Hobbies

It’s great to have hobbies such as playing a game, reading, writing, or collecting things. But what happens when that hobby becomes more than just a hobby? What happens when it takes over, consuming more and more of our time?

For one, it’s important to keep to our priorities, to focus on what we need to accomplish first. Hobbies should be relegated to “pastimes”, things we do when there is extra time on our schedule. However, that doesn’t limit what they might become. A hobby might take hold of us, such as when we stay up late to read a book (or a series), or when a short story turns into a novel–which turns into a series.

When hobbies start to take over, I don’t think the issue is with the hobby itself, but with our time management. It’s great if a book captures our imagination, or if a story project expands beyond what we could’ve ever imagined. But all that means is that we’re spending more time on them for a greater length of time. What would’ve been a two or three week endevaor might turn into months–or years.