Balancing (too many?) hobbies/life?

[russosborne]

I'm just trying to get a feel for how others deal with this.

I have probably way too many hobbies. Models, playing bass guitar, real cars ( I have 3 projects going, 72 Ford Ranchero GT, 74 Ford Pinto wagon, and an 89 Ford Mustang LX hatchback (2.3L), gee the guy must like Fords), reading, video games. As well as just stuff that needs done around the house. All in addition to trying to find a job. And dealing with mind numbing depression as well, which may be the real problem here.

My problem is that I can pretty much only do one at a time, other than reading which I can fit in with any of the others. So I build models until I get burned out, then move on to playing bass(which is what I am currently focused on) and then will move on to something else.  I've pretty much always tended towards this as an adult. When I was a kid it was easy to jump from one thing to another but somehow along the way I lost how to do that. Seems that I've lost the ability to do a lot of things, but that is another post.

Do most of you tend to be able to segment the day so you can do more than one hobby, or are you more like me? Or somewhere in between? And any ideas on how to change? I'd like to be able to do more than one, but it just seems that I can only focus on one.

Thanks,

Russ

[slusher]

Right now reading and models is all i have. I use to do reading at doctor appointments but have a fast and friend for a doctor now so i read at home. When we was kids we had more energy and less responsibility now it's opposite. I have been  getting started on stamp collecting also...

[Joe Handley]

Problem for the whole family has to do more with Mom and her medical issues, Dad pretty much takes care of her and when we're not working and she and her BF don't have plans, we're helping him. Between work, bronchitis, and now her, I haven't picked up anynof my model projects in a while and my R/Cs haven't hardly turned a wheel at all in a couple of years or more.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Russ looks like you got a lor of stuff going on.

My main priorties are my house hold maintence, model building, and some computer and electronic projects. I really have to be in the right mood for the  modeling projects,

Its really what you decide you want to work on. Its really different for everyone. 

[Phirewriter]

I totally understand your dilemma. I too have more interests than time. I actually try to schedule stuff ahead of time since some of my hobbies earn me a little extra income (art and pinstriping) I play a number of musical instruments too and that's for my relaxation and pick up when the mood hits. My wife thinks I'm crazy but is also a bit envious since she's really not into much except her tv shows.

Warm weather finds me in the garage working on vintage mini bikes, restoring old muscle bikes (Stingray type bicycles) and my motorcycles. I do RC and slot cars but not competitively so that's done when I feel like it as well and I squeeze in model building in as the mood strikes as well ( not just cars either) Plus if I really feel the need to blow off some steam I'm not far from my local shooting range.

Just like to keep my mind and hands active I guess. My late father wasn't much different and certainly had an influence on me. He was active with his interests until the end.

Plus it helps to have a job that's cool and doesn't suck the life out of me so I have ambition to do stuff when I get home instead of  just crashing or getting beered up to forget work.

I don't feel for me at least it's about focus, I feel blessed that I can indulge myself in my interests don't mind jumping from one to the other unless I'm trying to finish something for a show or deadline etc.... 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Phirewriter

[PARTSMARTY]

As having a wife-5 daughters and 11 grandkids and working 6 days a week-69 hours-there is little time left.But the extra time -my time is my obsession with model cars-no other hobbies-I live and breathe it.Only problem is coming home sometimes so burnt out and  too tired to  do  anything,I try to build as much as possible since it's an uncontrollable passion-lol.The other thing that get's in the way is dealing with some serious medical issues that are getting worse instead of better.

[Rob Hall]

Between work, packing up my house in AZ, projects in the old house and the new house, traveling back and forth between them (2000 miles apart), I haven't had much time for anything else since late January.   Focusing on priority tasks only right now until I'm fully moved to Ohio next month...

[NYLIBUD]

Hey Vinny is that you??Sure sounds like it.And your screen name is pretty familiar.For anyone wondering,I have a friend who this person sounds exactly like.Weird,I know.Hmmmmmm.??..I don't know,I guess all we can do,is take it one day at a time....

[10thumbs]

Russ, don't worry about it.

Look, hobbies are just this, doing something you like to do on your own free time.  This is your own time.  A man has time for his family, time for his work and necessities, and time for others.  A man has to have time too for his self.  The more hobbies you know about, and like to do will only benefit you when you have more time available for such.  Anything you can do now can only benefit you later on,when you have the time.  With luck, you'll reach the time where you know what you want to do.

