Monday Morning Wake-Up Call

Posted on by Live & Learn

Whether we realize it or not, even when we are alone, off the clock, doing whatever the hell we want, the Protestant work ethic and its pressure to be productive are still with us. Imagined audiences are with us. The yoke of should is a heavy one, and it can weigh down even the things we love. The message that a hobby is the best way to spend one’s free time is also a message about what you should value most in life: hard work, achievement, productivity. Those aren’t bad things, but are they really more important than relationships, contemplation, and rest? Hanging out with your friends, caring for your family, enjoying creature comforts, replenishing your energy—these may not make for a unique fun fact to whip out at parties, but they are good for the soul.

— Julie Beck, from “How Hobbies Infiltrated American Life” (The Atlantic, January 3, 2022)

Photo: Luis Quintero

36 thoughts on “Monday Morning Wake-Up Call”

  2. I think the ‘soft’ engagements are more than important – they’re essential. Maybe the transition from such unforgiving absolutes to a more relational life is easier as one approaches retirement, and there is more room to consider all of the ‘shoulds’. It’s a challenging shift to make – it has been a challenge for me, for sure. I have lived with a Greek chorus of ‘shoulds’ for a long time.

  4. Chuckling as I read this, Dave. We leave tomorrow for Europe (30th anniversary trip) and I’m asking myself, “Do I even want to bring my camera?” As always, feeling aligned with what you put out in the world. Thank you!

      1. I have mixed feelings about photos. If you will share them when you return, and/or actually look at them yourself in the future, then by all means take your camera. But if no one will see the photos in the future… Your camera distracts you from enjoying the trip. This is a personal decision for everyone. I have many photos I will never look at again, but I still put effort into organizing them… That’s a waste of my time… (Just one example).

        2. Paul, may I respectfully disagree with you? (and maybe open another can of thought-worms?)
          I stopped taking photos with a (very good Canon) camera when I no longer could hold the heavy equipment up to my eyes and 2ndly no longer saw what I was photographing. Then I bought the best possible smartphone and I have never ever looked back. Why? When I‘m somewhere, anywhere really, I ‚see‘ things, but my heart sees maybe something else, or more and only when I look at my output on a larger screen and scale, I truly SEE what I meant to see. It is no waste of time, it is a gain of experience, of making memories, a catching of moments of joy/sadness/extraordinary moments of life. Maybe you should just download your whole input on a hard disk or whatnot and not try to organise it too much? Just enjoy it for what it is.

          1. Hi Kiki. It’s always good to hear from you! Of course you can disagree with me anytime you wish ❤️. I am just one of the approximately 8.2 billion people alive on this planet. All my posts are based on the minuscule amount of knowledge that I have. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You have given me the gift of broadening my perspective. I am always grateful when someone does that! 😊❤️🙏

  5. It’s not an easy transition to make even on a sporadic scale, but I did learn in that first time of sightings to weigh the losses against the gains and thus I finally put the camera down and just *sat with* these insanely-large miracles called whales — and sat with all those around me on the boat who were also oohing and ahhing from their very core! The loss was real — no one will ever see my summers’ minkes and fin whales and humpbacks, but, oh, the gains — irreplaceable!

  7. I think the true question to ask is if your hobby helps you feel productive. I imagine your “hobby” of 800 billion consecutive days at Cove 🏆, makes you feel productive. Your “hobby” of blogging thought provoking content does as well. Embrace it. All of us here are glomming off your “productivity”.

  8. “Contemplation” should be monitored with great care. We don’t want to spiral down a “negative rabbit hole” and end up feeling worse. Everything I have read indicates that the human brain tends to lean towards negative thinking by default. This is genetic because of the “fight or flight response” that our ancestors needed to survive. The result in today’s world is that if the mind is left “completely alone”, it tends to default to monitoring for “danger”.

  9. It irks me when people say “monetise your hobby!” Hobbies can be enriching, and not productive in the capitalist sense… Thanks for sharing, DK. I need to practise simply being.

    1. I get this suggestion all the time on my walks when people ask if I sell the photos. I’m sympathetic as they may be struggling to make ends meet. However I know that the moment I monetize the hobby, it becomes Work and no longer a hobby.

      1. Oops, I think I have asked this before 😂 Honestly just because I could imagine your photos propped up on living room walls… But there’s a difference between sharing your joy with others (as you do here) and feeling the pressure of work, as you say. I love what you’re doing!

      2. Leila, Dave: I had my ‚work‘ (photos) stolen and seen it in shops (France). I‘ve offered it to Tourist Boards of places I lived happily (offered for free, of course). I just sent photos I made (on my phone!) to son & another friend who asked me if I would allow them to make posters for their walls – I did all that gladly. BECAUSE it isn‘t WORK but shared joy.
        To my understanding, a hobby is ‚simply‘ something I tremendously enjoy, never a call of duty, or to prove something, but it has a certain importance in my life; such as reading, writing, contemplating, discussions, or photography. All of this I never wanted to make an obligation, which also is a reason why I‘m not blogging or having an ig account simply to be able to appreciate the output of friends. As soon as it becomes a ‚must do‘, or work, and no longer is a hobby.

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