What do you like to do for its own sake?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Since living alone I got two nights a week all to myself. I love love love them. But, as the backlog of chores slowly starts to dwindle, I can start to dream about what to do with those two evenings.

The problem is, I don’t know anymore what I’d like to do.

When I was a kid, my options were limited, and although I liked enough my reading, playing with the cat, plants & insects, a little arts & crafts… it seems more like I did those because those were my only options.

For the past decades, I seem to have only allowed myself hobbies and interests that “furthered my life goals”. Things that were good for my family, my education, my political beliefs, or just things that were supposed to relax me or make me healthy or pretty.

I’d like to find some stuff to do that I really, really like to do. Where doing it is its own reward. Instead of where having done it is the reward, if that makes sense. For example, while having exercised feels good, exercising itself sucks.
For the past years, it seemed that everything I did in my spare time fell in that category, the category of “feels good when it’s done, but it’s a chore while doing it”.

I also don’t mean time wasting stuff like YouTube, TV and social media. With few exceptions, a night spent on those usually leaves me feeling I lost my time. Thats why I installed Leechblock this week, on recommendation from the SDMB.
So…what do YOU do for fun?

2

I like to knit. I like the feel of the yarn, the colors, the way it winds in my hands, and how my labor produces beauty. I have a friend who carves - she loves the textures of the wood, the grain, how it changes as she works with it. So my question for you - what do you like to touch, smell, see - is it food, fabric, yarn, wood, metal, plants, words? What gives you pleasure just being with it. Then look for an activity that allows you to do a wide variety of things with that material.

3

I’m alone most times so I’ve had a lot of time to figure out what I want to be doing. My first goal was to exercise regularly to where it wasn’t a chore so I got that down (still a chore but part of my routine). Once I mastered that I decided to become more involved in my city government. It escalated quickly into being elected to city council but still there’s a ton you can do that doesn’t involve being elected.

Before that I was really in to selling stuff online. I’d take stuff from my friends and sell it on Facebook or eBay then split the profits (after fees) 50/50. It was fun and slightly profitable.

4

What kind of insects do you play with?

How about baking? Baking bread is tasty, smells good and people are happy to get anything you want to give away. It doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

You could volunteer some time at a local museum, if there’s one you particularly like.

Go to the movies. Especially fun if you find a movie buddy, but I’m not one of those women who has to have an escort.

StG

5

I draw fan art.

I find that very relaxing and engaging - I sort of get “in the zone” as it were, and forget everything else for an hour or two. Just recently I’ve taken up drawing again, after not doing it for a couple of decades.

Here’s a couple of examples:

6

Being retired now I do lots of things that fall into this category. One is reading stuff I’ve always meant to read, but never had a chance - like Ulysses. I’ve been catching up on the Hugo-winning novels I didn’t read because I was too busy, and will do the Nebula ones next.
I live a 40-minute BART ride from San Francisco. Though I’ve been there lots, I never had a sense of the city, and there were lots of places I never got to. I had some flash cards with walks on them, and I’ve been going in and doing 3 - 5 a trip. The last one involved walking the Golden Gate Bridge. Maybe you have something similar near you.

7

Read.

Then read something else.

:wink:

8

I play a musical instrument. So satisfying for its own sake on so many levels.

I cook.

9

I write books. I have put them up for sale, but that was never really the point.

I also read, watch movies and TV, and play video games. But if any of these struck you as being sufficiently “their own reward”, I doubt you’d have asked the question. :smiley:

10

Collect and sharpen knives. I do actually use them, but opening letters and packages from Amazon really doesn’t justify my time and monetary investment in them and their accessories, not in a practical sense at least. But I guarantee you will not find a dull knife, tool, or pair of scissors anywhere in my house.

11

Volunteering is what I do. The needs are varied and times can be worked out. I am an artist so I have always something brewing there. Gardening, takes a bunch of time. Sewing is really time consuming. As much time as I spend alone I still can’t do all I’d like to do. Pets, books, cooking. All of these. Good luck in your search.

12

I get very few nights totally alone, since Mr. Athena usually keeps me busy. But when I do, I do some of these:

Cooking, even when I end up throwing away the results (“I’ve got this cauliflower, let’s see what happens if I batter & fry it / roast it / make cookies with it.”)

Read.

Research the very best music in a genre I’m not drawn to, and listen to that artist / album 3-4 times until I get it.

Video games.

Watch movies that I don’t know if I’ll like initially. I’m alone! I can turn them off after an hour if I hate them!

Do anything physical I can think of while listening to podcasts. I very much like podcasts, but I can’t just sit and listen to them; I need to be walking, or cleaning, or cooking, or folding clothes, or whatever else mundane physical task I can think of while I listen. I sometimes make stuff up to do so I can listen to a podcast because I want to listen to it that much.

Drink that bottle of wine. Very fun. Not particularly healthy, so proceed with caution.

