Often when we pick our favorite interests and goals to pursue, a lot of fun ideas and less important things get left behind, but does this really have to happen?
Lately, I’ve began a little bit of video editing and sound recording. It’s usually just a small project once a week but it’s been a fun way to share something I do with at least a few people. Not too long ago, I would have considered video editing just something I had fiddled with in a few high school classes. Sometimes things just come together and you can start exploring an old interest you thought was left behind in a small but fun way.
This got me thinking about other sort of interests I’ve left behind or ones that might be fun to pick up but I never convinced myself that I’d have the time or tools to do so. I mean, at a few hours a week, you definitely won’t be awesome anytime soon, but you can at least get to a proficient level, especially if you had some experience with something before.
Take piano for explore. I always failed when I made it a daily goal. It just wasn’t high enough on my priorities for me to continually invest time and willpower into scheduling practice time and going through with it each day. But if I instead focused on an hour or two a week for fun, I’m sure I could keep in practice and improve in small ways.
It’s been an exciting realization that you don’t have to leave hobbies behind even if they can’t be a main priority. I was talking with some friends about how I used to do a bit of 3D animation in high school and they asked why I didn’t still try to continue to do a bit of it today. Now, I did have some excuses, like not having software, but really, it all came down to only the fact that I had chosen not to invest more time in it after my classes finished. Today, there are even more options in software (and some are free) for 3D animation, so picking it up again would merely be a matter of investing some time to relearn the software and then building off what I learned before.
Now, certain other hobbies that would be fun might take a little more preparation, but really, if the cost to explore something that might become fun and meaningful is low, why not pay up and add a little experience to fill out your life? I’d enjoy learning more about sewing, especially making plushies. Much of it can be done by hand sewing, so I’m sure the starting equipment for that doesn’t cost much. To go a little into the more expensive realms, I always did love woodworking and ceramics. The equipment for these would cost a lot, although I’ve always wondered if there’s some way I could merely pay to rent someone else’s equipment for a brief time while working on a simple project.
I’ve had a taste of other hobbies I’d love to pursue given more time like paragliding or scuba diving. For those, it’s more a matter of saving up then setting aside a bit of time for a few weeks to finish the basic instruction.
Anyway, the reality is that it isn’t hard to explore new interests if you only stop making excuses and instead just look at the cost in time and money. Often, the costs won’t be much, so why not reach out and venture into an unknown hobby or branch of knowledge that you’ve always admired from afar?
Searching for Stories 