Friday Fun: What's the new or old hobby you'd like to cultivate in 2021?

[A.]

Happy Friday, everyone! 🥳 We're close to the end of the year and this is usually the time when we're naturally drawn to think about our achievements, goals, plans for the year ahead. I don't know about you, but I always feel so much pressure about it no matter how I try to be realistic and don't overwhelm myself.

But for today, I thought it would be fun to think about a hobby we'd like to start or keep cultivating in 2021. Something we would do just for ourselves and we wouldn't think about taking Instagram-worthy images of it or trying to monetize it. You know, old school hobbies. 😉 It can be whatever you like, it doesn't have to be something extremely crafty or useful or amazing, just something you enjoy doing.

For me, it's going to be nature sketching. I used to draw quite a lot when I was a child and during my teenage years but then I stopped completely. I recently stumbled upon this nice blog and it made me want to give it a try. I'm a complete newbie and I plan to start very simple with just pencil and paper and I don't think I'll share my progress anywhere online, but I'm excited to get started and to do something completely unplugged.

So, what's the hobby you'd like to cultivate in 2021? 😃

[Flavien Gache]

One hobby/passion I would like to keep cultivating is writing on a day-to-day basis.

I am finishing this year a three-year program to progress in writing and learning the basics of fiction so let's hope next year will be the year I will finish a major project with that new habit ;)

[A.]

Oh wow that's awesome! I wish you all the best with your project 😊

[Liam Green]

Keep us updated @Flavien Gache - always looking for something else to read!

[Monique vdB]

@Alice I took up watercolor recently, mostly doing tutorials, and I have been loving it. I've been into art for years but never tried watercolor, and I've fallen in love. I'm definitely going to keep it up in 2021! 

[A.]

@Monique vdB that's great! Watercolor is something I'd like to try too sometimes soon.

[Liam Green]

@Alice I'd like to get back into reading.  I've been trying to finish the Fire and Ice series for ages.  I want to re-read His Dark Materials trilogy too.  Next year is the year I put down my phone and pick up my Kindle!!

[Dave Liao]

Same! Not only reading, but re-reading the Dark Materials trilogy. Started re-watching the underrated (and kind of terrible) movie, and getting excited to watch the HBO series for it.

[A.]

@Liam Green that's a wonderful hobby for sure and I know the struggle of getting distracted by our phones. I used to read way more before the smartphone era! I'm currently rereading The Lord of the Rings.

[Liam Green]

@Dave Liao I think your HBO series might be our BBC series, if so its amazing 

@Alice I read LOTR once, I'm not sure I could do it again!

[Mikael Sandberg]

I will keep hacking away with my golf clubs. My wife and I headed back to the driving range this summer after 6+ years of not touching the clubs. We also did our first round of golf, which was a learning experience.

[A.]

@Mikael Sandberg sounds great! I've never played golf but it's very nice you want to get back to it.

[Dirk Ronsmans]

Running and Reading..

I ran for 10years but got sidelined due to a neck hernia 2years ago and it all just got away from me. So I'm planning to use our 2nd lockdown here in Belgium to get back on the horse and start training again. Would love to finish a full marathon in 2021 or 2022!

As far as reading goes I need to find something that I like again :) I'm a huge fan of the Red Rising series so I'm looking forward to the next book. I became a father last year of an awesome son and well he's taking up all my time now. Where I would normally read in the evening it's all cleaning up the chaos he leaves arround the house and just falling down exhaused :D (but wouldn't wanna trade it for anything in the world!)

[A.]

@Dirk Ronsmans those are both great hobbies. I have a hard time reading in the evening because I'm always tired so I found that what works best for me is reading for 30-45 minutes in the morning before doing anything else, no phone checking, emails and such. I get up, sit on my comfy chair and read for some time.

[Dave Liao]

Aside from reading (@Liam Green beat me to it), I'd like refine my personal organization skills. I used to regularly sort my journals, but I let things kind of just go while experimenting with organization systems.

I rediscovered two tools I used to use (and love), and am delving into their features again. Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side, but sometimes it's good to lean into what you know. The tools, FYI, are:

• Evernote, which just released a lovely Windows app update, and
• Remember the Milk, an oldie but a goodie. A functional alternative to more popular task management apps, RTM uniquely supports features like task duration. It's lovely when you can see how many tasks you have that will take less than 30 minutes, and not using workarounds like searching for tasks tagged "#15m".

[Ivan Lima]

Your example made me remember when I used to explore all GTD apps hoping to find the perfect one. It's been a long time. Countless times I've tried them out. Evernote, Remember the Milk, NirvanaQH, Any.do, Todoist, OmniFocus (very powerful), etc... I ended up All-in with Trello, but not practicing the core, it's a GTDish...

[A.]

@Dave Liao that's awesome! Yes, Evernote got a nice cross-platforms update and even new features (the text editor is fantastic now), I never used Remember the Milk but I've heard great things about it. 

[Dave Liao]

@Ivan Lima - I've re-read David Allen's Getting Things Done so many times. Own digital copies on Amazon Kindle, and Palm's eReader haha

[Ivan Lima]

For me, it's going to be the acoustic guitar. I used to play classical guitar every single day during my 20s and 30s. Changing priorities over time, without even noticing, I ended up playing less and less and less. Lately, I've been brushing up my skills and getting excited about that again. Last month I signed up for online classical guitar lessons at ELITE GUITARIST. 2021 looks promising on that front now! 😊

[A.]

@Ivan Lima oh wow that sounds like a great hobby to pick up! I can't play any instrument but I'd like to learn the piano sometimes in the future. Online courses are very handy, especially in times like these.

