Hobby Like It Matters

JMJ

 

“Did you really need more of those?”, “Why did you buy more cards? You already have so many.”, “You don’t need that, it’s just a game.” Ever heard something like this in your hobby endeavors? I know I have. There have been plenty of times I have been made to feel guilty for enjoying a hobby.

And you know what? I have come to learn that it is precisely because I don’t need this or that game that I am free to enjoy it so much. If need it, all other things get put aside until I have it. If I don’t need it, I don’t have to frantically try to get it.

It is actually the very fact that our hobbies are not necessary that allow them to bestow an abundance of life upon us. Our lives feel richer because of them. No wonder we like them so much!

But if we enjoy our hobbies because we do not need them, then this also means that we cannot turn them into a need. If our life and happiness begins to depend on them, they will lose a great deal of their joy. Let me explain what I mean.

I have at times turned my hobbies that I do not need into things that I could not live without. Engaging in them became compulsive, and I noticed a new baseline level of operation in my daily life where I needed to play my games or deck build just to feel normal. I would cut corners and responsibilities in other areas of life just to spend more time in my hobbies.

Looking back, I was ultimately no longer able to enjoy them because of it. Sure, the hobbies were fun, but by the end of doing them I would feel like I hadn’t spent enough time doing them, sometimes even resenting the things that were taking me away from them: sleep, my job, my family.

I think it is fruitful for us to remember this when we approach our hobbies: we do not need them, and it is precisely because of this that we are able to enjoy them. If we turn them into a need, they will lose their enjoyment in proportion to how great a need we make them.

Yet, if I were to stop there it would kinda feel like a hobby buzz kill. How can I enjoy it then if I am also supposed to keep it at arm's length so that it doesn't become a need? I have wrestled with this a lot, and here is what I have learned.

It is the aimless hobby, the one that lacks a direction or purpose to it, that inevitably leads into a cycle of compulsion and the loss of fulfillment. We settle for fun when we could have so much more. When we give purpose to our hobbies, however, they become not the end goal but the vehicle that takes us onward to new horizons. Entertainment becomes not the pinnacle of life, but the ladder by which we ascend to new heights.

Enjoy Marvel Champions with me. Do not compulsively play or buy its products, but rather utilize it to find rest, foster balance of life, form healthy habits, build community, and exercise charity to others. This may seem counterproductive for a small business who only sells its products to say. Shouldn't I have a "business mindset" and want to find ways to get you to compulsively spend more? No. I firmly believe in the truth of what I have said. If you are able to truly enjoy the game and find fulfillment more than just fun, not only do I think it will help sales, but more importantly it will help you to find peace and a more abiding joy in your life.

So. Hobby Like It Matters.