This is not a post about burn out. Although burn out is a very real thing I wanted to look at other factors contributing to a hobby lull. This is something I have been mulling over for a while.It is a very honest piece that I don’t know if people care about, but it’s my blog and I felt that it was a good time to write this. You dont have to continue on if you arent interested I won’t judge. A few months ago I relaunched the site and moved my blog over to Weebly. I had some cool content and views and a weekly plan, I even saw a few commission enquiries and sold a set of painted minis. Youtube was an interesting experiment, that is 100% shelved for now I dont have the time or finances to create videos I want right now, although I have a cool idea that I will be revisiting in 2021. One thing is for sure painting videos are not needed there are already millions and if I got bored making them I can imagine how boring they must have been to watch. So to those of you who gave them a go thanks for the patience, the channel isn’t dead! Over the last couple of months, I have had to cut back on blogging time and focus on family and work. That's what you do with a hobby. Or do you?
A big thing for me is a tidy work area. The more I try to do the less space I have to do things and the more stressed I get. I think I may have one of the most painted cutting mats in the mini web. When it gets to a high point I spend a day clearing it. That point is where there is no longer space for my elbows to get on the table and it results in poor posture and a bad back. Just a small thing can have so many implications in real life. That bad back meant I couldn’t play with my little one and caused some friction between my wife and me. It began to feel easier hiding away in the cave. You can see where I am going here, it isn’t a very easy place nor is it a happy place. So what have I done? How have I changed? Is it any better? Trying to realign the Priorities.Continuing down a bit of a Rabbit Hole; Part 2 of the above article and a few other supporting articles I will chuck below if you are interested. I took what I read here and applied it to my life as a bit of a reflective question point. This is something I always do to make sure I can be assured I am doing the right thing for me but I thought maybe it will help someone else if I share it. Disclaimer: I am not a psychologist I am just a humble hobbyists trying to figure out how to keep all the plates spinning. This is what I do for myself and I wanted to talk about it.
4. Who does this make me? “It is very easy for passion to become agony if too much of your identity and self-esteem depends on it. Your passion is something that you do, not something that you are.” Source: Psychology Today Thin Line Between Passion and Obsession Part 2 This statement really stood out for me. This hobby is a luxury hobby with many facets that can allow us to identify ourselves by our choices and activities. Sci-Fi, fantasy, glue type, paint type, mini type, mini scale it goes on and on. When it comes to a hobby, identifying ourselves like this will only pigeon hole us and i shouldn’t be afraid of being passionate about something. Doing something I enjoy should be the driver of my hobby time. When it comes to paid work there is a different motivation factor, but for my personal time, I have regularly done things that will get followers on Instagram or extra likes on Facebook. The worst was feeling like I had to use another brand of paints because if I didn’t people wouldn’t care about what I did. I shouldn’t be painting for that I should be painting for me. I should remind myself of this. If I want to grow the blog, which is another side of my personal hobby, I should probably do things I enjoy. Otherwise, I am just selling myself as false and that is a disservice to whoever reads my stuff. If I want to do Instagram live and youtube stuff, I should do things I want to do, otherwise, people will get frustrated becasue I am frustrated. Yea I liked that statement.
Some additional reading:
The Thin Line Between Hobby and Obsession: Part 1 : https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/smashing-the-brainblocks/201610/the-thin-line-between-passion-and-obsession-part-1 Part 2: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/smashing-the-brainblocks/201611/the-thin-line-between-passion-and-obsession-part-2 Dont Let Hobbies become and Obsession https://medium.com/@elliotcaleira/don-t-let-hobbies-become-an-obsession-3f0e3e476a36 The 4 H’s of Self Destruction: https://daddybrain.org/2009/04/22/the-four-h%E2%80%99s-of-self-destruction-when-hobby-becomes-habit/ Is his hobby ruining your relationship? http://www.romancewire.com/is-his-hobby-ruining-your-relationship/ Hobby Fun and Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour https://huntingtonsdiseasenews.com/2019/07/23/hobby-fun-obsession-compulsive-behavior/ |
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