I’ve been in school for way too long. When I graduate, it will have been five years, not including high school.
Many people take five years to finish a four year program; that’s not the issue. I have squished six years into five years, taking not one break.
I did my first year of school in a different program, before I decided to switch. I then carried on with a four year program, which I’m currently completing, and from which I’ll graduate in August. I was a terrible student in my first two years, so failed enough courses that I had to take another semester. I’ve never had a semester off, not since high school.
I’ve always had to work full-time, because I’ve had to pay for my education. I took five courses while working full-time one semester, at which point I decided that burning myself out is just not worth it. I slowed my schooling down to 2-3 courses a semester for about a year and a half, before kicking it up to 4 for the last few semesters. All the while working almost full-time.
I’ve always refused to take summers off, because that would just prolong this madness; I want to be able to graduate and get a good job.
Now, my school doesn’t put Business School students through exams and tests – that would be pointless. We’re never going to go out and get jobs in a business that makes us take tests. No, we do cases. Reports. Training programs. Policy manuals. It’s hands on, and a lot of work. Gone are the days where I could study for a test every night for a week before and get an A – these case studies take double the time and thought power.
I’m not complaining (Ok.. I am). I’m getting a great education. I know that my skills will be that much better when I do graduate. But it’s exhausting.
Because my whole adult life has looked like this, I’ve never really had hobbies. When people ask me what my hobbies are, I just give them a blank stare. Hobbies? Who has the time?
I work with a woman in internship #3 who has so many hobbies. She spends her free time doing the things she loves; not vegging out in front of the TV after work. The more I think about it, the more I want that to be me.
When I graduate, I don’t want to fall into the pit of TV and reading every night. I want to go to yoga; take up a sport. I want to learn things, like how to sew and how to do CSS work. I’d love to be able to pick up cooking and go to the gym more often.
I know that on the weekends, between assignments and blogging and cleaning my house, I just sit and watch reruns of Teen Mom and veg out. But I don’t want to live like that when I graduate.
Everyone is good at something, but I’ve never found my niche. If somebody asks me what my talents are, I can’t answer them. I know I must have some, they’re just undiscovered. I’ve seriously considered it, and my only talent that I can think of is my natural ability to speak in front of a crowd. I’m a good presenter and can facilitate a mean workshop, but that’s not really what I think people mean when they ask about talents.
I want to be able to say that I can play the piano or do really hard poses in yoga. I want to be able to be proud of how fast I can run or how well I can cook. But I’ve never been able to figure out my talents because I’ve never had time for hobbies.
Maybe hobbies are over rated; maybe most people don’t have them and I’m just imagining things because I’m pining to be out of school. But I know that I can’t wait until I graduate so I can pick up some things and hopefully find something that I love to do.
What are your hobbies? And your talents?
I’ve managed to turn what I’ve been told is a talent and a hobby into a part-time job: writing. I don’t have many other talents (I’m not sure recalling movie lines on demand counts)but
My only main hobbies are baking and reading. I’m actually fine with only having a couple of hobbies as I don’t need them taking over my life (as I’ve seen happen). I like having them because they give me time to relax, unwind and not think about anything except what I’m doing in that exact moment.
I suppose blogging is a hobby – okay, it’s definitely a hobby – I just don’t know that I’m any good at it (haha). You’re so right, though – some people sacrifice a lot of things for their hobbies, which is sad!
It can be quite tough to fit hobbies into a busy life. After working a long day, it’s so much easier to wind down in front of the tv or on the computer. Running a blog on the side also limits your free time a lot. Perhaps you can choose some specific hobbies such as yoga and right down some goals related to getting into that hobby.
That’s probably a good idea. It’s definitely difficult to find hobbies with school and blogging, but I guess blogging is a hobby – I obviously need to learn more about basic internet functions (feeds, analytics, css scripts, design, etc)so maybe I should make that my hobby 😉
When I was in school, I had no time for hobbies – my only “hobby” was gaming. I loved to play computer games and managed to fit that in.
Then a couple years ago, I went snowboarding for the first time. I remember telling my friend, “I hope I love snowboarding because I could really use a hobby.” Little did I know that I would fall in love with snowboarding, spend a whole lot of money on it (hobbies are expensive!) and get completely addicted to the sport.
