Escaping Autopilot: 22 Hobbies to Try For a More Interesting Life!

They say the most interesting characters come from the most interesting writers, and the most interesting writers have the most interesting lives. And maybe that’s why, a few months ago, I found myself completely stuck in my book-writing process: I was, in fact, not interesting.

I felt dull and dense. My life was caught in the same boring rhythm: wake, work, eat, sleep. The only time I felt really alive was when I traveled. But on the days between Dallas and Delta flights, my brain simply didn’t work. I couldn’t, for the life of me, make progress on my novel. My ideas sucked (if I had ideas at all), and life was just colorless.

One day, I hit my breaking point and realized it was time for something new. That was in April. And from April until August, I tried a new hobby a week to see if I could add some light to my life! Spoiler: I did! So, in hopes of encouraging you to try some new things too and get out of autopilot too, I’m going to share them with you!

First, here are the 22 hobbies I tried between April and August!

• Mathematics / algebra
• Chess
• City council / local involvement
• Stand-up comedy
• Portrait sketching
• Urban sketching
• Procreate (digital illustration)
• Watercolor painting
• Acrylic painting
• Leather goods making
• Archiving & scrapbooking
• Singing
• Flipping furniture
• Spanish classes (locally, in person)
• Knitting & sewing
• Making book pouches & makeup bags
• Pottery
• Writing flash fiction
• Violin
• Piano
• Bookbinding
• Coffee making

My 3 least favorite

All of these surprised me, because I thought I’d enjoy them all!

Knitting, sewing, clothes making in general. This stressed me ALL THE WAY out. I thought making my own clothes would be the coolest, most relaxing experience, but after knots slipping, sweaters unraveling, and thread knotting over and over again, I just wanted to bang my head against the wall! Kudos to all the crazy people who love doing this!

Spanish classes in person. I’ve been taking Spanish lessons for years, and I love doing Spanish immersion programs in Spanish-speaking countries, so I assumed this would be just like that… no. Local classes, at least here in Dallas, are much smaller, so they need to group you with people who may have a lower or higher speaking level than you. I found myself speaking English to explain or understand things half of the time. I’ll stick to immersion programs and one-on-one training for now.

Coffee making. I don’t even know if this is the correct term. I guess I was attempting to be a barista in my own home. Whatever you call it, I didn’t like it, solely because I am not a coffee connoisseur. All coffee tastes the same to me. I don’t care if it’s dark beans from Colombia or a medium roast from Madrid. IT TASTES THE SAME. I don’t know what kind of magical tongue avid coffee drinkers have, but I don’t have it.

Top 5 hobbies that I’m continuing:

Flipping furniture. This one was so fun!! I learned to reupholster some of my favorite household items! I sanded and painted chairs I initially planned to give away. And I got my dream creative studio out of this! My favorite pieces are my writing chair, filing cabinet, and rollertop desk!

Singing lessons. I did not expect singing to be so fun!! My vocal coach and I agreed that there may never be a day when my voice sounds beautiful to everyone else’s ears! Haha. But that’s not the point. The point was to do things that scare me! At this point, though, I’m very comfortable, and it’s been fun learning to manipulate my vocal cords to make new sounds. My coach is trying to convince me to sign up for a singing night she hosts. We’ll see!

Stand-up comedy. This one, too, has been so fun! I don’t know if I’m any good, but at my last class I got a crowd laugh, which to me is a pretty big deal! I also like that this stand-up class focuses on clean comedy. Although I don’t like raunchy comedy anyway, I was a bit worried that I’d be expected to drop the F-bomb and talk about sex! Lol. My mentor said that being funny and clean is one of the hardest things someone can learn, so I’m in the best class! My stand-up showcase is this December, and if I don’t completely bomb, I’ll share it on YouTube.

Chess. Chess surprised me as well, because I didn’t expect it to help me think creatively more often. My husband and I play chess almost nightly, and though I appreciate that I whip his behind almost every time, I most appreciate that I have to challenge myself to think ahead and think outside the box. I’ve found that because of chess, I’m less creatively frustrated. I don’t want to quit when things get hard, and I find it easier to find my way out of ruts!

Being involved with city council. For the first time in my life, I feel like my vote and voice reallyyyy make a difference. Beyond that, it’s a super cool feeling to see something, like a community event, go from idea to fruition. I highly suggest everyone get involved in their community as much as possible to experience being a part of something bigger… a part of positive change in your neighborhood and daily life!

I hope these hobbies inspire you to try something that might add a little bit of color to your life! Chase your curiosities! Try any and everything you’ve been thinking about trying, because you never know which ones will literally change your everyday life! Also, check your local library! Many of these things (music lessons, knitting, writing classes, cooking classes, even my first stand-up class) I was able to do for free!

What hobbies have you been trying or wanting to try? I might give one a try myself! Let’s chat in the comments! Until then, have a delightful day!