Hobbies and individualism

Hobbies. These are a range of different activities that me and you perform in as a form of recreation. These can include a variety of different types, in sports there's things like fencing and football, artistically there are things like music and painting, and more logical instances like science and puzzles. Me personally, I'm quite fond of tanks, as in the armored vehicles. Others' interests, on the other hand, can also vary being very mainstream or niche. Though, it's undeniable that each individual person can develop different forms of interests in their lives and that it is possible to develop them in the form of what we call a hobby. Today I'd like to talk about this topic about people's different individual interests, how does links to identity and the importance of it all.

I think where hobbies develop from are usually the most interesting stories that I come across. For me my interest in tanks arise when I was struck with fear after watching the movie Fury about an American Tank crew during World War II. I think it's because of the very morbid story that it really stuck into my mind and cause me to research and really develop my interests for the subject. I think that this really demonstrates how interest doesn't really necessarily need to stem from a sense of joy, more reasonably probably from a feeling of curiosity. Without this interest it is pretty hard to force oneself into a hobby. I think this is the case for instances such as children learning how to do instruments when they're little as usually it's a parent that forces them to develop their skills rather than their own fascination with it. I remember reading a story of someone who was interested in cleaning animal skulls as a hobby. Now, this struck me as weird "animal skulls?", I thought to myself but the same time the weirdness of such a strange niche hobby feels my interest for the subject as well. Well, they were from Alaska, USA, which is known for it's really cold weather which I think develops this idea that hobbies also developed due to the circumstances of where one grows up in. All in all, this great vast range of hobbies that we see around the world are quite an interesting thing to find out about and helps us realize that what we can find fun in is not so limited to the mainstream forms of entertainment that we have in everyday life.

Moving on to this link with identity, hobbies represent a certain individualistic characteristic that each of us holds. It describes who we are as a person, what we love what we hate and such. Because of this I think this brings up a philosophical conundrum of whether what we are as people shape our hobbies or our hobbies shaping us. I think that knowing what hobbies people have really helps us learn about a person. Such include, hobbies like bird watching or reading which convey the idea that such a hobby holder is rather recluse compared to someone who likes physical activities such as marathons, triathlons and other things along this line connotating the idea that a person is more invested into their physical health. How does this lead into the idea of individualism though? As we said earlier these are characteristics that people hold that are individual to the person. Because of this this really makes up a lot of how we may perceive the world like people with animal related hobbies to have a more naturalistic/environmental appreciation of the world. As hobbies are a want rather than a need, people will still prioritize trying to keep a stable life rather than pursuing their hobby with some exceptions of course like Andrew from the movie Whiplash who sacrifices everything he has for his passion in the drums. It's a hard truth that because we are restricted by our needs for survival, it is harder for some to pursue their hobbies than others which makes me really reflect about a certain privilege I have to be able to learn more everyday about tanks and build up my identity to the person I am today.

Finally I'd like to find the reasonings behind hobbies and the impacts that they cause. I briefly mentioned it earlier hobbies are something recreational and usually not developed with an intent of survival but rather feel the interests of those who have them. Going back to the movie Whiplash, the story of Andrew Niemann is something I like to more closely analyze. As I said earlier, in pursuit of his love for the drums, andrew sacrificed many things, his relationships, physical health, even his psyche to develop his skill for the drums. At this point, i'm not sure whether this even defines as a hobby. Is there a point where a hobby becomes an obsession? I think with such a gray boundary between the two there are definitely some negative connotations that can come out of this where hobbies are rather harmful in people's lives compared to enriching them. But in a more general case, I feel that the impact of hobbies allows not just a development of one's interest but can allow for the development of many more as well. Simple interests are where human Ingenuity stems from where we create forms of entertainment, where we develop new ideas from not just recreational subjects. We have to understand that just because we are using time to develop what we find interesting, it does not mean it is time wasted as the pursuit of knowledge opens a pathway with infinite possibilities.

I think what I learned from my research about hobbies is that we don't really need to understand what others think about what we love but rather continue searching for answers, continue developing our hobbies and gain more knowledge about them. Of course there are some consequences, opportunity costs that arise from using time to develop one's hobby instead of something else but what is a world without a little fun the World isn't just black and white of work and rest. From our interests, this is where creativity stems and why we humans have created so many different technologies over time. I hope that we as humans continue to be fascinated by the many different things in our world, continue to develop things, and pursue our hobbies. I hope we do not need to lose things that we value to attain such knowledge. In the end, I have found much joy in my hobbies and how this represents me as a person and I hope that you yourself have hobbies or find new ones that represent you as well.