[Daniel Ebers]

+1 for the guitar! What a coincidence that @Ivan Lima (above me) wrote near exactly what came to my mind when I saw the current Friday Fun topic in my inbox.

OK, I must admit I haven't signed up for online lessons - but will give my (old) guitar a new try.

[A.]

That's awesome @Daniel Ebers !

[Walter Buggenhout]

Thanks to covid, the Community Wellness Challenge earlier this year and a little push from my kids, I started to play piano this year. Having a smartphone app as my companion, I'm quite surprised as to what I can already play by now.

I play guitar too, and while I see my son making progress in that area too (he's taking classes), I would really love to start playing together in 2021. No plan to go public or ending up on major stages, but looking forward to the fun coming from playing music together!

[Dirk Ronsmans]

Come on @Walter Buggenhout dream big!

The Queen Elisabeth contest is only a few steps away ;)

[Hana Kučerová]

Hi @Walter Buggenhout ,

I bought new digital piano last year and started to play again. As a teenager I used to play a lot, but when I moved to Prague during my university studies, I left my piano at my parent's home. There are so many possibilities now with all the applications, I'm really suprised. This is definitely something, in which I want to continue next year, it helps me relax a lot. I also play the guitar, but the piano is number one for me :-).

[Liam Green]

I'd love to learn the piano.  I'm not sure I'd ever have the patience though...and I don't have a musical ear!

[Kat Warner]

I'm never one for planning to start something new. If it is worthwhile for me I'll start straight away or not at all.

In saying that, I don't have a lot of hobbies. so maybe there is a flaw in my thinking. :P

[A.]

@Kat Warner Well, having hobbies is not mandatory but sometimes it could be we already cultivate them without even realizing it. For example, I like to take short walks in nature, I never considered it a hobby until a friend told me "oh what a nice hobby!" 😅

[Ollie Guan]

I hope to restart my daily plank plan for 5 minutes in 2021, so that I can exercise without leaving home.

[A.]

@Ollie Guan that's awesome! 

[Soumyadeep Mandal]

I would like to continue my old hobbies as well as new hobbies in 2021.

Here are few:

1. Try to sing better 😂

2. Learn more about different tech

3. Learn new kinds of stuff

4. take a part in outdoor activities (I'm missing this so much in 2020)

[A.]

@Soumyadeep Mandal  Those are fantastic hobbies!

[Fabienne Gerhard]

Better late than never - of course I'm always too late for friday fun....  Maybe being more in time could become a hobby 😂😁

I would like to reactivate my Ukulele (which I did during community wellness already) It's so much fun and I say to myself it's much easier than acoustic guitar ( @Ivan Lima & @Daniel Ebers ) which was already proven wrong during last time....

But plan is to be able to play at least 2 cool songs by the and of 2021 🎸

[A.]

@Fabienne Gerhard that's awesome! Good luck with your ukulele practice then. 😃

[nina_schmidt]

+1 for reading and +1 for sketchnotes 

started with sketchnotes this year and try to do more - especially for business use. 
and I took a course in deep reading —> I need to practice more. 🙈 

[A.]

@nina_schmidt oh wow deep reading sounds very interesting!

[nina_schmidt]

It trains understanding what you read while reading faster ☺️

[STEFAN XHUNGA]

 My hobby for 2021 is to work and earn online, and you?

[Dirk Ronsmans]

Haha maybe you need to rethink the concept of a hobby ;)

[Davin Studer]

I love mountain biking but have not done it much in the last year after I moved. I would like to get back into that. I love just being out in nature racing down trails and getting dusty.

[Fabienne Gerhard]

Yeah - go for it! That‘s so much fun. 

+1 for this one -> shame on me living near the mountains and doing no REAL mountainbiking 

[A.]

@Davin Studer that sounds like a great plan, go for it!

[Kristján Geir Mathiesen]

Knitting! I just moved into my son's condo (they moved to Texas) and found some wool/thread and knitting needles. I was taught in elementary school but have totally forgotten. So I plan, in the depression after Christmas, to knit myself a beanie :)

[A.]

@Kristján Geir Mathiesen  Aww haha I can relate to the "depression after Christmas". Knitting sounds great though :)

[STEFAN XHUNGA]

@Alice 

A Hobby / I will continue to write on my site https://www.sxhsite.com I have a large number of posts here. Writing is my hobby so I intend to do the same for 2021.

[A.]

@STEFAN XHUNGA that's great! Good luck with your website :)

[Brant Schroeder]

Motorcycle riding, just getting back into it.

[A.]

@Brant Schroeder that's cool!

[Gonchik Tsymzhitov]

My hobby in 2020, and I hope in 2021. Find something and somewhere

[Soumyadeep Mandal - SaM]

Hi @Alice ,

New hobbies that I will like to cultivate in 2021 are:

1. Explore New Technologies

2. take a part in outdoor activities (I missed this a lot in 2020)

3. Learn Something Totally New

Regards,

Soumyadeep

[Eric Lund]

I loved reading your story about discovering that awesome bass line! It’s funny how a single song can kick off such a chain of thoughts. I totally relate to the struggle of finding tabs and getting into the whole Facebook and Messenger thing—it feels like a mini-adventure!

[Eric Lund]

I love Alice's idea of focusing on hobbies that bring joy without any outside expectations. For me, I've been thinking about diving into online music lessons. I’ve always enjoyed music but never took it seriously. The idea of learning an instrument just for the fun of it, without worrying about how I sound or who’s listening, feels refreshing! I came across this site, https://www.artmaster.com, that offers a variety of lessons, and it sparked my interest. I think it could be a great way to unwind and express myself creatively. It’ll be nice to challenge myself in a low-pressure way!