Easy huh?

[NYLIBUD]

Hobbies are supposed to relax and make u happy.Whatever they are.Maybe ollecting stamps,or coins.Building models,reading,surfing,fishing,working on cars,etc.So buck up dude.I mean things can be a lot  worse,u could be a Blob fish.Haaaaa??

[iamsuperdan]

It is tough. I have a number of hobbies I don't have time for. Things going on for me?

Family life. Two kids, one wife.

Model building

Guitar building

Playing in a band

Working on my 07 Chev K1500

Hiking/Overlanding

Reading

Coaching soccer

Playing volleyball

yard/house maintenance

Volunteering at Edmonton Humane Society

 

Not to mention work, and occasionally homework.

 

Tough to juggle it all sometimes, but I find a way.

 

[torinobradley]

And I thought I was the only one spread across multiple hobbies!

I gots one wife and one ex-wife but they are the same person (long story)

Three kids, two grandkids. One kid's a teacher, middle one is in last year of pharmacy school and just got engaged, third is a sophmore on the varsity swim team

One job

Three houses (two are rentals) and the associated maintenance on those

Models (cars and some others)

RC vehicles

Fishing

Cooking

Light gardening

Halloween propmaking and haunted garage setup

1:1 scale cars (maintenance on 4 and project '68 Torino)

Used to collect comics, cards, diecasts & a few other bits and pieces but now in the process of liquidating a lot of that.

And we have a pretty active friend and family life full of birthdays, graduations, retirements, marriages, dinners, concerts, trips both near an far, camping trips, Fiesta events, shows, movies, etc...

 

When I actually get some time to myself the only thing I tend to do is turn on the tv and fall asleep...

 

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

With a full time job where I'm typically working 10 hours a day, many times without even getting a lunch break, I find it difficult to find the time for one hobby.

By the time I get home at night, all I want to do is go lay by my dish!

 

Steve

[DrGlueblob]

1. Well, lost a leg about a year  ago. Stuck in a wheelchair for the forseeable future. I read a lot, and tinker in the model room sometimes.

[skymnky721]

Such is the big question these days,,I play gtr in a band{10K-DB music} on the web,,but I love model building as well.  And drive  a semi truck around SE Mich for a day job so I can have a place to build models,,play + record music and market it to publishing co's on Nashville+ LA ect.  Theres a  radio talk show guy named    Dennis  Prager  whos says  "  you always will have to do what you dont want to do,,in order to do what you really  do  want to do!"   And it makes perfect sense  when you think about it.    Model building will always be one of my top 1-2  hobbies,,they key I think is to find something your really good at and enjoy,,AND  be able to make a living from it,,now thats  true success,,,IMO

[JTalmage]

I very much have the same issue. And can't seem to do any of them. I think my 50hr a week job doesn't help LOL... plus the 10+ hrs of driving I do each week for work definitely cuts into my time. (I live an hour from work)

I have 4 project cars ('77 Mustang II, '88 Mustang hatchback, '94 Mustang GT, and a '93 Lincoln Mark VIII.... yes... I know... way too many irons in the fire)

Plus model building

video games

musical instruments (I seem to collect them more than I do attempt to play them)

Sadly I want to get into more hobbies... I'd like to try my hand at metal detecting. 

 

I have definitely burdened myself with the things I love

[russosborne]

Thanks, guys.

 Like most above, when I am working by the time I get home I am too tired, but right now I am unemployed and mainly sit around and worry about that and end up not doing anything productive (other than looking online for jobs) even though I have all the time in the world. For me, I know that depression isn't helping matters. Yes, I should do stuff to shake the depression, but that logic doesn't seem to work for me. I'm talking serious depression, not just down in the dumps. Got to talk to my doctor about it and get back on meds again I suppose. But that is a whole other subject.

I've read here (and it's true, not just for model building but most things) that you shouldn't do it if you are tired as that tends to make mistakes happen easier. As I tend to want to throw things when I make a stupid mistake, that just compounds the fun. Being tired all the time makes this something to deal with as well.

Sorry, probably rambling a bit. And TMI.

