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Take up a musical instrument. Music can be insanely difficult and challenging. You have to be 100% focused on the activity, it has a physical aspect to it, an
by prirun 10y ago
Take up a musical instrument. Music can be insanely difficult and challenging. You have to be 100% focused on the activity, it has a physical aspect to it, and successes are very rewarding. It's not as physical as extreme sports of course, but is similar to sports in that the more effort you put in to practice (workout) every day, the greater the rewards. IMO it's also good for keeping things like carpal tunnel at bay (I play piano, but most instruments have finger/hand things going on).
Like sports, you are never "there", you are always just getting better. You can take a break and play easier pieces just for fun, challenge yourself and practice difficult pieces, or focus on one specific area for improvement like rhythm/counting, switching from classical to jazz for a while, playing crazy orchestra reductions with way too many notes, improving your ear by trying to play along with pop music, etc.
The other nice thing about music is it's convenient to take a half-hour break from work, play/practice a while, then go back to work. It's funny: while I love playing music, I don't much like listening to it when others are playing it. I can spend 2 hours working on Chopin, but am bored after about 15 minutes listening to classical music, even if it's with someone at a concert. Just doesn't do it for me to listen. Played Fr Horn in a band and that was a lot of fun too, lead to friendships, etc.
If you're into it, music is a huge field that you'll never outgrow, even on a single instrument.