetics.”

He added “I think on the practical side, we just tend to maintain beautiful things better,” and mentioned the Broken Window Theory. Naturally, I agree. You can look at certain objects and see how much work was put in. We have an innate respect for the blood, sweat, and tears of craftsmen.

Rational people are inclined to preserve beauty. Museums wouldn’t exist without a deep drive to share beautiful things. Contributing to this global effort leads to collective improvement.

"Bad" hobbies, conversely, don't move the needle. Vacuous filler content for consooomers. They don't add purpose or enlightenment to one's life. Meaningless.

Popular examples:

• Netflix

• Brunch

• Mindlessly scrolling social media

• Discussing "the current thing" without solutions

• Eat hot chip and lie

• Twerk and charge they phone

Eating popcorn at the movies doesn’t give someone actionable skills. Maybe if you’re a movie critic, but the question remains: does this translate to spiritual and/or physical development? Did the movie inspire you? Did it have an important message to spread to the public? What did you learn about yourself or the world as a whole?

This isn’t to say mindless entertainment is useless. We all need an occasional break from the hustle. The problem stems from over-consumption. (Which can be true of all things.) Some people make filler content their entire personality. This is made even worse by the fact it’s typically lowest-common-denominator content.

Filler is supposed to be an occasional indulgence, not something done every waking moment.

What are you doing to make the world a better place?

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