Why having too many hobbies made me miserable (and what I changed)
Having too many hobbies feels like sitting in a restaurant with a menu that’s too long. You want everything. Pasta, sushi, steak, soup. The waiter comes back: “Are you ready to order?” You panic. You ask for one more minute. The pressure builds. You want the best choice. But the more you think, the harder it gets. By the time the waiter returns, you still haven’t chosen. That’s exactly how I felt about my hobbies - reading, writing, drawing, design, languages, and so many other things I loved. And because I loved them all, I froze.
When hobbies turned into pressure
Sometimes I look back at my old agendas, full of plans and color-coded ambition. At first, it looked inspiring. But over time, it turned into pressure.
I was policing myself. I was forcing myself to do hobbies like they were obligations. Reading wasn’t relaxing anymore; it was a task I had to check off. Writing wasn’t expression anymore, it was something I owed myself.
Instead of joy, I felt shame. Instead of energy, I felt depression and frustration. And the more I failed to follow my overplanned agenda, the worse I felt about myself. That’s when I realized something had to change.
Why I stopped rotating daily
For a long time, I tried to alternate hobbies every day.
Monday: read.
Tuesday: write.
Wednesday: draw.
It looked organized on paper. But in real life, it left me scattered. Each day felt like I was starting from zero. I couldn’t remember where I left off. I couldn’t build momentum. So I changed my approach.
Now, I pick one intellectual hobby and one physical hobby. That’s it. I stick with them for a while, until I’ve made real progress.
If it’s reading, I keep reading until I finish the book.
If it’s writing, I keep writing until I complete the post.
If it’s language learning, I stay with it until I see improvement.
No switching every day. No need to waste time remembering what I did last time. Just building endurance, step by step.
I didn’t delete my other hobbies
Here’s the important part: I didn’t throw away the rest. I keep them in a document, like a personal menu of passions. They’re still there, waiting for me. When I finish one project, or when the right occasion comes, I’ll return to them. But I no longer let them all fight for my attention at the same time. This way, I don’t feel like I’ve lost them. I just parked them for later.
My advice if you freeze too
If you love too many things and end up stuck, try this:
Pick one or two intellectual hobbies.
Examples: reading, writing, or learning a language.
Pick one physical hobby.
Examples: dance, yoga, running, or anything that moves your body.
Stick with them.
Don’t rotate daily. Give yourself time to stay with one until you finish or improve.
Remember your goal.
The point of hobbies isn’t to touch everything once, it’s to:
Finish something.
Enjoy it.
Build endurance.
Learn and grow.
Keep a hobby list.
Don’t delete your other passions, save them for later. You can always come back.
Final Thought
It’s fun to be interested in many things. Curiosity is beautiful. But when your passions pile up and turn into obligations, the joy disappears. Reducing my hobbies didn’t kill my creativity; it saved it. It gave me focus, momentum, and progress I could actually feel. So if you’re frozen like I was, maybe the solution isn’t more.
Maybe it’s less.
Because hobbies should never feel like punishment, they should feel like life.
