On this week’s theme, I wouldn’t say that I seek out new hobbies through writing. Rather, writing informs my extracurriculars, and my extracurriculars inform my writing. Side note: Labeling any productive activity as a “hobby” is a loaded observation.
I consider hobbies to be the things we really care about that capitalism simultaneously tries to convince us are the reason we work so hard all day, and then also requires us to dismiss in favor of work that is productive to someone or something else. This frustrates me, but it also reminds me of important anarchist principles (I know, really? Something ELSE reminds me of important anarchist principles?). We don’t always work for pay. Sometimes we work, and we do hard, important, vital work for love.
Could the whole world survive on work done for love and need, for work done without coercion, work done in the spirit with which most of us pursue productive hobbies? I invite you to contemplate the possibility.