“How do you spend your time when not at work? What do you do on weekends?” These are questions we often ask of a new acquaintance, a possible soulmate or a prospective employee, because a hobby holds a mirror to personality. It’s a leisure activity done regularly for pleasure.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word “hobby” comes from the pet forms of the name Robin, which became Rob, hobyn, hoby and finally hobby. It later came to denote a toy or hobby horse and hence the meaning — “an activity done for pleasure”.
To quote American author Phyllis McGinley, “A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away.”
Hobbies are an opportunity to take a break with a purpose and add meaning to life. They widen a child’s perspective, provide a happy diversion for adults and give the elderly something to look forward to. Age, gender, marital and health status and phase of life influence our choice of hobbies.
They can be active or passive, physical or mental, with solo or joint activities, constructive and knowledge seeking or those for pure pleasure, socialising or entertainment. Hobbies help you develop physical health, promote eustress, boost intelligence and satisfy the creative urges of people.
To quote Dale Carnegie, “Everyone should have a deep-seated interest or hobby to enrich his mind, add zest to living, and perhaps, depending upon what it is, result in a service to his country.”
Singing, reading, playing a sport or musical instrument, origami, drawing, sketching and painting are popular hobbies. People also like to solve puzzles, collect things or learn a new language. Baking became popular during the recent pandemic.
Some unusual hobbies that one reads about are stargazing, making paper or wooden models, collecting of unusual objects such as airline boarding passes, matchboxes and visiting cards (called fusilately) and currency, and ham radio. As Scott Alexander says, “Making money is a hobby that will complement any other hobbies you have, beautifully!”
No gender bar
Hobbies, in the past, were gender specific. Utility and skill development were important factors in the choice of hobbies. Girls were taught sewing and knitting, which they developed into useful household skills.
Boys were taught carpentry or smithy, for them to develop and use profitably later in life. We live in an age of gender equality and the idea of teaching girls and boys different skill sets seems regressive, retrograde and “uncool”. Lifestyles have changed and so have preferences and compulsions. Modern-day hobbies aim at recreation, networking and creative satisfaction.
A lot of research has been done on the psychology of hobbies — the reasons people need hobbies and their choice of specific hobbies. A hobby sometimes acts as a compensation for unsatisfied emotional needs. It is nurtured as an attempt to support an identity that the individual seeks to portray. Nostalgia could also drive a person towards a particular pastime. A hobby could be used to channel emotions in a healthy and useful manner, to gain control or attract attention. The desire to get creative entertainment could also motivate a person to develop a hobby. Hobbies keep children away from addictive sources of entertainment such as the Internet or TV.
As George Bernard Shaw observed, “Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby.” There are success stories of persons who did what they loved and loved what they did. William Harley and Arthur Davidson’s desire to revolutionise the bicycle, led to the creation of the iconic Harley-Davidson! Walt Disney transformed his childhood passion for drawing into a multimedia empire. Narain Karthikeyan’s passion for cars became his field of work and Saroj Khan’s obsession for dance made her a dance master in Bollywood.
People tend to subconsciously rank hobbies into an unspoken hierarchy. Cerebral and creative hobbies are rated higher than physical ones. Useful, productive and skill intensive hobbies get more respect. Passive pastimes such as watching TV or playing cards end up at the bottom of the pile and people who indulge in these are viewed as leading less meaningful lives. Hobbies are as unique and personal as your fingerprint and often fulfil an abstract purpose. Ideally they should not be evaluated or judged.
A hobby is like an oasis in a desert, a go-to place to find oneself again, when you have either too much or too little to do. Always find time for things that make you feel happy to be alive. To quote Dale Carnegie, “Today is life — the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.”
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