An Ode to Lost Hobbies

Welcome to Creatives Anonymous, a weekly newsletter about navigating creativity in the 21st century. It inspires, encourages, and empowers readers to take back their creative power.

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Every creative has the same dirty little secret: a series of “lost” hobbies. 

Hobbies we invested in but have yet to do. Hobbies we started but never finished. Hobbies that we used to love doing and got too busy to pick up again. Hobbies that are now hidden in a drawer or closet, never to be seen or heard from again. 

I have a lot of them: 

• Gaming (I caved and bought a Nintendo Switch and was very into Animal Crossing during the early pandemic)

• Painting (I purchased a gouache set and never cracked it open)

• Needlepointing (I gave my brand new canvas to my sister)

• Planning (yes, this is considered a hobby)

Did I invest a lot in these hobbies? Yes. Do I regret it? No. Why? Because at one point in my life, I was interested in these things and wanted to try them to see if I liked them. Like anything else, you won’t know what you like until you take the leap and try. 

Finding a hobby is like throwing spaghetti at the wall; you have to try a bunch of them to see what sticks. You never know what’s going to pique your interest. What excites you might be something you didn’t even think you’d be interested in. It’s why we were encouraged to try many different things as kids and young adults. I’m always looking to try out new hobbies—I keep a list on my phone of any activities I’d like to try (candle making, pottery, and soap making are among some on the list). 

While I have a lot of “lost” hobbies, I also have several of what I consider “found” hobbies, tried-and-true hobbies that I love doing and have stuck with: 

• Photography (you’ll never catch me in front of the camera)

• Handlettering 

• Memory keeping/scrapbooking 

At one point, all of these “found” hobbies started as something that piqued my interest, and I wanted to try them. 

But I still missed some of my other lost hobbies, so last year, I started to take some time to rediscover some of them. I asked myself, “I used to love doing XYZ. Why don’t I do that anymore?” 

This created a third category of what I would consider “lost but found” hobbies—hobbies you used to love but stopped for one reason or another. For me, it’s sketching, graphic design, and digital art. So now I’m on a mission to add them back into my rotation. 

Having lost hobbies is good for us. It means we’re giving ourselves the space to follow our curiosity, explore, and be open to new experiences. Even if they don’t pan out and we never pick them up again, we still try them, and with creativity, sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do because we’re afraid to fail. 

Hobbies are the one area in life we don’t have to “win” at; all we need to do is show up and play. We don’t have to be good at them; all they need to do is bring us joy. We don’t have to be perfect; all we have to do is have the courage to try. 

So, I encourage you to revisit one of your lost hobbies and turn it into a “lost but found” hobby or have the courage to try a new one (maybe this is the year you’ll take up woodworking or learn to make sourdough bread). 

If you want to try something new but don’t want to invest in it until you know you like it, consider shopping for supplies at a creative consignment store (like Seattle Recreative for those in the Seattle area). These are also great places to donate your unused lost hobby supplies. 

Happy creating!

CREATIVE CORNER

• 🎞️ Media I’m consuming: “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” on Max, the documentary about what went on behind the scenes at Nickelodeon during the Dan Scheider years. All I have to say is 👀.

• 💡 Idea I’m loving: Not creativity related, but a creative solution to a problem: buying a clip umbrella for my reading chair on my patio. GAME CHANGER.

• 🎨 Current creative project: I’m still working on my book but am also starting a new sidequest to choose and edit some of my favorite photos to hang in my apartment.

• 💭 Weekly musing:

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