Now my hobbies include not only snowboarding but also blogging (which you seem to have also) and reading. You’ll find your hobbies once you actually have time – no need to rush it. 🙂
I used to love to snowboard! I snowboarded my whole teenagehood – we lived five minutes from a ski hill and it was amazing. But, I was never any good at it, so I didn’t like it after awhile – i also hated how expensive it was and time consuming. But those things would be just fine with me if I actually was good at it, haha!
I love this post. People always ask me what my hobbies are. And the BF is constantly making fun of me for never having a hobby, and recently he said “I know what your hobby is, it’s MONEY MAKING.” That’s the sad reality of my life. I need to find something else to focus on.
Especially since I’ll be graduating in August (like you), I want something in my life as well.
You blog! I’m realizing that’s a hobby, too. Even if we make money from it, it’s a hobby!
My MIL is constantly moving – never relaxes. My husband told me once that she realized she was trying to incorporate too many hobbies into her life – modeled after the hobbies of her friends. She was ok but not great at any of them, which frustrated her. She realizes she couldn’t spread herself that thin hobby-wise – so now she’s down to 5 or so instead of 20. I wish she would find a zen type of hobby because she’s one of those frenetic personalities that makes you anxious to be around.
I don’t really have any hobbies now besides cooking and writing. Those seem to be mostly everyday life types of things though, besides a hobby. I’d like to find a sport that I like, that would make me happy.
I definitely couldn’t focus on more than one or two hobbies at a time – I’m the type that would try hard for awhile at one thing, get good at it, get bored, and drop it, haha!
You know what, though? Most people don’t write on their spare time – I think that’s definitely a hobby!
My bf makes fun of me as well, haha. I guess I’d like to say hot yoga is my hobby but unfortunately it’s an expensive hobby so I only really go when there is a good group buy deal for it. I also love running and hiking in the summer.
And might I add you DO have a hobby. Blogging! Perfectly good hobby, I say 😉
Ohhh hot yoga – yoga in general – is SO expensive. I hate that!
But yes, you’re right. Blogging is a hobby!
I found that I had to break my vegetation habit day by day. Instead of expecting to launch into a new world of no tv, I slowly found things that interested me more than tv, and that energized me.
Now, I often stay up late, or get up early for more time at a hobby, and have more energy for more things throughout my work and personal lives.
I guess studying and doing homework on the couch sort of fosters the vegetation habit. I am truly excited to be able to do more with my time off!
I, too, was contemplating about hobbies not too long ago. Like you I never really had time off from school, and when a day is over I’m usually too tired to do anything other than relax/browse the Internet/pass out. However, after I graduated I had 4 months off before I was about to start my current program, so I took that time to go to the gym (almost) every day and experiment lots with cooking and baking, and even dabbled in knitting. Now I’m busy with school again but I’ve been considering learning how to sew and doing DIY projects since there seems to be a plethora of fun projects to be done. 🙂
When I had my semester break, I cooked every night! It was so amazing! I desperately need to learn to sew. It will be so fun to learn new things – even if I don’t love them!
Writing is a hobby and you’re doing a fine job of it!
I also think that a lot of hobbies are overrated. I also wouldn’t consider yoga or cooking a hobby since yoga is usually done for fitness and not just for entertainment. Cooking can be done for entertainment but it’s also tasty 😛
I dunno, I guess what constitutes a hobby is subjective but I wouldn’t worry too much about it. You’ll have plenty of time to figure it all out when you’re out of school
Writing is definitely a hobby, you’re right. I didn’t think of that before, but I know it’s a hobby. It must be, I do an awful lot of blog related activities!
You’re right. I just hope to find something that I really enjoy when I’m out!
I think Katie talked about this awhile ago when contemplating graduation. Reading, writing and music have always been hobbies of mine as long as I can remember, so I picked those right back up after uni (plus I write for a living, y’know). I also started running, cooking and baking for obvious reasons! Oh, and I also did photography in school and really enjoyed it, and seeing the photography chops on blogs I love inspired me to get a digital SLR and use it (which has also helped once or twice in my job, too).
I suppose the best way to find new hobbies is just to try new things – take classes, experiment.
I am not particularly GOOD at any of my hobbies, I grant you, apart from writing and reading. But I enjoy them, and that’s enough for me.
Reading is definitely a hobby – I guess I’ve been doing it so long that I hadnt’ really considered it a hobby.But it’s something that I do, and enjoy doing, so of course it is!
Photography would be so interesting. There are just SO many things that I could potentially do, you know?
