Help me find a (new?) hobby

In My Humble Opinion
1

I turned 40 almost a year ago. At the time, I realized that it’d been a long time since I had a real hobby. Sure, I read a lot of books and listen to music as much as I can but I felt I needed something more “active”.

A year has passed and I have done absolutely nothing to improve this situation.

The only thing I have is a list of things that have caught my attention.

Music

Playing musical instruments has been my favourite hobby for decades. Here’s a list of the ones I’ve considered with some pros and cons.

Piano

Pros: I’m really excited about learning it. You can play harmonies and melodies simultaneously. You can’t be out of tune. As a classical music fan, the repertoire I’m interested in is both huge and full of masterpieces.
Cons: Very expensive. I have to start from scratch.

Cello

Pros: I played it for 4-5 years and was good… for a beginner. Love the sound. My first teacher (the best) is still teaching and probably available.
Cons: You can only play melodies - harmonically, it’s a very limited instrument. Playing half the notes out of tune… on a good day. Setting it up was a pain (taking it out of the case, tightening the bow, getting the endpin at right length, tuning…)

Guitar

Pros: I’ve played it for almost 30 years but almost exclusively self-taught (I did take lessons for a while when I felt I had stopped making progress on my own but not for long). You can play harmonies and melodies simultaneously.
Cons: I’m not really interested in it anymore. I’ve barely touched my guitar in the past 2 years. As a classical music fan, the repertoire is not very exciting.

Sports

Alternatively, at 40, it may be time for me to get back into shape.

Handball

Pros: It’s a fun sport. I used to be a pretty good goalkeeper.
Cons: Almost no clubs close to where I live.

Competitive archery

Pros: I’ve been interested in it, on and off, for almost 25 years. Looks really cool.
Cons: No experience. Few clubs nearby. Could be expensive (I’ve no idea).

Snooker

Pros: I really enjoy playing it. I’m a decent amateur player. Looks cool.
Cons: There seems to be no clubs at all where I live, just pool bars that look a bit… seedy.

Others

Amateur astronomy

Pros: I’ve loved the field since I was 10. Wanted to be anstronomer at the time (the roads not taken… :rolleyes:).
Cons: I’m not a night person at all (early to bed and early to rise…). Could be expensive.

Concerts and conferences

Pros: I could easily find tons of things that would catch my interest.
Cons: Not active at all.

Learning a foreign language

Pros: I’ve always loved learning new languages. Usually quite good at it.
Cons: I don’t have a particular language in mind right now. Not very active.

2

I would not consider letting go of music if you already have a background in it. Have you considered learning how to make your own archery equipment. I do what is known as primitive archery, all my equipment is made from natural materials. Thousands of folks have gotten involved in this over the last couple of decades. You may want to give it a go around.

3

As someone who turned 40 a couple of years ago, I strongly encourage you to start looking after your body! Even if you just get outside and walk for 30 mins a day, your body will thank you.

Would you consider buying a keyboard instead of a piano?

4

Thanks, I’ll look into this ;).

I do walk quite a bit since I don’t have a car and don’t wish to have one. In spite of this, I’ve developed quite a bit of a belly in the past two years which I find unpleasant. I’m not obsessed with it, though.

I’m considering buying an electronic piano. What matters to me is that the keys offer some real resistance when they are pressed, something similar to what you get with a real piano, not the soft feel of synthesizer keys. I’ll suppose it’ll make transitioning to the real thing easier if I ever get there. And I find it way more pleasant anyways.

Still, a nice electronic piano isn’t cheap. Plus lessons.

5

So you’re talking team handball, not racquetball without racquets, right? That gets my vote easily. If you’re gonna take on a hobby to stay active, might as well go all out while you can. I never played it (not so popular in the US) but looked like a lot of fun in the last Olympics.

Within the last year got back into competitive basketball leagues for the first time since I was in college. I know I have to do something to stay active and the regular gym workout just bores me to tears.

6

I went with archery. There is some cost at first but as you go through the years it evens out. My one uncle was Olympic-level (had the US gone to Moscow he probably had a place on the team) and he was still using the same bow he had purchased 15 years earlier. The real secret is doing the exact same thing every time. Places to practice can be made or found outside of clubs. In his case he worked for P&G - at the plant was a long hallway leading to an addition that was never built - a hallway to nowhere. He did the paperwork and got permission from the site manager to make a practice range there and would come in early and/or stay late to get some time in. Like anything, if you have the desire you usually find the way to make it happen.

PS – there could be more happening in your area than you think. Check and see if your state has an organization. Around here if you went by notices and ads you would think archery was almost dead or all just hunters. But if you get into the PSAA (Pennsylvania State Archery Association) you find a lot of chances to test yourself against others and hone your skills.

7

If you’re very excited about the piano, I’d go with that. Can you rent a keyboard? On the other hand, it’s not very active, either.

Have you considered the accordion? It has a keyboard and you could walk around and get exercise. I’m actually not joking here. My uncle played in a polka band (not the accordion, though) and I like the sound.

8

I think when we go on a search for a new hobby it is good to take a little personnal inventory and try to identify what exactly it is we feel we are missing. A good hobby can provide a creative outlet, a social outlet, pyhsical excersize, and to some degree help to solidify our sense of identity. It can really add a lot to our quality of life.

