12/09/25

I was scrolling the other day and stumbled across this random video, and man, it hit me hard. It was talking about how hobbies don’t feel like hobbies anymore, and I just sat there nodding like, yep, that’s it. Someone finally said the quiet part out loud. Everything we do for fun now has this invisible weight strapped to it, like if it’s not leading somewhere or building something, it’s not worth doing. And I hate that.

You can’t just do things anymore. You can’t just play guitar because you like the sound. You can’t just draw something random because you’re bored. You can’t even skateboard without someone suggesting you film it, cut it up, throw it on Social Media. Suddenly, this little thing you were doing for fun becomes another project, another grind. We don’t even notice it happening, but everything starts to feel like work.

And don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with grinding. There’s nothing wrong with setting goals or pushing yourself. If you’re serious about a skill or trying to get somewhere, go for it. But somewhere along the way, society decided that everything should be treated like that, and it’s exhausting. It kills rest. It makes you feel guilty for just… existing.

I’ve been there. Cricket was that for me. I started playing because I loved it. I loved the smack of the ball on the bat, the quiet moments between overs, the tension when the game was close. It wasn’t about going pro; it was just fun. But then I started chasing this idea that I had to be good enough, that maybe I could “go somewhere” with it. Suddenly, every match was a test. Every run, every mistake, felt like a big deal. And the fun bled out of it. I remember going home from games frustrated, not because I’d played badly, but because I’d turned this thing I loved into another pressure cooker.

Eventually I said forget it. I stopped caring about “getting anywhere” with cricket. I just started playing for fun again. And honestly? That’s been the best decision I’ve made. I got the joy back. I laughed with my teammates again, I stopped overthinking every shot, I started loving the game for what it was. No career path, no grind, just a game I enjoy.

That’s what hobbies are supposed to be. They’re supposed to give you life back. They’re supposed to be the one part of your world where it doesn’t matter if you’re terrible, where you can mess around, try something weird, fail, and not feel bad about it. But we don’t live like that anymore. We’ve been trained to believe that everything needs a purpose. You can’t just doodle. You have to “develop your style.” You can’t just learn guitar. You have to “build a brand.” And we wonder why we’re all burned out.

Social media makes it worse, obviously. It’s not enough to do something; you have to document it. Everything has to be curated and shared. Even when you’re not actively posting, you feel this weird pressure to create something worth showing people. Hobbies become content. And once that happens, you’re not actually enjoying them anymore - you’re performing them. It’s like this subtle shift where you’re never fully present, you’re always thinking about how it’ll look. And that kills joy faster than anything.

And then there’s comparison. That’s the silent killer behind all of this. We’re constantly being measured against someone else - someone who’s doing it better, faster, with more followers, more likes, more skill. I feel it with this website sometimes. I love writing these articles, I really do. But part of the reason I love it is because there isn’t a culture of comparison here. Nobody’s grading me, nobody’s telling me my words aren’t good enough, nobody’s putting me next to a “better” writer and saying, “See? You don’t measure up.” If this were a more popular hobby, if everyone around me were doing it at a professional level, I don’t know if I could handle it. Society would crush me to pieces. The comparison alone would make it impossible to enjoy. I would be suffocated.

But here’s the thing I’ve been realizing: it’s not about never grinding. Grinding is fine. Working hard for something is fine. But it shouldn’t be the default setting for life. We’ve been taught that if you’re not building, hustling, optimizing, then you’re wasting time. And that’s a lie. Rest matters. Doing something for no reason matters. Hobbies don’t need to justify their existence by making you money or making you interesting or making you better. They’re allowed to just exist.

When I look back at why I started any of the things I love - cricket, music, writing: it wasn’t because I thought I’d get famous or build a following. It was because it made me feel alive. And that’s what I want back. I want hobbies to be hobbies again. I want to write dumb songs that no one hears. I want to play sports without thinking about stats. I want to make things that never see the light of day. I want to enjoy stuff for no reason other than I enjoy it. And that feels rebellious now. It feels like you’re breaking some rule. In a culture where every minute is supposed to be monetized or optimized, just sitting down to paint something you’ll never post is a radical act. Picking up a guitar and playing badly in your room without recording it is a radical act. Choosing rest when everything around you screams “hustle harder” is a radical act.

We need that. We need to remember what it’s like to just play. To just create. To just exist without having to prove anything. Because hobbies are supposed to be a break from the grind, not another piece of it. They’re supposed to give us space to breathe, to fail, to explore, to feel human again. So maybe that’s the challenge. Pick up a hobby and let it stay terrible. Don’t track progress. Don’t make a schedule. Don’t turn it into a brand. Just do it. Paint something ugly. Skateboard without filming it. Bake something no one sees. Do something purely because you like it.

Because your hobbies don’t owe you anything. They don’t have to be productive or profitable or impressive. They don’t have to lead anywhere. And maybe that’s the point. Maybe the value is in the doing, not in the outcome. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of feeling like everything in life has to justify itself. I’m tired of turning fun into labor. I’m tired of measuring my worth in output. I want hobbies to be hobbies again. I want to be a kid again, picking up random things and playing with them because they’re fun.

So that’s my little rebellion: I’m going to keep playing cricket just because I love it. I’m going to keep writing even if no one reads it. I’m going to let myself be bad at stuff and not care. And I think that’s something we all need. Because in a world that tells you to grind harder, maybe the most powerful thing you can do is this: enjoy something for the sake of enjoying it.