All Hobby, No Hustle

When you start a blog, one of the things you learn pretty quickly is that many people assume blogging leads to some form of income. (Why else would you do it, they wonder?) In nearly every conversation I’ve had about She Dwells, the first question is “What kind of stuff do you write about?” The second is “Do you make any money from that?”

The moment I say No, I don’t, the tone of the conversation changes. “Oh, I get it. So it’s just a hobby.”

Yep. Just a hobby.

There are ways to monetize a blog, of course: ad revenue, sponsored posts, etc. But I’m not interested in doing any of those things. I don’t want pop-up ads assaulting my readers. I don’t want the content of my blog posts dictated by a third party with something to sell. She Dwells came into being because I like to write,  and because good writing takes practice. I do write professionally, but not on this blog. She Dwells, for me, is just a hobby.

Molly Conway takes up the question of turning a hobby into a source of income in The Modern Trap of Turning Hobbies into Hustles. She suggests that the cliche mantra “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is more damaging than helpful, since it introduces “the idea that my attention belongs more rightfully on profit than on pleasure.”

In other words: if you’re going to do what you love, you better be making money at it.

But I’ve always been particularly gifted at picking up hobbies. Drawing, playing the violin, singing, cooking . . . you name it, I’ve probably tried it for a while. And when my kids were younger, I encouraged them to do the same. I was the parent who wanted her kids to try lots of different things rather than focusing on just one.

That meant they weren’t the best swimmers on swim team, but raising champion swimmers wasn’t my priority. Raising curious kids who were’t afraid to try new things–that was my priority. And hobbies were a great way to teach that lesson.

I caught a glimpse of life without hobbies after my dad passed away, when my mom–who had devoted herself entirely to her roles as wife and mother–found herself struggling to fill her days. She didn’t read; she didn’t knit, crochet, or sew; didn’t do jigsaw puzzles or crosswords. My mom had never been involved with any activity that simply brought her joy.

Mostly, I think, that’s because my mom was plagued by self-doubt. She was certain she couldn’t learn to do anything new, so she just didn’t try.

I wish she had. Hobbies are really good for us in lots of ways.

Hobbies create eustress. 

That sounds like a bad thing, I know. It contains the word stress. How can it be a good thing? But eustress is exactly that: it’s the kind of stress that makes us feel excited. Eustress is what you feel when you’re riding a roller coaster: a little agitated, but in a good way. When you’re struggling to figure something out–something you enjoy doing and want to figure out–you’re experiencing eustress.

Hobbies promote mindfulness.

Being mindful simply means being in this moment rather than worrying about the future or re-hashing the past. (When you’re on that roller coaster, you’re fully in the moment!) This is something I struggle with daily, which is why I enjoy crocheting. It keeps me focused on the yarn, the hook, the pattern–all things that require my constant, immediate attention. You can’t obsess about whether you want make a major career change when you’re trying to count stitches.

Hobbies promote unitasking.

That’s the opposite of multitasking. Most of us are so accustomed to feeling stretched thin that we don’t even remember there’s an alternative: doing only one thing at a time. And while we’re on the subject, let’s all just remind ourselves that multitasking isn’t really possible. You’re not doing five things at once; you’re switching your attention from one task to another, over and over again. That’s why you feel like you can never get anything done.

Hobbies develop our sense of self-efficacy.

I taught myself the basics of crochet by watching YouTube videos. Anytime I encountered a pattern that called for a stitch I wasn’t familiar with, I went back to YouTube and watched a demonstration. Then I tried (and tried, and tried) to copy what I saw. And when I finally figured it out, what I’d actually taught myself was that I’m absolutely capable of doing things I’ve never done before. The fact that I’d said “I’m not a crafty person” for many years didn’t mean I couldn’t be. I just had to give myself permission to try.

Hobbies might even help stave off dementia.

If you have a family history of Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia, as both Mike and I do, it’s worth remembering that several studies have suggested creative hobbies make us far less likely to develop memory and cognition problems later in life. That’s right–picking up a hobby might be a form of preventative medicine.

 

The next time someone makes you feel bad about creative pursuits that are just a hobby, remind yourself that those pursuits are a great way to take care of yourself–and self-care is never selfish. In fact, if it helps keep you healthy and self-sufficient, it’s one of the kindest things you can do for everyone who loves you. Including yourself.