Life moves around us in a whirlwind. College students feel like they either don’t have a waking moment to relax or are completely lost on a random Tuesday. When searching for methods of fulfillment, we turn to dopamine-inducing activities like scrolling on social media, online shopping, getting a sweet treat or…? I mean, what else is there?
How about those things we’ve always loved to spend hours getting lost in before adulting systematically squished them out of existence?
Being a busy adult means having your mental state occupied by all the day’s deliverables, and then coming home — if you’re lucky enough to come back at a reasonable time — to escape whatever nonsense you endured for the last eight hours.
After these busy hours, we have trained our bodies to be overloaded with stimulus, crash, and do it all over again the next day.
I classify this as a form of escapism.
Activities that come easy to us after a few hours: collectively scrolling in the living room with your roommates, putting on an arbitrary episode of a comfort show, drinking and recreational drugs (yes, those too), are things that do not drive us out of our comfort zone and give the illusion of relaxation. (Or depending on the type of drug, ruin our lives.)
We have lost the art of hobbies for the reasons stated above, and also because they don’t seem “productive.”
“Why should I have to use my brain after I’ve already done that at work?”
But that’s the trap in and of itself.
The whole point is to enjoy a leisure activity without the pressure to be graded, immerse yourself in the intricacies of said activity and come out of it feeling good about learning something that enriches your life.
From sewing clothes to writing a story (when’s the last time you picked up a pencil?) or going on a run, the bottom line is that these pursuits require one to create without judgment.
They bring you closer to what it means to be “I”.
When we put our words down on paper, or create a video for our friend to see, it is originality flowing from our core.
Not to get deep, but that is the antithesis of modern-day capitalism: we live in an environment where we are taught to consume, consume and consume. The latest trends are shoved down our digital throats, and then we’re the weird ones if we, for some reason, don’t have a social media presence.
Hobbies are especially important because we are synthesizing our life experiences and making something of it.
The very creation that goes into a pursuit like a hobby goes against the grain of a consumerist society, especially when we do it for ourselves and peace of mind, unlike a curated “Get ready with me” TikTok post that artificially curates a collective taste meant to monetize the creator and one we end up lifelessly subscribing to.
So even when we are done with our day, we shouldn’t be chasing things that take us two steps back. The weekend isn’t a degeneration period, but rather an opportunity to build small habits that blossom our mind and eventually physically manifest. Intervals of reflection via time-bending hobbies offer your identity a complete view rather than turning to overbearing media that tells you how to feel.
And I say all these things not to demonize or condescend to widely generalized habits, but more so to serve as a call-to-action against destructive behaviors that we will face the consequences of 50 years down the line when we’re the youngest dementia patients in modern history.
Take back your time and mind.
The opinions desk can be reached at opinions@ubspectrum.com.
