Whether your social media algorithm has shown you all the aesthetic hobbies and people whose full time job it seems is to read books and play all the games, or if you just finally want to feel like you have a life outside of hustle, this is for you.
Trying to start hobbies as an adult in your 30’s can be a challenge. Especially if you’ve been striving for perfection in an all-or-nothing mindset, slowing down feels like failing.
My goal with this blog post is to show you how it’s beneficial to have hobbies, and also how to get started when you feel like you have to do it perfectly or a certain way to be doing it “right”.
Casual hobbies are a thing, and learning to be ok slowing down and having downtime for enjoyment can be a challenge.
But I’m here for you, so let’s dive in!
You aren’t wasting time
If you grew up during the hustle and grind, where the harder you worked the more you’d be rewarded and any downtime you had could be used to make more money with a side hustle, hobbies are going to be hard for you.
I get it.
I prided myself on working long hours, of always learning and doing, constantly having things going on whether I was at my day job or trying to start my side-hustle. And the day I worked for 18 hours straight, I was celebrating!
If you can relate, even a little, learning to create downtime for nothing and being ok with it will come with a lot of guilt.
Of all the things you “could” or “should” be doing instead. Because if you aren’t helping others, your future or your finances, then what are you doing!?
Not taking time off is expected and burnout is a badge of honor. But not more. In order to truly live a healthy life longterm, you need to start being “selfish” and take time for yourself.
To be lazy, to be creative, to be quiet and to rest.
Rest is still productive to a healthy life
My 18 hour work day came from years of saying “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”. 3-5 hours sleeping a night can only support you so long before your body and mind start to break. And if you burn yourself out before you’re able to succeed in the way you’ve dreamed of, then what’s the point of continuing to push?
I had to relearn that naps were a good thing. That I wasn’t wasting time by watching a movie. That an extra long walk outside only listening to music and not an audiobook on productivity, business or healing was still a good use of my time.
And only if you’ve lived your life trying to prove and earn your worth, earn you rest, earn you food and earn your life will this make sense.
Whether it was growing up in school, what family and peers said or strangers online. Someone made you feel like you weren’t good enough to just be happy in life. You needed to do, be and earn more in order to eat, to read, to rest, to move and have good people in your life.
But not anymore.
You can want to have hobbies because it will make you happy now. Not benefit you in any other way than right now.
That’s not selfish. That’s healthy.
This will be a process and take time to do. And if you want some holistic tracking tools to better reconnect with your body and how it responds to different stressors, food, workouts and rest, join the Diary and start on the Burnout Recovery Experiment. Now, onto the hobbies!
How to get started
This may seem like I’m overcomplicating this whole process, but if you overthink everything and feel you need to be prepared and well equipped before even starting, hopefully I’ve put your mind to rest a little bit now.
So now that I’ve thoroughly called you out, here’s how to start hobbies again as an adult.
Make a wish list
I want you to truly just have fun with this now. Check out your Pinterest boards of hobby inspiration and saved posts on social media. I’d also recommend deleting social media because once the algorithm has found your interests and shows you the crazy consumers of certain hobbies, you’re going to start stressing about doing hobbies and resting the “right way”.
Don’t worry if this is something that you can or can’t do. And if you want some ideas or things I’m enjoying check out my Lazy Adult Hobbies To Try.
For example, I bought some art supplies to try watercolor and sketching. I haven’t done this since high school and even then I feel like my art teacher was tired of me not getting it. So sports, here I come! But I’m STILL trying to get myself to do it because I’m not just a natural at it.
Or with reading, I love books that are under 300 pages because those seem more manageable to read over a weekend or quickly. Especially the silly romance and fantasy ones. It’s when I get into the high fantasy, deep mind games and sci-fi adventures that it takes me longer to read. And then I feel like I’m failing because I see all these creators reading a book a day, or multiple books a week and I can’t do that!
See what I mean about deleting social media?
SO I still want you to create your list, whether it’s something you can start today without practice or something that will take time to learn. This isn’t a test, there won’t be a grade at the end, you don’t need to explain why it’s good and worth existing in the world. You can just do it because you enjoy it or might be interested in it.
Try one a day
And not that you have your full list, whether it’s 3 things or 20, I want you to work on setting time aside each day. Even 20-30 minutes to start and just see what you think.
If it’s something that costs money and you don’t have it at home, go to the Dollar Tree. You could also see if a friend or family member has the supplies to borrow and see if you’d even like to do it.
I know Dollar Tree, asking my mom, Amazon and digging around in old boxes got me started on most things I was interested in.
Trial and error
From there, you just keep testing things out until one sticks.
If you find a book series you like, check out the authors other books before you adventure to someone else. Even if you don’t like the first book you read, try another genre.
I found a lot of books I loved from Kindle Unlimited and checking out Indie Authors. You can see all the Books I Recommend here.
Word Searches turned out to be a great thing to help me quit scrolling because it was basically a quick replacement for my phone. I had a couple word search books around the house, and whenever I was tempted to pick up my phone, I did a quick page and forgot about it.
Spider plants are a great starter plant to try out, as they’re pretty hard to kill (not unkillable though) and are find in lower or mild light environments. And a little green in the house always brings some joy.
I still haven’t been brave enough to commit to drawing or water coloring. I even have a playlist on YouTube of videos to follow and practice with, but it’s one of those things that I know I’ll need to commit time to if I really want to be good at it. And right now, I don’t know if I want to.
That perfectionist in me still feels like I’m failing if I can’t be “good” at something or that I’ll be judged because it’s going to be bad. See, I’m ignoring my own advice, but this is trial and error!
I will say I went to a painting class with my family and THAT was fun! So in a way I am doing it, just not consistently enough to be super proud of my painting. But you know, it’s not bad!
Some things will work out just fine, and other will take time to get the hang of. Some hobbies you’ll start right away and love from the get go. And other hobbies you’ll collect the supplies for years before you decide to try it out one day and wonder why it took you so long to test out.
The thing you need to remember or remind yourself of is that no matter what you do, it’s all for YOU. There’s no success or failure in a hobby, unless you put pressure on yourself.
The goal with a hobby is to relieve stress, allow yourself to escape reality for a bit and fill your cup. It’s to bring joy back into your life, prove that there’s more to life than hustling, numbers and perfection.
So have fun, play around, see what you like and let’s prove to ourselves that it’s not too late to have hobbies as an adult.
Leave a Reply