Can I rant for a second?

As I scroll on TikTok, I can’t help but feel like more influencers are being uplifted for having stale personalities and a lack of hobbies. We are encouraged to have curated and aesthetic online presences. Women are encouraged to have things like “girl hobbies” (a recent trend on TikTok, involving shopping and scrolling on social media), as if we can’t just have normal hobbies. Why can’t we, as people, be praised for being passionate? For being interesting, multifaceted individuals? What happened to having hobbies?

I am fortunate to have lived a life filled with activities and things to do. When I was a kid, I participated in so many after school activities that my parents told me I needed to pick only a few and stick with those. I was on every sports team imaginable, I was in the school play, I played an instrument, and I read books competitively, and I even was on the school’s competitive science team. And when I came home from my extracurriculars and finished my homework, I would get lost in a book or a video game. I’ve held onto these habits into my adult life, and now am left with a plethora of interests and hobbies to keep me entertained outside of work.

Living an aesthetic and Instagramable life is low on my priority list (admittedly not completely at the bottom, as I would like to appease these social algorithms just a tiny bit in my attempt to be a creator). I make my best effort to surround myself with things that make me feel joy. Living a life filled with joy and happiness is something I strive to do every day.

Something about these TikTok videos really struck a nerve in me. Why can’t we do something for fun and that be cool? Why do we have to monetize the things we like and do for fun?

Having a hobby is EXTREMELY important. You can Google this fact and find so many scientific articles detailing just that. Hobbies can tap into your creative side, they can help you relax, they can teach you something new… The list goes on.

Sometimes I find I have too many hobbies. It’s hard to dedicate enough time to everything I love, when there’s so much to love. So if you need a hobby, please take one of mine! Here’s a list of my favorite hobbies to get you started:

• Reading
• Playing video games
• Playing board games
• Knitting
• Journaling
• Building LEGOs
• Photography
• Video editing
• Hiking
• Writing
• Weight Lifting
• Yoga
• Baking
• Gardening

Hobbies enrich our lives so greatly. In 2024 we are passionate individuals who like things!