The Value of Time Spent with Hobbies

    This is a topic and question which has plagued me for most of my life - how should I spend my time? For me, it feels like one of those Big Questions like "where do we come from, and why are we here?" 

    So, in an effort to stay focused and tie in to my (current) intention of keeping this blog at least somewhat related to RPG gaming, I will use my journey as a new DM for the reference point. I will not pretend that I am trained in any way to portray an authoritative voice on this matter, I merely feel motivated to write out my own thoughts; probably in an effort for me to come to some sort of conclusion for my own benefit. I think a lot of this will resonate with many people, especially those who, like me, regularly say things like "I wish I had more time for..."

    I am not the kind of person who has one all-consuming passion. As much as I love listening to music and dabbling with playing percussion instruments, I don't have the personality type to form a habit of dedicated practice with the goal of becoming a musician. I've always considered myself a consumer, fan, or appreciator of various arts, rather than a direct participant or creator of the mediums and crafts I enjoy. Even as I write this, I'm participating in multiple hobbies at the same time: listening to one of my favorite bands on a vinyl record, played through enthusiast grade speakers, drinking a craft beer, while sitting at my PC gaming battlestation which I customized over years of refinement and upgrades. The only hobby I can't include in an immediate sense is reading, although this post is certainly influenced by things I've read recently (specifically Hobby Best Practices).

    Of course, I decided to add onto all of this a new hobby - dungeon mastering. A hobby which is inherently creative and potentially time consuming (although that is not necessary). So the question comes back around to "how should I spend my time?" 

    Do I focus on prep for my game coming up this weekend, some facet of campaign prep for my other game, reading a book or blog concerning GM theory or practice, practicing my map-fu, reading the book/pdf of some RPG I'm not actually playing at the moment to find some new ideas? I could go on, and that's what I love about this new passion I've found. It is deep and broad and endlessly fascinating, just like my first and truest love - music.

    And much like my earliest grappling with the conflict between my infinite desire for listening to music and the much less gratifying, but fun, urge to play Halo: Combat Evolved, I must accept that there will never be enough time in my life for all the things I would like to do with RPGs and game mastering. My answer for this dilemma is that all my time spent with a hobby is valuable time which was well spent. Certainly, with DMing, there is such a thing as an activity which needs to be completed on a deadline; I must be sure that I've done the prep I need to feel ready for my games, this is the social contract that I've made with my players. Outside of that, I should avoid feelings of guilt or inadequacy if I use my time to adapt the journey rules of LotR 5E for my campaign in Faerun, write an adventure option for when my players hit 4th level, or just read a blog about the some game design theory or other. 

    Likewise, I don't know that I agree with the notion some hobby time is more valuable than other uses of time; I don't support the idea that a creative application of a hobby is better than a merely experiential pursuit. I can attest that I have had many profound moments while listening to a wide variety of music or exploring the digital world of a video game. Similarly, I've never understood the assertion that the work of a critic is inherently lesser than the work of art or artist being critiqued. Criticism is its own artform, and it's just as easy to spot bad critique as it is to spot bad art.

    Our hobbies are the pursuits which give our lives texture and color and depth. The human condition is one of labor, whether that labor serves a product which we own directly by our means of creation or our labor serves an abstracted product and we are compensated for the labor. All labor has value, as an intrinsic quality of the labor itself and we should all strive to embrace our labor as a piece of our holistic selves. Throughout time, humanity has pursued labors in addition to those strictly necessary, and our modern understanding of hobby craft is an extension of those labors. 

    So, whether I am writing a post such as this to share my thoughts and hopefully help another person to examine their own relationship with hobbies, or "turning off my brain" for a bit while I play my 300th hour of Elden Ring, each of these uses of my time is equally valid. Forget imposter syndrome, forget starting a side hustle (unless it is a true pursuit of passion), and recognize that our hobbies serve each of us alone as an enriching part of our lives. 

    All of these thoughts have gnawed at me over the last year, as I continue to feel the responsibilities and time constraints of being a home owner and parent of young children, along with being a husband, friend, and more. I see the loss of time which I once spent engaging with all the things I've done since a young age, and the tradeoffs I have to make as I take on new hobbies. If I want to spend time developing my skills as a DM, learning the craft of being a better RPG referee, and preparing epic experiences for all the players at my table (which includes me), then I have to accept that I simply will not be able to play that amazing looking new video game or watch that new sci-fi TV show or read that book on top of my every growing to-be-read pile, yet. Notably, and very much intentionally, I can still listen to music while enjoying the "lonely fun" of being a DM. As well, I get to spend lots of time interacting with physical media and away from the glowing rectangles which have come to dominate our field of vision (he types while electing to spend time writing a blog post), which is probably going to be a topic for a future post.

    These choices mean sacrifices. Time away from other things I love, which form a core part of my identity. In exchange, I have found an incredible new hobby, which draws on all my past experiences and expertise. I miss my time playing video games or reading a fantasy novel from Tor Books, and I will always wish I had more time for those activities, but I'm learning to accept that if I'm doing something I love then I have not lost that time which could have been used for something else.