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The first half of the article resonates with me. I didn't use to have hobbies and I used to feel like a machine just going to work, coming back, sleep, rinse an

The first half of the article resonates with me. I didn't use to have hobbies and I used to feel like a machine just going to work, coming back, sleep, rinse and repeat. I love programming but after writing nth CRUD app in flavor of the month framework / technology, it just isn't that fulfilling anymore. I picked up couple of hobbies - teaching Sanskrit and playing guitar and my life has improved drastically. I no longer derive meaning only from work. Both hobbies are just hobbies and I do it for fun only with no intention of monetizing them. In fact, I couldn't monetize them even if I wanted to. Sanskrit is too esoteric to have any commercial value of any kind. And I truly suck at guitar. Nobody's ever gonna pay me to play guitar. But whatever I can play, gives me pleasure, so I do it. My dad asks me why I waste so much time in useless hobbies when I could be investing that time working towards next promotion and pay raise. I reply to him, they are not useless if they make me happy and content.

kafkaIncarnate 5y ago
I'd argue, they are also improving your mental health and making your decisions better, therefore helping you climb that ladder quicker.
russelldjimmy 5y ago
> My dad asks me why I waste so much time in useless hobbies when I could be investing that time working towards next promotion and pay raise There’s something to be said about a narrow focus on “tangible” benefits. Life is meant to be… lived. Such a comment can be made by someone who lives on the assumption that they have figured out all there is to be figured out in life - so much so that they are qualified to call anything that doesn’t yield an immediately tangible benefit as a “waste”. My hobbies play a strange role in my day job - one that would never have made sense in hindsight. They keep me content too, of course. But they also help me understand the subject matter in strange new ways (through the lens of the hobby).
- chii 5y ago
  > Life is meant to be… lived. this opinion seems to be a relatively recent development as human civilization industrialized and material wealth reached more and more plentiful. However, it is an entitlement that not everyone equally has. Life is not meant to be anything, but survival. The fact that there's the idea that you can enjoy life, is a huge sign of privilege. Of course, one should chase it, but don't believe for a minute that anyone is entitled to it.
  - fabianhjr 5y ago
    Well, it was definitely present in the USA in 1911: > "Bread and Roses" is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song. It originated from a speech given by American women's suffrage activist Helen Todd; a line in that speech about "bread for all, and roses too" > What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist – the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Bread_and_Roses https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Bread_and_Roses Or in the 1930s when Keynes was speculating that advances in productivity and machinery would reduce the work week to 15 hours: https://www.npr.org/2015/08/13/432122637/keynes-predicted-we-would-be-working-15-hour-weeks-why-was-he-so-wrong https://www.npr.org/2015/08/13/432122637/keynes-predicted-we... Or on 1906 in Our Riches on Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgrpwwN8zM0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgrpwwN8zM0 So that covers the begining of the 1900s on the USA, England, and Russia. Other more direct examples would Paul Lafrague's 1883 The Right to be Lazy or the 8-hour campaign that got us the shorter 8-hour work day we have today. ( https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Eight-hour_day https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Eight-hour_day )
    - lioeters 5y ago
      Truly enjoyed learning about "bread and roses", thank you. My curiosity led me to the following: The Right To Be Lazy by Paul Lafargue - https://www.marxists.org/archive/lafargue/1883/lazy/ch01.htm https://www.marxists.org/archive/lafargue/1883/lazy/ch01.htm
spaetzleesser 5y ago
" My dad asks me why I waste so much time in useless hobbies when I could be investing that time working towards next promotion and pay raise. " I am never sure how to think about these people. It's probably great if you can find fulfillment in work and don't need other things to happy. But not too many people are wired that way.
- smackeyacky 5y ago
  Not that I sympathise much with the OP's father, but like most fathers he has the best intentions. In some cultures you can't waste your youth on frivolities, it's for building wealth to enjoy later. It works for some people and there is some merit in learning to defer happiness for periods of hard work, but you can't defer it forever. There is nothing wrong with relatively intense hobbies (the guitar can be very involving) but there is a good argument that an hour a day of practise is probably enough and securing a future needs to be done too.
  - noisy_boy 5y ago
    My dad was like this - I got plenty of feedback, mainly due to laziness in my youth. However, once I got a job, he stopped advising me on my work or hobbies. I think in his eyes, if I managed to get a job making decent money and lived independently, I was old enough to make my own decisions.
JKCalhoun 5y ago
> And I truly suck at guitar. And I do as well. Absolutely love it. And over time I have come to suck at a lot of other things as well. Drumming I now particularly enjoy.
diogenescynic 5y ago
> didn't use to have hobbies and I used to feel like a machine just going to work, coming back, sleep, rinse and repeat This hits home for me. The last year has been hard because I haven’t been able to do any of my usual hobbies—snowboard, travel, concerts, baseball, etc. and it’s really taken the spice out of life.
eyeundersand 5y ago
Hey. I enjoy both Sanskrit and the guitar. Would you be interested in getting in touch? I have a few questions. :)
cafard 5y ago
> And I truly suck at guitar. To quote G.K. Chesterton, "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."