9

Yeah, I was talking about team handball. It’s pretty popular in Germany, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.

I have no idea what racquetball is.

By active, I meant something which allows you to learn new skills. Reading is great but doesn’t fit the bill in this respect and neither does listening to music.

As far as the accordion is concerned… I’m not too keen on the sound. And classical repertoire is pretty small.

That’s some really good advice here, thanks.

10

Do you write your own music? If not, do that! It’s more mentally challenging than playing other people’s music, on whatever instrument you pick up. Plus, it’s free. :slight_smile: AND/OR try writing music for an unfamiliar instrument. I can think of a number of musicians (like PJ Harvey, and Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions series) who have done that to breathe new life into their musical creativity.

On that note (:cool:), you said read a lot, but do you write? Try writing in an unfamiliar genre or form, or work on one particular form for a dedicated period of time, like writing two haikus a day during the month of October. (Or movie reviews, or one-act plays, or three-sentence short stories, etc.)

Gotta also recommend weight lifting, and yoga and/or pilates. They work your body in new and exciting ways compared to cardio, and because they require you to pay close attention to your body from moment to moment, they’re not (IMO) boring or repetitive. (…Like cardio. One circle of Hell must be devoted to running on a treadmill in an unfinished basement.) You can do yoga in your home with no equipment necessary, and there are tons of tutorials on Youtube to learn from (or Netflix, or your local public library).

11

Two thoughts here. You are already musically inclined so expanding on your repertoire isn’t really a new hobby to my mind. However, what about violin? You already have some familiarity with bow skills on a fretless instrument and a decent violin can be had relatively inexpensively. Bonus, almost every genre of music has some fiddle/violin in it so you won’t lack for material.

Cycling. You can be completely kitted out for less than a $1000, (and that will get you a decent bike, clothing, etc), you get exercise and most areas have a bunch of people that get together to ride so it’s social to boot. Whether you want to ride on road or on trail is up to you and your area’s terrain.

12

I started doing this in the Spring and agree. It’s a good way to get some exercise, and it’s fun to boot. I don’t feel bored when I bike which I do when I am on the elliptical and it is easier on the knees. Since you don’t like to drive, you can get something that you can use for commuting and carrying some groceries home.

13

Hey, why don’t you consider…

Photography.

Pros:
It’s a hobby you can get into relatively inexpensively, and grow your equipment the more you get into it.
If you live in a medium to large city there are probably photography groups you could join (Shout out to Roswell Photographic Society).
You can go to meetup.com and find people near by to do a photowalk trip. It’s a great way to meet to people that share a same interest.
There’s always more to learn, but you don’t have to know it all to begin.
It matches your requirement of being more active.

14

Try cycling! It will get you into shape, it s easy on the joints. Lots of interesting people in the touring/rando crowd. Large number of people 40 and over - probably the majority.

15

Unexciting repertoire for guitar??? You can’t be talking about classical guitar???

There are thousands of pages of public domain sheet music available – a couple examples:

The Boije’s Collection at the Swedish Music Library

Index to the Classical Guitar Collection at the Danish Royal Library on the Delcamp classical guitar website.

And a youtube video of the sounds you make while learning classical guitar with the Carcassi Method:
Matteo Carcassi, 50 Guitar Studies from the Méthode complète pour Guitare, Op.59https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idVYu4m0tgo

16

Funny, I didn’t expect the results to be so lopsided. Absolutely no votes for the musical instruments and lots of suggestions that I start a physical activity. And some hobbies I hadn’t thought of. Intriguing.

The repertoire is huge indeed but there’s a reason why the guitar is a marginal instrument in classical music circles: few of these works are seen as masterpieces.

I have no doubt that there are some fun, or even rewarding pieces to play (I have played some on occasion) but on the whole, the repertoire consists almost entirely of works written by guitarists-composers, who are definitely niche artists even by the standards of classical music. Yes, there’s Paganini, Boccherini, Berio, Britten, de Falla, Ginastera, Henze and Takemitsu but most of the others are relatively minor composers. I’m sure the casual classical music lover wouldn’t recognize a quarter of the names here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_guitar_repertoire.

It pales in comprison with the piano repertoire (Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaïkovsky, Liszt, Bartok, Debussy, Ravel, Prokofiev, Ligeti to name but a few and you could arguably add Bach) or even the cello repertoire (Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Dvorák, Debussy, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Dutilleux). No offense meant but in light of this, I really have a hard time being excited by the guitar repertoire.

17

Runescape.

18

You sound most excited about piano. Go for it! The value of used uprights has taken a nosedive in recent years, so it may not be as expensive as you think.

19

…ahem… Jazz is nice too from time to time, and is amazing to play on guitar :cool:

But to the OP, another vote for photography: it is rewarding, you can be social or individual, there is a huge amount of coursework available on Lynda.com for all kinds of cool stuff (I am partial to off camera flash studio work, myself).

And you can buy cool new gadgets whenever the toy budget allows.

20

Randall Munroe of xkcd has many many hobbies that one might consider. Here are a few examples:

See here for an extensive list of these.