Acceptable Hobbies

So what do you do for fun?

If you pause upon hearing this question, you’re not alone! Potential employers, clients, and romantic partners want to know more about a person before making a commitment. You are more than your work or scholarship, and having a life outside of these activities is an important part of life.

But what if you are embarrassed by your hobbies? Or you don’t think you have any?

I have been thinking about this question as I built this website. I wanted to share more about myself than my professional portfolio and credentials, so I listed a few of my hobbies. I was initially unsure if I should list them because I was (and let’s face it, still am) afraid of judgement. However, life is too short to worry about such things.

Here’s why I think my hobbies make me a more interesting person, whether or not they are conventionally “acceptable” or “safe.” For the fun of it, let’s add a quantification dimension, because that is also an enjoyable hobby.

Hobby 1: Jogging Outside

Over the past few years, I have shed my childhood fear/disdain for running and embraced the idea that no matter how fast I go, or how many miles I do, I can just go outside and move. Since then, I have used this mantra into tricking myself into getting outside more and more often. I have actually become someone who runs for fun, and am currently training for a 10k. I love breathing in the fresh air as I make my way along the local Grand Canal Greenway in Tullamore.

Acceptability: 10/10 (rationale: common, healthy, unobtrusive, can be integrated into conversation easily)

Hobby 2: Exploring nature and historical sites

To me, a perfect weekend activity is exploring a new place that is steeped in history and folklore, either natural or human-built (and especially a combination of the two, such as an abandoned stone fortress). Ireland has these in spades, and as a “blow in,” I hope that my enthusiasm for exploring local sites has rubbed off on my local friends. The only downside of this hobby is that, given my extensive background in anthropology, I tend to get a bit too excited sharing stories about my explorations.

Acceptability: 9/10 (rationale: relatively common and healthy, leads to interesting stories for icebreakers if shared with appropriate tone)

Hobby 3: Exploring the occult

Here is where I start to get nervous when sharing one of my hobbies. I have always been interested in the occult, and esoteric sources of knowledge. I don’t think of myself as a “woo woo” person, because I don’t necessarily believe in it. I am interested in paranormal and supernatural phenomena primarily in a scholarly way. I find the history of contemporary Western occult beliefs fascinating, as a product of history and shifting social norms.

Specifically, I like ghost hunting because ghost stories often happen in historical sites, and exist alongside folk tales that add a human dimension to the way we think about the past and our relationship to it. (This is actually what I wrote my MA thesis about.) Ghosts only exist in relation to the way we sense or comprehend them, so learning about them is actually about learning about people and how we go about learning about the world around us. Because current ghost hunting trends focus more on the use of technological aids (such as collecting Electronic Voice Phenomena on audio recording devices), this also shows how we meld science (technology) with that which is thought of as antithetical to science (ghosts). We don’t simply “believe,” we must find proof and “know.”

Another occult practice that I count as a hobby is reading tarot. As a social scientist, I am rigorous about designing professional research projects according to established best practices, in order to ensure valid, actionable results. In contrast, tarot (the way I practice it) is inherently intuitive, and based on the feeling that comes from interpreting the cards within a sequence as they relate to a given question. There is no one single way to interpret the cards, which I found frustrating when I began to learn about their meanings, but now I find comforting. I don’t actually think that there is anything divinatory about tarot readings (I don’t think they tell us the future). However, the interpretation of them is what gives them power. They are like an individual therapy or meditation session, which can challenge the reader to look at a situation in a new context (for example, what would the archetypal High Priestess do?). As we know from cognitive research, activities that exercise the brain can lead to better brain health, so reading tarot regularly is actually an anti-aging practice.

Acceptability: 3/10 (rationale: not very common but can lead to strong friendships with others who are similarly aligned, can be thought of as “weird”)

Why does this matter?

Through writing this, I feel like the listing of hobbies is not really what people want to know when they get to know you—it is instead about what you strive to feel and know about. That ongoing development of the self is really what a hobby is about.

Also, perhaps the acceptability of my hobbies must be re-quantified due to their alignment as part of my journey as someone who is curious about history, folklore, and the ways humans inhabit the natural world. Taking my three hobbies each on their own may cause eyebrows to raise, but together they build a picture of myself as a whole person. Isn’t that what a hobby is all about?