Starting new hobbies

[Rook37]

I think this is more of a question for myself than you guys, but I'll ask anyway.

How do y'all start new hobbies? I'm currently really into Magic: the Gathering, and have started and subsequently quit everything else I've tried to take up. I've started guitar, swimming, climbing, drawing, beatboxing, hell, even just trying to stay up to date on current events. And a couple other things only to give them up in a week or two. I'm not sure if it's just that I'm too lazy and apathetic or I just tell myself I'm not good enough to continue, maybe a combination of the two.

I guess what I'm saying is, I want to put something in my life that's a more worthwile and productive investment of my time, energy, and money. Any tips or suggestions you guys can offer would be beyond appreciated.

/pityparty

[our.lady.of.ashes]

Maybe you just needed more time to get settled in those other hobbies before you gave up on them?

[Rook37]

Well yeah, haha. I just don't understand why I drop them, because I've thoroughly enjoyed every activity I've tried to make into something I regularly do. Even to the point where I'm actually getting good at it. But then for some reason, I just stop. And I'm always too "busy" (or actually busy, sometimes), I get moved somewhere that doesn't have facilities (i.e. a pool or a climbing wall), or some other load of crap I tell myself. And then I actually believe it! So when I decide that I want to start again, months down the road, its the same story all over again

[Astreja]

A week or two is barely enough time to discover if you like something at a very superficial beginner level.  In the beginning, just about everything feels awkward and it's almost impossible to tell if you're doing it right because you don't yet have a frame of reference.  When you're struggling with the mechanics of, say, swimming or playing guitar, it's hard to enjoy them even if you do want to do them.

 

I've gone through a lot of hobbies over the years, and I find that it's usually enough to do something when the mood hits, then set it aside for another time.  This helps the brain and the body acclimatize to the activity, and it's a little bit better the next time because the unconscious mind has been working with it while you were busy doing other things.

 

For music in particular, though, consider working with a teacher for at least a few months.  At very least, going to a lesson every week will be a good exercise in self-discipline and it'll relieve the stress of trying to figure things out.  The teacher can correct your form right then and there in the lesson, so you'll have fewer bad habits to unlearn.

[Astreja]

(duplicate post - Please disregard)

[Hit]

i find having a group of people who do the same thing always helps me stick to it. makes it feel less like "work" even when im not very good at it, and more like just hanging out with friends. thats probably the big difference between magic the gathering and the rest of your list - as a card game its inherently social. the others (like guitar) you need to hustle to find other people to play with, and like drawing you need to put a lot of time in by yourself to get up to scratch on the technical side. 

 

tldr - friends.

[Rook37]

Okay... I've never thought to just do it when I felt like it. I've always just forced myself, like "Okay, I want to do this, and I'm going to do it now" kind of thing. Thank you for that.

It has been a little disheartening to habe fallen away from music, since it was such a big part of my life growing up

[Rook37]

(Duplicate)

[Rook37]

I definitely agree on the friends thing. I just don't really have anyone around me that's into anything that I am, or at least that I know of. Its a pretty niche-y, nerdy bunch I work with. And the couple of them that aren't nerdy are generally unpleasant to be around haha

[kaelvan]

Answer this: Out all these hobbies you started (and quit), what is the one you really want to do?

 

Ok now you have your answer, focus on that one. You can always start the others later down the road.

 

Now I want you to devote an hour or so a day focusing on the one thing. I like you to clear all the negativity towards you not being the greatest at this thing (you are a beginner just remember). Just keep plowing through, no matter how much you think you aren't good.

 

Do this for a month or so, and then you can decide if you like it or not.

 

Just remember starting something is always the hardest thing.

 

Also,

 

[kaelvan]

Answer this: Out all these hobbies you started (and quit), what is the one you really want to do?

 

Ok now you have your answer, focus on that one. You can always start the others later down the road.

 

Now I want you to devote an hour or so a day focusing on the one thing. I like you to clear all the negativity towards you not being the greatest at this thing (you are a beginner just remember). Just keep plowing through, no matter how much you think you aren't good.

 

Do this for a month or so, and then you can decide if you like it or not.

 

Just remember starting something is always the hardest thing.

 

Also,

 

[kaelvan]

Ignore the double post

[Hit]

 

 

I just don't really have anyone around me that's into anything that I am

 

this is the hustle part i mentioned gotta find those groups, make new friends and push yourself into a new culture. those friends can be on the internet, if that works for you, but i always found real-life friends more motivating. 

[Companion]

I'm a joiner. If I don't join a club or group where I feel obligated to show up, I'm very likely to quit.

Look at meetup.com!

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

I tend to obsess over things, so once I get an inkling that I'm enjoying something I dive into it headlong and keep going for at least a year. That said, I do find that my obsessions tend to rotate. I left off on painting tabletop game minis for a few years to absorb myself in spinning yarn. Recently I've put my spinning fiber back into the trunk and rehydrated the paints. My pipa, which I used to practice daily and sometimes still do, has been untouched for a few months.

 

So, my advice: try going back to something you used to enjoy and stopped doing. See if you still enjoy it. Your time frame may be weeks instead of months or years, but I see nothing wrong with enthusiasm coming in waves for different activities.

[DrVornoff]

I've gone through a long list hobbies over the course of my life, few of them have actually stuck.  Mostly because I had no real idea why I was doing them.  What I have generally stuck with has been my more artistic endeavors and studying the workings of the mind, which is challenging because I really don't fit in well with academia.  The line between productive amounts of structure and way too much structure is very fine for me and I'm not going to lie and say I've found the ideal balance yet.  Lately I've found what's gotten me to stick with certain things is to do it for the reasons that I thought of first and not for the reasons I heard somewhere else.

