# What's a hobby you wanted to like so much and tried to get into but it just didn't click for you?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 27, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955 "2017-06-27T01:39:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/81 "2017-06-29T16:06:51Z")

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Rather an embarrassing one to confess to. I’m British – English variety, always resident in England, but with a lifelong love of Wales and things and people Welsh. I’ve always fancied the idea of learning the (still alive and relatively thriving – and with an impressive literature) Welsh language. This would be basically, just for fun – no practical application, save maybe for visiting Wales and conversing with locals in their native tongue.

Now, or fifty-odd years ago when I first conceived this idea: there has been no shortage hereabouts of available “gear” for an individual Anglophone, to learn Welsh. Regrettably, though – I’m one of the laziest individuals on the planet; and my various attempts at the project have faded out, for lack of managing to keep up the sustained effort necessary to accomplish it. In theory, it’s always been something which I would love to do – sadly the gap between theory, and achieving the goal in practice, has equally-always been huge.

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/82 "2017-06-29T16:20:39Z")

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> [@TokyoBayer](#):
>
> I won’t speak for anyone else, but this former competitive archer liked hitting the target more than the equipment. It was almost a zen-like thing.

No doubt you are familiar with [Zen in the Art of Archery](https://smile.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Archery-Eugen-Herrigel-ebook/dp/B00HGXPOD2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498753182&sr=8-1&keywords=zen+and+the+art+of+archery)?

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**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/83 "2017-06-29T19:56:30Z")

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> [@erysichthon](#):
>
> I really wanted to get into archery. Something about it (perhaps the history) appealed to me, so I signed up to take archery in college.
> 
> Here’s what it was: Shoot arrows at a target about 30 feet away. When you get to where you can hit it consistently, move the target back ten feet. Lather, rinse, repeat until the target is so far away it’s hidden by the curvature of the earth.
> 
> I found myself wondering if archery buffs are more into the equipment—specifically, those expensive compound bows that look like fanciful steampunk contraptions—than the whole hitting-the-target thing.

I’ve been passionate about archery since I shot my first arrow from a self-made bow at age eight. What makes me tick, apart from crafting the bows and arrows myself in a creative, ever-challenging process tied into global history, is bowhunting. Strictly target shooting, especially with store-bought equipment, holds little more fascination than watching a clock tick. Bowhunting is something else altogether. Some of my most intense experiences ever come from it. If I couldn’t archery hunt, I’d leave bows and arrows behind real fast.

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**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/84 "2017-06-30T06:15:33Z")

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Listening to jazz. I appreciate its influence and history, I respect it, I admire the people who can play it, but I just can’t get into listening to it.

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/85 "2017-06-30T07:33:34Z")

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> [@Annoying\_Buzz](#):
>
> Listening to jazz. I appreciate its influence and history, I respect it, I admire the people who can play it, but I just can’t get into listening to it.

Great post/username combo!

Yeah, I went from claiming my favorite genre of music was “anything but country” in middle school to appreciating a select number of country artists. But I cannot figure out jazz.

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/86 "2017-06-30T11:31:46Z")

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My taste in music seems to radically change in periods of just a decade. Soul music and jazz in my late teens and early 20’s. Pop through my 30’s. new age pop in my 40’s country in my 50s and now back to rock and roll and classical in my 60’s.

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/87 "2017-06-30T13:53:34Z")

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> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> Great post/username combo!
> 
> Yeah, I went from claiming my favorite genre of music was “anything but country” in middle school to appreciating a select number of country artists. But I cannot figure out jazz.

Here is an old thread I started about why folks hate jazz - or tend to think they hate jazz - when there are parts of it that are accessible: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=588074](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=588074)

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**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/88 "2017-07-02T03:01:29Z")

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Playing the drums, and also the electric guitar. I just got too impatient. I wanted to play (even simple things) with other people, not spend hours practicing rudiments and boring chords. I know that’s how you have to learn, but I think I would have done better if I could have gotten involved with classes where they put beginners on different instruments together and let them play simple stuff so we can feel like we were making music instead of just noodling. (One of my instructors returned my guitar and taught me to play some Alice Cooper songs–that was awesome! But sadly, it didn’t last.)

Motorcycling. I love motorcycles. I love looking at them. I love tweaking macho dudes who express surprise that a woman would ride a GSX-R1000 or a Harley Softtail. I love the idea of riding them. But I don’t particularly enjoy the actual act of going for rides. I finally admitted I was deluding myself a few months back and sold my bike, and I’ve never missed it.

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**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/89 "2017-07-02T13:13:33Z")

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> [@Infovore](#):
>
> Playing the drums, and also the electric guitar. I just got too impatient. I wanted to play (even simple things) with other people, not spend hours practicing rudiments and boring chords. I know that’s how you have to learn, but I think I would have done better if I could have gotten involved with classes where they put beginners on different instruments together and let them play simple stuff so we can feel like we were making music instead of just noodling. (One of my instructors returned my guitar and taught me to play some Alice Cooper songs–that was awesome! But sadly, it didn’t last.)
> 
> Motorcycling. I love motorcycles. I love looking at them. I love tweaking macho dudes who express surprise that a woman would ride a GSX-R1000 or a Harley Softtail. I love the idea of riding them. But I don’t particularly enjoy the actual act of going for rides. I finally admitted I was deluding myself a few months back and sold my bike, and I’ve never missed it.

Ditto with tweaking the macho dudes, fun! I’ve ridden all over the country, multiple times. Lived and breathed riding for 42 years, but as my abilities started to wane it became less and less fun, so I stopped riding and sold off my bikes and gear. Don’t miss it a bit.

Kind of like the premise of the OP, sometimes there are hobbies we love, then we stop loving them.

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**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2017, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-hobby-you-wanted-to-like-so-much-and-tried-to-get-into-but-it-just-didnt-click-for-you/789955/90 "2017-07-02T13:33:37Z")

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Birdwatching

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