Reviewing My Past Hobbies
With my 18th birthday and my entrance into “adulthood” coming closely around the corner, I want to sit down and reflect on how I’ve grown and look at some of the unique and interesting hobbies that have procured my attention in the past.
Yoyos
From the ages 9-10 I was obsessed with yoyos. I distinctly remember where I had originally developed this interest and it was while I was watching the third Suite Life on Deck.(amazing show) episode Broke N Yo-Yo. The next target run that my parents and I went on, I went straight for the toy aisle and bought the first colorful yoyo that I saw—the Duncan Butterfly. Although I never really got that good before I quit, yoyoing was a really interesting hobby where I think the skill gap is limitless. Watching a real professional yoyo-er makes the hobby all the more intriguing but actually picking one up and trying to replicate even one of their tricks is extremely difficult. I think this is what happened to me. Although I never stopped thinking yoyoing was cool, it was so difficult to improve that I ended up giving up.
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is another one that professionals make look easy. I picked up skateboarding when I was in 6th grade after my yoyo craze ended. Similar to my yoyo phase, however, I found my interest in skateboarding through entertainment media as well while watching “street dreams”, a skateboarding movie. Honestly, a lot of the tricks that skateboarders do aren’t that visually different from another, but I’ve realized that there are so many minute subtle differences that create huge variations in difficulty in execution. Even what is considered the first real trick that skateboarders learn, the kickflip, is one that typically is said to take 8 months to learn. At the time, I didn’t have the time nor natural talent to pursue skateboarding and I gave it up rather quickly.
YouTube
I think that YouTube often gives off the spectacle of the “dream job”. And, although this may be true for ma ny, during my endeavour to become a Minecraft YouTuber when I was 12, I realized that there is so much more than just having fun. After making 2 poorly edited 30 minute Minecraft “let’s plays”, I was out of juice. For the onlooker, it is easy to assume that being a YouTuber is basically getting paid to have fun. Since we watch videos purposely curated to entertain us, we assume that entertainment is all there is. In reality, there are hours of editing and reshooting required that truly makes being a YouTuber a commitment. Although my YouTuber journey was short lived, it was one that I think was ultimately valuable for the perspective it gave me.
When I was younger, exploring and discovering new interests in it of itself was a hobby for me. With little pressure from the outside world to work as a productive cog in its great social machine, both my drive and time I had to be curious were vast. I think it’s easy to get caught up in the rat race of life, especially recently thanks to both college apps and the semester drawing near. For me personally, I am stuck constantly looking forward to my next goal, to my next accomplishment that will drive me further into a field that I assume will bring happiness. Although I won’t be skateboarding, yoyoing, or making YouTube videos in my foreseeable future, the experiences that I gained from simply trying will continue to stick with me. My past hobbies are obviously things that ultimately won’t be useful for my future or my success, but they allowed me to explore more about myself which I think is something that we all need to learn to do more.
Hi Ethan,
Thanks for sharing your journey from hobby-to-hobby with us. This felt very reminiscent of the video that you created and shared with me for Brown, as I’ve gotten two much closer looks into your childhood than I had previously experienced. Skateboarding and yo-yoing are actually two hobbies that I had pursued at one point in time, mostly due to my father’s pressing, but like you gave up very quickly. They truly are difficult to master. As for your final hobby, I think it’s safe to say that most of us have had a “YouTuber phase” at some point in our childhoods. I know I certainly did. While you mentioned that YouTube was not for you, I think that you should consider streaming if video editing was not so much your thing. That way, you can still have fun playing your games, and you can garner an audience of people entertained by you without requiring the labor of processing and editing publishable videos.
Hi Ethan,
I really appreciate you sharing your old hobbies with us. It’s crazy to say it, but as my childhood completely lacked what a lot of kids like you went through, I never really started watching YouTube. As I didn’t play Minecraft either, this insight into your life through early adolescence actually taught me a lot about what I missed with that experience. I also really do wish I had a skateboarding boon when I was little: aside from the transportation benefits, I really think I would’ve enjoyed learning it as I did enjoy learning to ride a bike.
I feel like everyone went through phases growing up where we tried out various hobbies that did not really stick with us, and some of mine were actually sort of similar to yours. My brothers got yo-yo’s in their stockings one Christmas when we were younger, and one of them actually ended up being pretty good at it. When I tried to learn, I had a hard time picking up on the skills, but really enjoyed doing it, so I sort of just did it when I was bored. I definitely was not even close to the guy in the video you linked. I also tried to learn to skateboard and I’m not going to lie I got sort of good at it, but it was short lived because nobody else knew how to do it and I got bored going alone.