Russ

[Ace-Garageguy]

Though I have a wide variety of interests, my gripe is that, after winding down, getting cleaned up and cooking a meal following a 10 or 12 hour workday, I rarely feel much like doing anything that takes effort. My weekends are usually spent either working for bucks or taking care of necessary maintenance and repairs on the house and primary vehicle, plus grocery shopping, laundry, miscellaneous errands, and all the niggling things everyone has to do, but that get shared usually with a spouse...for those of you lucky enough to have helpmates.

My project 1:1 cars sit and rot, and my models may go for weeks or months at a time with nothing accomplished. Other interests and hobbies fall by the wayside too.

I'm glad I have plenty of work, and that I can still do it at my ripe old age, but I AM getting tired of still having to put off almost everything I do for relaxation until some time in the indefinite future.

[High octane]

Though I have a wide variety of interests, my gripe is that, after winding down, getting cleaned up and cooking a meal following a 10 or 12 hour workday, I rarely feel much like doing anything that takes effort. My weekends are usually spent either working for bucks or taking care of necessary maintenance and repairs on the house and primary vehicle, plus grocery shopping, laundry, miscellaneous errands, and all the niggling things everyone has to do, but that get shared usually with a spouse...for those of you lucky enough to have helpmates.

My project 1:1 cars sit and rot, and my models may go for weeks or months at a time with nothing accomplished. Other interests and hobbies fall by the wayside too.

I'm glad I have plenty of work, and that I can still do it at my ripe old age, but I AM getting tired of still having to put off almost everything I do for relaxation until some time in the indefinite future.

You only go around once Ace, so you need to start enjoying life before it's too late.

[Ace-Garageguy]

You only go around once Ace, so you need to start enjoying life before it's too late.

That's good advice in general, but because of some heavy financial setbacks a few years ago, due primarily to trusting the wrong people too much (and not trusting in myself enough), I'll most likely be working until I fall off my perch. It's become a sort of race to see if I can get to the point where I can retire while I'm still in a position to enjoy it...and it's not looking promising. 

But all any of us can really do is to try to continue moving forward one day at a time. Set a goal, move in that direction. Once you give up, or get in the "I can't" mode, it's over.

i'm fortunate in that I enjoy most of my work, and it gives me much of the satisfaction to build things for other folks that I would derive from building my own designs...and nobody ever said life was fair, or that we'd get what we really wanted from it.

[DonW]

True words, Bill. Like you I'm looking forward to doing more of the things I want to do rather than have to do, I  just can't seem to work out how to get there right now.

But I'll stick around because I'm keen to see what happens!

Cheers,

-Don.

[High octane]

True words, Bill. Like you I'm looking forward to doing more of the things I want to do rather than have to do, I  just can't seem to work out how to get there right now.

But I'll stick around because I'm keen to see what happens!

Cheers,

-Don.

Seems like the things you have to do will always be there, other than going to work. However there is a bit more time for things that you want to do. I've been really busy in my retirement lately and getting older doesn't make it any easier.

[JollySipper]

...and nobody ever said life was fair, or that we'd get what we really wanted from it.

Here lately I've been discovering that we get what we Need when we NEED it though....... May not be what we want but we don't go entirely without....

[signguy2108]

Just assumed it was my 4 year old laptop or my erratic wifi service. Glad to hear i'm not the only one.

[Ace-Garageguy]

True words, Bill. Like you I'm looking forward to doing more of the things I want to do rather than have to do, I  just can't seem to work out how to get there right now.

But I'll stick around because I'm keen to see what happens!

I can't honestly complain too much. I'd have plenty of time to do almost everything I "want" to do if I pushed myself harder, but I just don't have the drive I had even 5 years back, and things seem to be getting less and less important as I get closer to the end of my run here. I've had to spend a lot of my life shoveling BS out of the way to get anything accomplished...because there are ALWAYS people who'd rather stand in your way screaming "it can't be done" than either help or just shut up and move aside...and I'm finally getting tired out by the lazy and stupid and uninspired and jealous.

In Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, one of the haters-of-original-accomplishment, Ellsworth Toohey, asks the hero Howard Roark "what do you think of people like me?". Roark's response is "I don't think of people like you". I need to develop that ability, and focus entirely on my own vision for the remainder of my life.

Here lately I've been discovering that we get what we Need when we NEED it though....... May not be what we want but we don't go entirely without....

I agree with you, but it takes effort. Things don't just fall out of the sky. The old idea that "we make our own luck" is 100% accurate, and it takes preparedness to be able to utilize opportunities when they present themselves.