Hi everyone. I am feeling like I’ve lost any direction after getting laid off earlier this year (was working as an analyst in telecom and very recently landed a much lower position in healthcare data entry due to necessity). I already have several hobbies but I am either burnt out on them or they have lost their luster (similar to how life has lost its luster for me this past 6 months).
I would really love to learn a new skill, preferably using my hands to create something while challenging my brain. I’m willing to take classes, study, practice, and buy some equipment required for the skill.
Please tell me about your skill/hobby that gives you purpose. I’ve kind of exhausted google search which always returns the same 20 or so craft suggestions like “make custom invitations for weddings”, and while that sounds good for someone, it may not be good for me.
Current hobbies: Music composition and gardening,
Woodworking. I love it. Wood is such a warm medium to work with, and it’s a really easy hobby to get into, too. You don’t have to buy expensive power tools, nor do you need to set a target of making fine furniture.
For me, I started out with scrap wood, trying to make as perfect as dovetail joint as possible, using just hand tools - a cross-cut saw and a good, sharp chisel.
That took me down a path of trying to learn different joinery techniques, which was a whole lot of fun. I bought a couple of joinery books from the big A and scrounged scraps from my local hardware to practice on. And, I know you said you wanted to get away from the computer, but there’s some incredibly good woodworking channels on YT. I tend to avoid the ones that talk too much about what they’re doing - I prefer to just watch masters at work. I find Japanese woodworking videos incredibly satisfying and enjoyable.
I don’t get to indulge the hobby as much as I want - family life keeps me pretty busy nowadays - but, when I have the occasional afternoon to myself, I love spending it in my little workshop, mucking around with wood. I always come away from a bout of woodworking feeling relaxed.
Wood working is very fun an obtainable. At the end all your really need is a knife and some wood! Realtically if you want to get into it your gonna need some hand planes, but its a pretty fun and useful past time.
I was about to say something like this, hands on work is really satisfying when you can see the results in front of you, and even show them off as well!