Last updated on February 14, 2019
I enjoy my hobbies. Other than my family, I think hobbies really are what make life fun. Isn’t that why we work? We work to have fun and are often. Hopefully our work is fun as well, don’t get me wrong, but it is the time where we get to pursue what we find enjoyable that we work for. For those of us that are particularly fortunate, are hobbies and our work cross paths. Fortunately I’m one of those people.
Designing on a computer has been something I’ve enjoyed all my life, but didn’t really take seriously until college. I tried out a variety of majors and ended up graduating with a degree that I don’t use. All along the way through college, though, I continued to improve my skills in designing a computer. So, in the end, that is what I ended up doing his job. These days I still design websites, online offers, etc. but my real focus is online marketing. All these things I find to be an enjoyable challenge, so I do enjoy my work.
What I really enjoy are some of my hobbies I do whenever I have the chance. Photography is a real passion, which is something I mentioned before. Yet, there are so many other things I like to try. Backspace and that is my problem. I like trying many things. I may not be all that good at any particular thing, but I enjoy the challenge of trying to get better. I like to golf, and I’m not that good but I enjoy the game regardless. I enjoy shooting firearms because there is a challenge to getting better and it requires practice to maintain your skills. The list goes on. I feel very fortunate in having the opportunity to do a variety of hobbies, I just wish I had much more time in which to do them!
So that is my dilemma, too many fun things that I’d like to do, and not enough time in which to do them. I know, poor me, such a difficult problem to have. I don’t write this to try and find somebody out there, but I do hope I’m not the only one in this situation.
Have you ever been in the kind of discussion where everyone brings up the things they would do if they had unlimited funds? You know, where everyone talks about if they had enough money to retire now what they would do. Inevitably these discussions lead to someone saying, “Well, that would be fun for a time, but eventually you would get tired of it and go back to work.” I find this completely crazy. Maybe I’m just naïve, but I sure would like the opportunity to test this theory out. I have so many interests, and I’m sure I could find so many more, but I would never tire of things to do. I could spend weeks if not months just working on certain aspects of photography and trying to get better. I could travel. I could put photography and travel together, and I don’t think I could ever tire of just even that. Throw in some golf, and spent a lot of time with my family, and I would be a happy man.
I am sure I would find one of my hobbies would end up including a type of work, but it would be something I would do at my pace and on things that I want to do. You wouldn’t find me being one of those people that has money and feels the need to invest in new businesses solely for the purpose of creating new money… hopefully. I’ve seen way too many people that have made a few million dollars, think they have the Midas touch, and then turn around and lose that money in their next business endeavor. Perhaps this is why I will never be a rich man; I don’t have that kind of drive to want to make more. Sure, I have some numbers in my mind that I’d like to read someday, and I hope the effort I am making with get me there. Once I get there, I see myself being happy to be there and willing to live off the interest of money made, rather than trying to make twice or three times what I have already achieved. Of course reality is that I will just continue much of the level I am at, and I’m pretty happy with that. But we all have to have dreams!
So being the realist about I am, I look at my current schedule and try to figure out where I can sit in some time to “play” while still addressing all my family and work responsibilities. Isn’t that the name of the game? Isn’t that what we’ll have to do? But it all comes down to priorities, and some things come first. Fortunately, I have a lovely wife (she reads this blog, so you know I have to say that) who makes it possible for me to have some time to pursue some of these hobbies.
The second problem with these hobbies, it’s not just time, but it is money. The old phrase “the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys” is as true as any statement could be. All of the hobbies I have listed in this post take money, and if you’re serious about the hobby, they take plenty of it. When you get into photography, it’s not just the cost of the camera which is plenty, to begin with, it’s all the possible lenses you can try out. Getting a good lens can set you back $1000, $2000 or even much more. The much more category is way out of my league, but I do have a couple of lenses in the lower range. Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to do some work that justifies the cost of these lenses, but that’s not always the case. Once you get going on a hobby, it’s hard to stop. Same goes with the other hobbies I listed. Only so much money to go around, and that goes back to the priorities discussion.
So clear is a rant somewhere in this long diatribe against it would be that I wish I had a bit more time and money to do the fun things in life. I guess I’ll just have to work a little harder to make that happen.
