I have trouble sleeping when I’m really anxious. I guess you could say I’m unique in that regard. (In case you didn’t pick up on it, that was sarcasm. I’m completely unremarkable in every way. (And that, in case you didn’t up on it, was self-deprecation. Expect a lot of that.)) Anyway, I couldn’t sleep in the two weeks leading up to my flight to Geneva, Switzerland for my semester abroad. I’d never been out of the country before. I’d seen Taken on several occasions and let’s just say my dad doesn’t have the same particular set of skills as Liam Neeson. I couldn’t sleep the summer before my senior year at Colgate. I didn’t have any post-grad plans or dreams, and that big-picture stuff kept me awake. And now, of course, over my last winter break before my last semester at Colgate, I can’t sleep. It’s not the big-picture stuff keeping me awake this time. It’s the crushing weight, the urgency, of actually setting up a real life after college: searching for jobs, applying for jobs, interviewing for jobs, getting rejected from jobs, making enough money to live on, living somewhere near friends, curating a business casual wardrobe, learning to prepare meals other than Annie’s macaroni and cheese. You get the picture.
Recently my brain started panicking about the interview process. Specifically, the moment in an interview when you’re asked about hobbies. What are your hobbies? What do you do for fun? This question is terrifying because I don’t have any hobbies. I do five things in college. Five. Here they are, in order of importance: study, eat, go out with friends, sleep, and pretend to care about the extracurricular clubs I’m in. (Quick note on this last one: I know it sounds bad. I’m not a monster, ok? Most clubs are somehow angled to help you in some way on your career path. Committing to clubs meant mentally committing to a future and, as is obvious by now, I don’t have one of those.) But I need to have hobbies to sound interesting and motivated, like a real go-getter, a true self-starter, to potential employers. “If I don’t have a hobby, I’ll never get a job,” my internal monologue repeated each night as I tried to fall asleep.
I decided I would find a hobby in the remaining weeks of break. Something interesting, something to really wow potential employers. I started on Google, of course. I quickly learned that lots of hobbies are really boring and/or really impractical. Here’s a list of five common hobbies and why they are not for me:
- Knitting When I asked my family to brainstorm hobbies with me, the first thing they all suggested was knitting. Knitting is a great example of a hobby that’s boring. No offense if you knit for fun, but also maybe a little offense because it just isn’t rewarding enough for how boring it is. I went through a knitting phase in fourth grade. I learned in school and loved it. I would come home and sit at my little desk for nine-year-olds, listen to the radio, and knit. I spent hours listening to songs I didn’t even like while I knit, just waiting for Bowling for Soup’s 1985 to come on. (What can I say, I’m a product of my generation.) I knit a teddy bear. And let me tell you, it looked so creepy. Its extremities were uneven. (To be fair, I was nine.) The eyes were buttons and they were sewn on, you guessed it, unevenly. Overall, it looked like it came out of a horror movie. I hid it under my bed so it couldn’t scare any of my other stuffed animals.
- Brain Puzzles (Sudoku, Crossword) Last summer I went through a puzzle phase. I was on a steady diet of five Sudokus and a crossword puzzle a day for three weeks. Things went downhill when I hit the “medium hard” level in my Sudoku book and realized I was cheating on every other crossword clue. I’m not smart enough for a puzzle hobby. And I don’t need a hobby to make me feel inadequate; I can do that all on my own. Next.
- Yoga Exercise but with extra time be alone with my thoughts? No thanks. Next.
- Travel This might be the most annoying hobby suggestion. Who has time and money to casually refer to travel as a hobby? I wish I could travel as a hobby. But this is capitalism and we need hobbies that allow for financial stability. Next.
- Photography I went through a photography phase when I was in middle school. My mom was a Creative Memories consultant for most of my young life, and she never leaves the house without her Canon, so this hobby was pretty inevitable. What I’m about to say next might be controversial, but I stand by it. In the age of Instagram, photography is everyone’s hobby. And if it’s everyone’s hobby, is it really anyone’s hobby? (Comment below your in-depth philosophical analysis!) While I enjoy taking and editing pictures on my iPhone like every other relatable millennial, I don’t think referring interviewers to my photography Instagram with 300 followers is a great look.
Google failed me in my quest for a hobby. My family’s ideas were uninspired, to say the least. My search for a hobby took me next to Barnes & Noble and Target. I wandered the aisles of corporate America, desperate for inspiration. Barnes & Noble offered plenty of books on knitting, brain puzzles, and photography. The travel section was robust. Most of the “how-to” section focused on how to write. How to write college papers. (Where were you freshman year when I needed you?) How to write a screenplay. How to write a children’s book. How to write a blog post. (Probably should’ve picked that one up now that I think about it.) Target’s offerings were even less helpful. I left with a pack of razors and a bag of Ghirardelli caramel-filled milk chocolate squares. (Unrelated, but I never realized there was a second “r” in Ghirardelli until now and I’ve definitely been pronouncing it wrong my whole life.)
A few months ago, a Career Services counselor recommended I start a blog so I would have non-academic writing samples to attach to job applications. My academic advisor agreed. I thought blogs were pointless and repetitive, just a lot of people who don’t proofread shouting into the void. But honestly, I’m willing to do anything to fool employers into thinking I’m qualified. So here we are. Between September and December, I stressed out about what my blog would be. What fresh perspective do I offer to the internet? What niche would I fill? The ongoing stress of planning my blog eventually ran into the current and pressing stress of having a hobby. The solution to both of my stresses became clear: writing a blog is the hobby I’ve been searching for. I made the executive decision to ditch the painful planning and just jump in headfirst. So, again, here we are.
They say to write what you know. I don’t know a lot, and the things I do know are pretty unexceptional. But it’s a hobby. Not every post has to be groundbreaking and that’s ok. You can expect a smattering of content about history, current events, foreign affairs, memes, pop culture, music, and nostalgia for study abroad. This will be an exercise in learning to let go, write, and see what works. Personally, I’m already excited to reflect back on this first post in a year when I’m a seasoned blogger and cringe at my aimless and sad monologue!
reina snophia 