Same same. I have a collection of cheap musical instruments. Mainly they serve to collect dust and remind me that I have bad follow-through skills.
I tell myself that ya don’t have to build 'em all; it’s perfectly okay to own the kit as a cool thing in itself, to be admired for its engineering or beauty. I have a couple kits like that: One is some kind of giant robot (a “Char’s Z’gok”, I believe) which has jointed arms already assembled on the sprue. Another is a FigureRise bust which has molded in color eyes–at least four different colors which reproduce the white, iris, pupil, and lashes–all in one piece. Astonishing pieces of molding, which would lose a lot of their wow factor if I were to assemble them.
Or just to get them out once in a while and think, “Someday I’m gonna build that, and it’s going to be soooo great!” It’s something like a lottery ticket: You’re buying the dream.
I find shooting pool quite relaxing, but I don’t usually play others nor go to a pool hall. I go down to the basement, pour a beer from the keg fridge, turn on one of the big screen TV’s and just shoot for fun.
I make cheese. It’s a good winter hobby that pairs well with reading. There is a lot of Do Things for 5 Minutes, then wait for 45 minutes before doing a thing again. Then you do a bunch of stuff at the end, then put it in the press and wait 12 hours. Then age for months while you fiddle with things. It’s not soothing at all.
Now you’re talkin’!
Part of the enjoyment I get out of being a machinist is the never-ending hunt for a new tool. I have many precision tools that I rarely use, but they still bring great joy.
As long as you have space for the stuff and it isn’t a financial burden, have fun!
I feel like this is a lot of hobbies for a new lawyer.
Baking?
It’s a bit messy, and requires patience and rewards exactness, unlike other forms of cooking. But it’s cheap, and the results are very welcome.
Homebrewing?
This one, as those who homebrew will agree, is 90% cleaning, 10% “cooking.” It’s busy and tiring on the day you brew, then somewhat busy at the end, when you bottle, but pretty slow moving in the middle. I love trying to optimize processes, and the whole brewing experience is full of room to make things quicker / easier / better. Not to mention expensiver.
The results are, again, very welcome. Both are, if I may say, soothing in the sense that you’re making specialty comfort food, and neither is all that difficult to do.
Downside to both baking and brewing: You’re likely to gain weight unless you share most of your creations with friends.
Upside: You’ll have lots of friends.
lol!
Thanks, forwarded that to some friends who do computer-y stuff.
Jigsaw puzzles are the opposite of soothing to me. They’re as addictive as hell and more than once I’ve found myself at 2 am, with a splitting headache, still working on the puzzle I decided to put a few minutes on back around 8 pm.
Back when I was a kid, the simple puzzles I played with didn’t have this effect, but then 40 years or so rolled by and I discovered them as an adult and became addicted. I’m like one of those people who go their whole lives not realizing they’re alcoholic until they finally have a drink around 50 and are instantly doomed.
Luckily it’s pretty easy to avoid them. Nowadays I limit myself to puzzles I receive as gifts, which fortunately happens infrequently.
I read an article recently that we should all enjoy three hobbies: One to stay physical, one to unleash your creativity, and one to keep your mind sharp.
That seems like really good advice and helps curtail the other problem that some people have in that it helps avoid a house full of stuff you liked once and don’t do any more. 
Like me.
I like learning things. Every year I try to gain experience in something “useless” (in that you wouldn’t put it on a CV necessarily). Origami, juggling, tin whistle, pencil sketching, calculus, bicycle building/repair, luthiery (which is my occasional side gig for people), wine making, cooking, reading, and lately, I’m learning how to weld MIG- flux core. It’s all in whatever keeps your interest.
Sailing. I like to be outdoors, but don’t enjoy sweating during recreation…so sailing. I have owned one boat or another for the last 26 years and I can promise you for every hour spent relaxing at the tiller I have spent 5 sweating my balls off in maintenance.
I find cleaning the kitchen to be soothing and I get a clean kitchen. I normally like the stainless steel countertops, but the hard water means they often have spots.
I like this. In summer there’s hiking and in winter we go for shorter walks. Then there’s baking, which I don’t do much of in the summer when it’s too hot.
I tried taking up coloring books as something else to do when watching television. Very annoying, especially since my arms are getting shorter.
Since I live in middle Switzerland, I’m taking a German class. Not sure if it still qualifies as a hobby, but I am beyond the basic minimum and might continue to German literature in the next years and I continue to improve.
And I think that’s a point for hobbies. To be able to improve. Not compared to others, but to yourself. If it’s baking, then making more complicated recipes. If it’s playing guitar, then learning more than 3 chords, etc.
Social media?
My wife loved Facebook when she first started using it because she could find old friends she grew up with in South America.
Then she found the dark side of social media: she learns about deaths in the family or of friends in a way that is way too instantaneous.
She still uses it, but the shine is gone. Not soothing at all.
Granted. But my impression is that the OP is looking for something not quite so edgy.
From Jr. High onward I found martial arts to be very cathartic. In college I got into Tai Chi and found it to be astoundingly relaxing (and also another martial art). [Naturally] I’d recommend either of those as ways to unwind – plus, depending on what kind of lawyer you are, you might find it useful if a client or opponent gets pissed-off enough at you to want to throw a punch.
On the other hand, I’ve seen many of my beginning Tai Chi students seriously stressing-out and working up quite a sweat – and telling them they need to relax about it hasn’t seemed to help. Some people are just intense about their hobbies.
I also got into archery as well as pistol and rifle marksmanship. The goal of isolating my mind and concentrating on perfectly-hitting my target seemed to merge well with the rest of my martial-arts. Plus, depending on what kind of lawyer you are, you might find it useful if a client or opponent gets pissed-off enough at you…
Quite honestly, I find it very relaxing to read and occasionally respond to Straight Dope discussions. Plus, depending on what kind of lawyer you are, WE might find your contributions helpful in our debates and discussions.
Those are the hobbies that de-stress me the best. Where I’m concentrating so much that I can’t think about my day-to-day problems. Or I’m so winded that I can’t think at all.
I’ve told my students before, “What is it that you’re doing when you completely lose track of time? And can you make a career out of it?” For me, it’s doodling in a coffee joint, listening to an audiobook. Working on getting my doodles into more galleries, but it’ll be a while til it’s career-worthy.