Reading YA mystery novels in bed, writing stories in my journal, bike riding in the neighborhood, listening to music on my Walkman, taking jazz-dancing lessons after school, watching baseball games, playing card games, roller-skating at the local rink, crafting plastic jewelry, and making art collages with decorative rubber stamps.
If you had asked 11-year-old me about my favorite hobbies, I would have named any or all the above. And now that I’ve rehashed the list, all I can say is . . . What. The. Hell. How did I have the moxie to try my hand at — and legit enjoy — so many things?
As the years passed, I became too preoccupied to think about hobbies. Instead, I’m obsessed about my rent payments and my pesky gray hair and what I’m going to have for dinner and when I should schedule my colonoscopy. It’s not as fun as lanyard braiding, and infinitely more stressful.
Still, adult responsibilities aren’t the only roadblocks en route to creative and productivity freedom. At the end of an exhausting day, we’re just too accustomed to lounging on the couch to binge the latest juicy limited series on HBO while mindlessly scrolling Instagram. And in our success-driven world, perhaps there’s less motivation to pursue an activity without a guaranteed tangible outcome, financial or otherwise.
Look, I love The White Lotus, too. But it’s time for a new hobby to push us all off the couch. Here are five tried-and-true ideas; at least one is bound to stick.
Jogging