"Hobbies" vs. life goals

I have always disliked using the term "hobbies" to describe what I do, when I'm not working or at school. 

But I wasn't sure what I disliked about it. I think it was due to the fact that "hobby" implies that I'm not serious about it, and I do it to unwind, which isn't true with the majority of what I do. I don't write "for fun". It is fun, but I write because I want to get published. Similarly, I hate calling art a "hobby", because despite being a CS major, I really want to start making money off of commissions and Patreon once I'm good enough. And it's frustrating that I'm not there yet. 

These aren't "hobbies". "Hobbies" are when you are bored on a Sunday afternoon and you randomly decide to start crocheting or something. When I say I want good work life balance, it's because there's a ton of goals I strongly desire to achieve outside of work. Not because I want more time to just idly screw around, though there's nothing wrong with that in moderation. 

So I started using the term "pursuits", but even then, it didn't feel serious enough. 

I was talking with my brother and he suggested using the term "life goals". I like that a lot better. Life goals. Yes. 

Every day is like playing Tetris. You have work and school stuff, including 8-9 hours per day of intensive coding. But you also have to schedule time for writing, art, music, math, additional coding outside of work, learning theme park design, imagination and visualization practice...plus fitness, and spending time going to parks and swimming and stuff...and THEN you have to fit in time for unwinding and keeping up with your shows and video games. And you somehow have to do this while also sleeping 7-8 hours a night. And then you have to fit in all the boring crap, like cleaning and getting groceries and fixing your ghetto-AF car for the fifth time this year, which I call "life maintenance" and it absolutely sucks. It's a pain, and calling all of the non-chore stuff "hobbies" is just trivializing the herculean effort that it takes to fit it all in, and to get as good as possible. 

Everyone else will roll their eyes and tell you that you're doing too much. Ignore them. Obviously. 

Riding water slides and roller coasters is a "hobby". So is watching cartoons. But my activities that I'm actively trying to get really good at? Yeah, those are life goals. It's time to start calling them what they actually are. And I rest my case and should probably start working now. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unleashing my inner Disney Princess ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ at the 2024 Disney Princesses Half Marathon

Image
TL;DR it was amazing and perfect  and we are going to make this an annual tradition. I may edit this with photos later, but I'm probably going to forget.  Recently, I spent 5 wonderful days donating my dollarbucks and soul to the evil mouse in Orlando. I did it for the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  Just look at that happy little alligator musician. He's so CHONKY. It's adorable. I love him. How could you NOT run a half marathon for him when he's cheering you on?  (My dad says it's weird to say the word "adorable" as a man, which makes zero logical sense and obviously means I need to use that word as often as possible. I will also continue to wear my rings and maybe I'll start flashing my pink protein shaker. Just to cause a little discomfort, because it's funny.)  I haven't seen the movie yet actually so idk if the gator is a major character or not. But JUST LOOK AT HIM.  My cousin and I had been planning a Disney trip, specifically centered
Read more

The 20-something types of Computer Science majors

Image
I've been way too distracted with this blog lately, and I need to hurry up and start getting crap done. But...I've been dying to write this lol.  The advanced neckbeard A rare variety. When a neckbeard is forced out of his mom's basement and into college, he becomes an Advanced Neckbeard. You can always tell when he's coming, because you can smell him from half a mile away. He is very overweight, and wears shirts that are either plain or adorned with anime/gaming graphics. These shirts are either stained with sweat, Hot Cheetos, or something a little bit more, ah, suspicious . He is so socially unskilled that he makes everyone else in the major look normal. Age 30+, GPA at a 2.0 or just barely above it. Will never drop the major despite his lack of effort, because he simply doesn't care if he gets bad grades. In fact, he is probably highly intelligent, but his grades will never reflect that. Nevertheless, he will get a much higher paying job than a regular neckbeard
Read more

The Evenstar

I've never liked this world much.  Ever since I was a little kid, I always dreamed of going somewhere else. I created this alternate version of Earth that had everything and everyone that I loved, but with all these improvements to it. Magic was real. So were dragons. Dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct. Technology allowed people to fly. A network of glass corridors provided transport between this world and mine, snaking through streams of stars, galaxies, and lightyears of blackness.  And more than anything, I wasn't alone. I don't remember why I spent so much time alone as a kid. I really wish I did. All I know is that when I was in my  world, I always had someone by my side.  The feeling of being out of place here was overwhelming. It still is. That sense of not belonging, of longing for somewhere else, it has never gone away.  When I was in middle school, being bullied daily, I escaped to that world. The boys who tripped me and spit on me disappeared, replaced by tropical
Read more