kafkaIncarnate 5y ago

I'd argue, they are also improving your mental health and making your decisions better, therefore helping you climb that ladder quicker.

russelldjimmy 5y ago

> My dad asks me why I waste so much time in useless hobbies when I could be investing that time working towards next promotion and pay raise There’s something to be said about a narrow focus on “tangible” benefits. Life is meant to be… lived. Such a comment can be made by someone who lives on the assumption that they have figured out all there is to be figured out in life - so much so that they are qualified to call anything that doesn’t yield an immediately tangible benefit as a “waste”. My hobbies play a strange role in my day job - one that would never have made sense in hindsight. They keep me content too, of course. But they also help me understand the subject matter in strange new ways (through the lens of the hobby).

chii 5y ago
> Life is meant to be… lived. this opinion seems to be a relatively recent development as human civilization industrialized and material wealth reached more and more plentiful. However, it is an entitlement that not everyone equally has. Life is not meant to be anything, but survival. The fact that there's the idea that you can enjoy life, is a huge sign of privilege. Of course, one should chase it, but don't believe for a minute that anyone is entitled to it.
- fabianhjr 5y ago
  Well, it was definitely present in the USA in 1911: > "Bread and Roses" is a political slogan as well as the name of an associated poem and song. It originated from a speech given by American women's suffrage activist Helen Todd; a line in that speech about "bread for all, and roses too" > What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist – the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Bread_and_Roses https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Bread_and_Roses Or in the 1930s when Keynes was speculating that advances in productivity and machinery would reduce the work week to 15 hours: https://www.npr.org/2015/08/13/432122637/keynes-predicted-we-would-be-working-15-hour-weeks-why-was-he-so-wrong https://www.npr.org/2015/08/13/432122637/keynes-predicted-we... Or on 1906 in Our Riches on Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgrpwwN8zM0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgrpwwN8zM0 So that covers the begining of the 1900s on the USA, England, and Russia. Other more direct examples would Paul Lafrague's 1883 The Right to be Lazy or the 8-hour campaign that got us the shorter 8-hour work day we have today. ( https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Eight-hour_day https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Eight-hour_day )
  - lioeters 5y ago
    Truly enjoyed learning about "bread and roses", thank you. My curiosity led me to the following: The Right To Be Lazy by Paul Lafargue - https://www.marxists.org/archive/lafargue/1883/lazy/ch01.htm https://www.marxists.org/archive/lafargue/1883/lazy/ch01.htm

spaetzleesser 5y ago

" My dad asks me why I waste so much time in useless hobbies when I could be investing that time working towards next promotion and pay raise. " I am never sure how to think about these people. It's probably great if you can find fulfillment in work and don't need other things to happy. But not too many people are wired that way.

smackeyacky 5y ago
Not that I sympathise much with the OP's father, but like most fathers he has the best intentions. In some cultures you can't waste your youth on frivolities, it's for building wealth to enjoy later. It works for some people and there is some merit in learning to defer happiness for periods of hard work, but you can't defer it forever. There is nothing wrong with relatively intense hobbies (the guitar can be very involving) but there is a good argument that an hour a day of practise is probably enough and securing a future needs to be done too.
- noisy_boy 5y ago
  My dad was like this - I got plenty of feedback, mainly due to laziness in my youth. However, once I got a job, he stopped advising me on my work or hobbies. I think in his eyes, if I managed to get a job making decent money and lived independently, I was old enough to make my own decisions.

JKCalhoun 5y ago

> And I truly suck at guitar. And I do as well. Absolutely love it. And over time I have come to suck at a lot of other things as well. Drumming I now particularly enjoy.

diogenescynic 5y ago

> didn't use to have hobbies and I used to feel like a machine just going to work, coming back, sleep, rinse and repeat This hits home for me. The last year has been hard because I haven’t been able to do any of my usual hobbies—snowboard, travel, concerts, baseball, etc. and it’s really taken the spice out of life.

eyeundersand 5y ago

Hey. I enjoy both Sanskrit and the guitar. Would you be interested in getting in touch? I have a few questions. :)

cafard 5y ago

> And I truly suck at guitar. To quote G.K. Chesterton, "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."