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I love this question! I read a lot. I think we tend to forget reading is a passive hobby since it’s so often thought of as a task meant for “getting around to,” which removes any sense of leisure from the act. Walking at a nature preserve, working out, cycling, doing yoga—these are hobbies. I don’t think anyone really knows this about me but I have a ton of film cameras and enjoy rotating them out, preserving my environment by snapping a photo. Taking care of my plants. Not ashamed 2 admit I’ve driven hours and hours and hours just to hunt down a plant I’ve eyeballed. Plus it’s such a thriving hobby nowadays! I’ve been to so many “influencer events” lol that are plant focused and have met a lot of lovely people that way. I want to venture back into indoor herb gardening too. I’ve been revisiting pottery and ceramics for the first time in ages. This is a far bit away from when I was talking about reading but my mind continues to toss around the idea of starting a book club. Maybe over the summer? Would anyone be interested? Knitting! Gonna make my friends socks for the holidays 🧶 I’ve also been learning how to crochet breathable plastic bag mats for donation. Cooking and baking; I find learning how to veganize dishes both challenging and relaxing. Everyone says this but I really am and always have been a nature baby so returning to hiking and camping does wonders for my mental health. I appreciate how immersive of an experience it is. I’m trying to reshift my focus of floristry away from the idea of work and back into a hobby that I’m well versed in. I’ve been learning American Sign Language after delving in and out of my interest ad nauseam. I’m naturally inclined to do this but I’ve read cataloguing your thoughts in a journal is considered a hobby since it’s intentional. I’ve been learning a lot about wine, particularly natural wines! Also kombucha and beer making + fermenting and pickling foods. I go on a long walk with my dog and the moon nearly every night and that may not necessarily be a hobby but it’s a nice way to dedicate a sliver of my time specifically to unwinding and reflecting on my thoughts and feelings. It’s important not to end your day feeling encumbered by your emotions

We’ve grown so accustomed to remaining tethered to social media that having to retrain yourself to be present and focused on your physical, immediate space is something that will require patience and understanding for and from yourself. That itch to pick up your phone will take time to unlearn. How much changes every time your screen lights up, when a page reloads, when yet another photo is uploaded? Not a lot, but the desire to satiate your curiosity has been achieved. It’s so much more convenient to see what someone else is doing in their life than it is to take the time to enrich your own. These anxieties are especially compounded by living in a nucleus that tells us to commodify our interests, sell our passions, Instagram and YouTube the process of your relaxation techniques in order to profit off of them. That ultimately muddies the significance of them in your life and leaves you measuring who you actually are up against the image you’re projecting of yourself, leaving you dissatisfied with yourself and disenchanted with what once brought you a sense of fulfillment, perpetuating the cycle

If you’re wanting to spend less time on your phone, consider downloading an app like Forest or Flora and tapering your time limits, if you don’t know where to begin with a hobby look into taking a local tennis or pottery or pilates class, sign up for something like Book of the Month (that’s what I did when I wanted to get back into reading!) if you need that small but effective push, volunteer for an organization, take an agility class with your dog. Create a hobby! I was recently watching Jeopardy lol and a contestant mentioned a bad book club she and her friends have; they choose a bad book, read it, pencil their thoughts about it either into the margins or on a piece of paper, mail the book to the next person, then once they’ve all read it they reconvene and discuss their thoughts and amusements. Fun!

Maybe one of these will be helpful too

The Case for Having a Hobby

In Praise of Mediocrity

What It Takes to Put Your Phone Away

I love this question! I read a lot. I think we tend to forget reading is a passive hobby since it’s so often thought of as a task meant for “getting around to,” which removes any sense of leisure from the act. Walking at a nature preserve, working out, cycling, doing yoga—these are hobbies. I don’t think anyone really knows this about me but I have a ton of film cameras and enjoy rotating them out, preserving my environment by snapping a photo. Taking care of my plants. Not ashamed 2 admit I’ve driven hours and hours and hours just to hunt down a plant I’ve eyeballed. Plus it’s such a thriving hobby nowadays! I’ve been to so many “influencer events” lol that are plant focused and have met a lot of lovely people that way. I want to venture back into indoor herb gardening too. I’ve been revisiting pottery and ceramics for the first time in ages. This is a far bit away from when I was talking about reading but my mind continues to toss around the idea of starting a book club. Maybe over the summer? Would anyone be interested? Knitting! Gonna make my friends socks for the holidays 🧶 I’ve also been learning how to crochet breathable plastic bag mats for donation. Cooking and baking; I find learning how to veganize dishes both challenging and relaxing. Everyone says this but I really am and always have been a nature baby so returning to hiking and camping does wonders for my mental health. I appreciate how immersive of an experience it is. I’m trying to reshift my focus of floristry away from the idea of work and back into a hobby that I’m well versed in. I’ve been learning American Sign Language after delving in and out of my interest ad nauseam. I’m naturally inclined to do this but I’ve read cataloguing your thoughts in a journal is considered a hobby since it’s intentional. I’ve been learning a lot about wine, particularly natural wines! Also kombucha and beer making + fermenting and pickling foods. I go on a long walk with my dog and the moon nearly every night and that may not necessarily be a hobby but it’s a nice way to dedicate a sliver of my time specifically to unwinding and reflecting on my thoughts and feelings. It’s important not to end your day feeling encumbered by your emotions

We’ve grown so accustomed to remaining tethered to social media that having to retrain yourself to be present and focused on your physical, immediate space is something that will require patience and understanding for and from yourself. That itch to pick up your phone will take time to unlearn. How much changes every time your screen lights up, when a page reloads, when yet another photo is uploaded? Not a lot, but the desire to satiate your curiosity has been achieved. It’s so much more convenient to see what someone else is doing in their life than it is to take the time to enrich your own. These anxieties are especially compounded by living in a nucleus that tells us to commodify our interests, sell our passions, Instagram and YouTube the process of your relaxation techniques in order to profit off of them. That ultimately muddies the significance of them in your life and leaves you measuring who you actually are up against the image you’re projecting of yourself, leaving you dissatisfied with yourself and disenchanted with what once brought you a sense of fulfillment, perpetuating the cycle

If you’re wanting to spend less time on your phone, consider downloading an app like Forest or Flora and tapering your time limits, if you don’t know where to begin with a hobby look into taking a local tennis or pottery or pilates class, sign up for something like Book of the Month (that’s what I did when I wanted to get back into reading!) if you need that small but effective push, volunteer for an organization, take an agility class with your dog. Create a hobby! I was recently watching Jeopardy lol and a contestant mentioned a bad book club she and her friends have; they choose a bad book, read it, pencil their thoughts about it either into the margins or on a piece of paper, mail the book to the next person, then once they’ve all read it they reconvene and discuss their thoughts and amusements. Fun!

Maybe one of these will be helpful too

The Case for Having a Hobby

In Praise of Mediocrity

What It Takes to Put Your Phone Away

Maison Martin Margiela line 13 black wine bottle lamp

Paris apartment | photos by Francis Amiand