 

As an example, I've been trying for a year to learn Spanish but I still can't hold even a short conversation and I'm having a hard time summoning the will to follow through.  On the other hand, I've started working on a new steampunk show in which I play a character who is the son of Russian expatriates and can speak a little Russian.  So over the weekend I looked up some pronunciation guides for Russian and found myself picking it up surprisingly quickly.  Since I have a lot of other work to do I'm putting my language learning to the weekends only for now.  But I find myself eager to start working on vocabulary this Saturday and find a conversation partner in January.  Not only is this something I want to do for a show in my career, but my family is extremely Slavic and in the last couple of years I've been casually exploring more of Slavic culture in an effort to learn more about my own ancestry.

 

I recommend you look into the book "Mastery" by Robert Greene.  It might sound a little counter-intuitive for hobbies, but it is a great book about the learning process and finding things that you can be passionate about.

[kaelvan]

I've gone through a long list hobbies over the course of my life, few of them have actually stuck.  Mostly because I had no real idea why I was doing them.  What I have generally stuck with has been my more artistic endeavors and studying the workings of the mind, which is challenging because I really don't fit in well with academia.  The line between productive amounts of structure and way too much structure is very fine for me and I'm not going to lie and say I've found the ideal balance yet.  Lately I've found what's gotten me to stick with certain things is to do it for the reasons that I thought of first and not for the reasons I heard somewhere else.

 

As an example, I've been trying for a year to learn Spanish but I still can't hold even a short conversation and I'm having a hard time summoning the will to follow through.  On the other hand, I've started working on a new steampunk show in which I play a character who is the son of Russian expatriates and can speak a little Russian.  So over the weekend I looked up some pronunciation guides for Russian and found myself picking it up surprisingly quickly.  Since I have a lot of other work to do I'm putting my language learning to the weekends only for now.  But I find myself eager to start working on vocabulary this Saturday and find a conversation partner in January.  Not only is this something I want to do for a show in my career, but my family is extremely Slavic and in the last couple of years I've been casually exploring more of Slavic culture in an effort to learn more about my own ancestry.

 

I recommend you look into the book "Mastery" by Robert Greene.  It might sound a little counter-intuitive for hobbies, but it is a great book about the learning process and finding things that you can be passionate about.

http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/53920-language-exchange-topic-find-a-buddy/

If you need someone to have a conversation with

[Rook37]

I'm definitely gonna take the advice on going back to things I was interested in. There's a pool and gym on base for me to use.

I have issues finding good resources, that aren't financially intensive, to learn Russian. Its something I've looked into a couple of times, but I just could not find a good online source with no actual person to use as a learning source.

There's also seasonal/location specific things I enjoy, like sailing and learning to shoot a bow and gun in order to start hunting.

As for the idea of mastery, I would love to master everything I do. But at the same time, I've got the urge to be a jack-of-all-trades, to not be amazing at anything but have a working knowledge of a wide array of things.

[Companion]

You can do language exchange. There are services that hook you up with a skype buddy. You help them with English, they help you with Russian.

[PinkNinja]

I have issues finding good resources, that aren't financially intensive, to learn Russian. Its something I've looked into a couple of times, but I just could not find a good online source with no actual person to use as a learning source.

There's also seasonal/location specific things I enjoy, like sailing and learning to shoot a bow and gun in order to start hunting.

 

 

Duolingo.com is free and has Russian. I've been doing primarily German on it, but occasionally Spanish. It's a fun, game like way to learn languages that includes a leveling up system.

It includes an article translation section as well as vocabulary games & training. You can also find buddies for skype and what not on it.

 

I get sad when the weather is to crappy to shoot my bow, especially right now when I just got a pretty new quiver for Christmas.. And I live in the middle of a state park, so I can't randomly fire my guns. lol

 

As for the original post, I agree with just doing things when you feel like it.

A hobby is supposed to be fun. If you're having to force yourself to do it, maybe it's not fun enough. I do things in rotation. Right now, I've been weaving baskets. But as I weave them, I'm like "hmm.. I need to make some soap to put in them" so here pretty soon, I'll probably make some soap. Then I'll get tired of dragging soap supplies out all over my kitchen, and I'll decide to sew some, partially because I've been wanting to make cloth napkins for my sister. By the time those are done, it will be spring, and I'll be living out of pack, either on trails or in my kayak (sometimes even at work). All of these things will be interspersed with random bouts of working on learning German, watching how to play guitar videos online, and baking bread. I consistently do martial arts, archery, hiking, camping, and kayaking, but I don't really count them as hobbies, partially because hiking, camping, and kayaking are all work things.

Work also affects my hobbies because when I'm doing workshops at work, I'll either get really sick of whatever the workshop is and never want to do it at home, OR I'll get a really good idea while I'm doing the workshop and I'll have to try it at home. (which is the case right now)

 

Anyway, my point is, do what you enjoy. It's okay if you don't stick with it. Just make sure you don't go overboard, buy zillions of supplies, and then never do it again. I'm guilty of this. I just gave away all my Sumi-e stuff because I realized I hadn't touched it in 4 years, and I knew a coworker's daughter is wanting to learn new art styles. And don't even get me started on how many scrapbooking supplies I own and need to find a home for.

 

*edit* Just saw that the Russian course on Duolingo won't be complete until 08/2015! Sorry!  Oh well, Livemocha.com is also a free language learning site, I just don't have as much fun on it as I do on Duo. If you join either site, feel free to msg me! We can be buddies even if we aren't learning the same language. Though I'm contemplating playing with Russian. Learning new alphabets is a fun a challenge.