Can You Have Too Many Hobbies?

Hobbies are a key part of enjoying retirement.  If you’ve browsed through this website, you’ll see that I spend a lot of time for people to develop a new interest or skill as they approach their retirement years.  I was asked the other day if it was possible to have too many hobbies and, when I thought about the question for a few minutes, my answer was a very strong “no”.  Hobbies are wonderful ways to escape from this troubling world and lose yourself in a subject that can provide many hours of enjoyment.

Many wise people have gone on record about the wisdom of having a hobby.  The great Winston Churchill had many and said, “to be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they all must be real.”  If you visit his home, Chartwell, you can see the building that served as an art studio as he led Great Britain through the Second World War.  His American partner, Franklin Roosevelt, also had a few hobbies.  A visit to Hyde Park will give you a glimpse into his model ship building and stamp collecting endeavors.  Hobbies provided these great leaders with an escape and, in some ways, a more fulfilling life.  One of my favorite authors, Wayne Dyer, said that doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.  While I was never able to figure out a job that would make me happy, there were a few hobbies that have provided me with hours of fulfillment.  Writing and working on this website have been two of those activities but travel and photography and, once in a while, cooking has been challenging and very enjoyable.  It’s the reason I don’t think you can have too many hobbies.

What hobbies do you have?  If you’re one of the lucky people who think that retirement is the best invention of all time, you probably have at least a couple of things that keep you busy throughout the year.  A lot of people think they can play golf all day and every day but, sometimes, the weather doesn't cooperate.  If you have an outdoor activity like golf or fishing, my advice is to find something that will keep you busy when the weather is being difficult.  It’s also good to have an activity that you can do by yourself because sometimes your buddies are not around.  That’s another reason why you can’t have too many hobbies.

I don't think you can have too many hobbies because there are too many things to be interested in.

Don’t eliminate the possibility of making money with your hobby either.  I know a photographer who took up that hobby after retirement and his wildlife pictures have been featured in many different shows, and he makes a nice income on the side from doing what he really enjoys.  Hobbies can be as simple as an area of interest that you keep coming back to again and again.  If you enjoy writing you can turn that interest into a book or a website that can be more fun and a lot easier than you might expect. Many retirees have their own websites.  It’s amazing what can happen when you get lost in research and spend hours tracking down the answer to a question that occurred to you.  One of my other hobbies is studying history and you wouldn’t believe how interesting it can be at times.  The relevance to today’s events is startling and, when you can couple it with a visit to a historical site, it can be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable vacations you can have.  Many of our vacations with our children included visits to places like Williamsburg, Mount Vernon or Monticello and, although I received a lot of good-natured kidding from the family about “forcing” everyone to learn about history, I know for a fact that they enjoyed it much more than they let on.  They still bring it up twenty years later and have actually gone back to see these marvelous places again on their own.  That’s the amazing thing about a historical site.  It’s always being updated, and new things are being learned all the time.  You can never have too many hobbies and you can never learn too much about history!

One of the best ways to develop an interesting hobby is to learn a skill while you’re doing it.  Cooking, woodworking and learning to play an instrument are skills that take a lifetime to master.  There is always something new and challenging to learn.  Many of these hobbies can be started with a minimum amount of money. For example, you don’t have to buy a piano.  You can get a keyboard instead.  Look for a used one and you might be surprised how affordable it can be.  Our piano, which we still have, was something we got for the cost of moving it which was only a couple of hundred dollars.  Our daughter has used it for thirty years and still uses it for her business.  She has made a living for something that started out as a hobby that turned into a true passion.

You can never have too many hobbies and you should never be afraid to start a new one.  This is your life, and you are the person in charge.  If there was ever something you want to try or do, NOW is the time to make it happen.  It’s time to Enjoy Retired Life!

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