My husband and I play volleyball together. I also enjoy photography. I wish I had more time for both! Is playing with a baby a hobby? I’m awesome at that! Right, Baby? (She goo-gooed yes!)
Oh, volleyball would be fun! I say yes to playing with a baby, haha 🙂
I have finally realized what my hobbies are — AFTER I GOT RID OF THE TELEVISION. Life changes so much (for the better) once I got rid of the tv, the cable bill and the desire to “veg out”.
I cook more now (real food!), I read (a lot), I have discovered photography and I have also realized I have a lot more time that I ever thought.
I take all the time needed to chat with my friends and family. I go out more (eg – going for walks, strolling through farmers markets, going over to friend’s places for coffee)
I think a hobby is just something you enjoy doing – so for me, nothing is more enjoyable than cooking a meal or taking a walk on a nice day. In the summer, I cannot wait for early morning swimming in an outdoor pool 😛
I actually don’t have cable 🙂 I watch a couple of shows when I am winding down for bed online, but other than that I’m TV free 🙂 I guess the only problem with hobbies now is the homework.
I can’t wait to cook more. That’s definitely something I enjoy doing – fun things like my own pasta and baking.
That sounds blissful!
Just as mentioned in several other comments, blogging is a wonderful hobby! Since I’ve become serious about blogging, I’ve found that I have very little time for any of my other hobbies.
A few comments mentioned yoga, and one mentioned snowboarding, and the costs involved. Both can be done on a Nintendo Wii fairly inexpensively… although not the same as real-life.
Also, for those of us who have children… they become your new hobby. Nothing is more enjoyable (at times) than raising children.
I guess that’s just the thing – not to complain, I’m so grateful that my blog has been growing and all that – but now that I’ve been spending so much time on it, it doesn’t seem like a hobby. It’s fun, otherwise I wouldn’t do it, but it doesn’t seem like one, you know?
I wish I had more time for hobbies! With a toddler running around, my “me” time is seriously lacking! But my #1 hobby since I was a kid is reading. It’s like breathing to me. I always have a book on my nightstand ready to open. You mentioned yoga which is something I want to get back into as well. Congrats on almost finishing school! 🙂
Oh, for sure. Babies are busy! But they are also so much fun.
I love reading.. it’s so amazing!
I agree with everyone that blogging is a great hobby. It forces you to learn a lot of tech stuff and keep you on top of trends AND meet some new friends 😀
One thing that helps me with my hobbies is to do them with other people who are likely to push me to keep going. For example, I found a tennis partner on tennisopolis.com back in September and we’ve been playing every week. But not because of me. If it was up to me, we’d play like once a month. But he just texts me the same time every week and finds a day we both can play. It’s been really great to be consistent with something!
My other hobbies (I guess they are mostly sports) have fallen to the wayside sadly, haven’t been surfing since December, or bicycling since summer when the bike got stolen. But I try to make time everyday for doing something other than sitting in front of computer/watching TV.
I actually had an “aha” moment the other day when I taught myself some CSS basics – such an awesome feeling!
That’s a great idea. Maybe I’ll find a yoga partner when I graduate – that way I’ll stay accountable!
What a great post. I have worked so much of my adult life that I don’t know how to cultivate hobbies either. I read a lot and go to the gym but I feel like those don’t qualify.
I think reading DEFINITELY qualifies – now that I think about it. I love reading!
When I was growing up, my hobbies were quiet, indoor hobbies (reading, writing, knitting). Now, I can barely find time to read, I took up blogging to start writing again, and I only knit if someone I know is having a baby!
A few years ago I took up running to lose weight, and now I’m a triathlete too – both time consuming (and somewhat expensive) hobbies!
I’m a little obsessive once I find something I like, but now i need to work on cultivating social relationships (I’m a very private person with few social connections!). Do you socialize much? Could your friends or BF introduce you to activities you might enjoy?
Wow, you’re a rock star! I can’t run for ten minutes let alone become a triathlete!
I think I’m the same way – blogging, weight loss, etc – but I get sick of things quickly and drop it. I haven’t gotten sick of blogging yet and it’s been a year and a half.
I socialize when there’s time but most other people initiate it, which is terrible. I feel like I let my friends down by not initiated our get togethers more!
My hobbies are reading and going to school. And eating, though I can’t cook to save my life. I’m rather inept at anything that involves, balance, running, catching, throwing, grace, or much else, but I do have a talent for multitasking. If it involves eating, reading and texting all at the same time… I’m set 😀