Curious how you sharpen them? I recently bought my first set of waterstones, and have been trying to teach myself how to use them. I find them way nicer than the previous methods I’ve tried (mostly electronic gizmos) but still worry I’m going to kill my nice knives.

13

I usually use stones, as the sharpening itself is the activity, but I have other devices that are much faster if I just need quick results. I’ve tried some of those fixed angle devices like the Lansky but I found them very awkward to use. What I did was just cut some scrap wood into small wedges at 20 degrees and used those as a guide until I got the “feel” of it and can get very close to that angle without a guide. Just use a light touch and make the same number of strokes with each side of the blade. Practice on some cheap kitchen knives or buy a bunch of cheap Maxam garbage knives off Amazon and just mess around with them until you can get those pieces of shit razor sharp.

14

Guitar is its own reward for sure.:cool::smiley:

15

Ski, drink, drive like a maniac.

16

Be honest. Keep my word. I don’t have to, but I do for its own sake.

17

I’m single, childless, and retired. Aside from household chores, everything I do is for its own sake.

18

The “find a material you like and then find something to make out of it” is great advice. Leatherworking or carpentry won’t be the same at all as knitting or felting. I used to have a lot of hobbies, but found I needed to trim them down or I’d never get good at anything and instead my house would fill up with stuff. But at some point in my life I’ve been practicing any number of the below:

Geocaching, knitting, crocheting, felting, quilting, sewing, cross-stitch, embroidery, sculpting, reading, watching movies, gardening, baking, playing video games, scrapbooking, stamping, linocut, woodcut, carpentry, model kits, jewelry-making, macrame, basket-weaving, badminton, softball, painting, drawing, pottery, writing…(probably more…)

I am, apparently, a creative person. I don’t think I’m actually naturally very creative, in the sense of constantly coming up with original ideas. But I certainly will, when left alone, make a vast quantity of art pieces with varying amounts of practical use. These days since comics and drawing are basically my job and I decided to make illustration what I’m going to get good at, all the other creative endeavors have died off and I just do the stuff like baking, geocaching, reading, movies, and video games on the side.

There’s just endless amounts of stuff out there to think up to do. I watch youtube channels where geeks research armor and then pick their favorite helmet designs. Or a guy just buys old MREs, and eats them if they’re still edible and tells you about what they taste like. Other guys video things in slow motion for their (and their viewers’) entertainment. You could do any of those things or the other hundred thousand hobbies people video for youtube (not that you have to make videos, but maybe you’ll find that itch on youtube you really want to scratch now). Get on Wikipedia and eventually you’ll end up on like, powered paragliding and say to yourself, “I want to do that”. And if all else fails, volunteer somewhere.

19

I’ve got a few I’ll throw into the ring:

  1. Reading - my first and truest “love” hobby. I lean towards nonfiction and sci-fi, but read pretty omnivorously beyond those. The reading universe is vast and encompasses all tastes and interests.

  2. Woodworking - it’s intrinsically enjoyable (and rewarding) to make something with your hands that becomes an item of furniture you use. I lean towards beds and end tables and things like that, but the woodworking universe is also vast, and you can make about anything.

  3. Rock climbing - not necessarily outside, although that’s nice when it’s possible, but at a rock climbing gym most of the time. You don’t have to worry about weather, there are new and interesting problems every month, and you build up a set of friends that you’ll see regularly. It’s one of those exercise things that you don’t think of as exercise, because it’s so fun while you’re doing it.

  4. Powerlifting - I know you said exercise is a chore for you. Cardio is a chore for me, but I still do it 4 times a week in an “eat your vegetables” sense, so I feel where you’re coming from. Ah, but powerlifting! That is intrinsically enjoyable to me. I don’t know if it’s just the way I’m built, but I get a real rush and sense of accomplishment from lifting 400+ and 500+ pounds at a time. I mean, it’s probably literally an endorphin rush to be physically exerting yourself anaerobically at maximum capacity for a few seconds, although I don’t really know that for sure.

  5. Pets - not sure if this one fits perfectly because it sounded like you may be interested in more solitary pursuits, but I’ve got 3 dogs, and I intrinsically enjoy playing with them, walking them, seeing them get all excited about a frisbee or when you get the leash, etc.

  6. Interesting programming problems - this is super nerdy, but we’re a pretty nerdy board so I thought I’d put it out there - problems like Advent of Code or some of the mid and high Hackerrank problems are just plain fun to think about and do. And it doesn’t have to be just these - I’ve put together things based on what friends or others have wished idly for the capability for, like a Twitter scraping image-recognition model, or a web scraper that gets around real-time javascript rendering and so on. Even when I was just starting out with programming, I got an intrinsic kick out of doing simple things successfully and expanding my repertoire.

20

Seconding/thirding the musical instrument. Don’t forget your voice is an option. If you don’t play one at the moment, decide one you’d like to try, find a local teacher you get on with, and go for it. Definitely worth doing. You’re never too old.

I love being able to steal a few minutes to sit down and just play the piano/sing.