Every so often, when I meet new acquaintances at a party or happy hour and we’ve finished the standard small talk about our jobs and what neighborhood of Austin we live in, I face the dreaded question: What do you do for fun?
I begin to sweat, my mind suddenly blank. Do I even have hobbies? I do not cross-stitch. I do not belong to a bowling league. I do not take adult tap classes. Unlike some of my impressive colleagues, I definitely do not run marathons. What I mostly do for fun, if I’m being honest, is watch TV.
It wasn’t always like this. Back in my youth, I used to be a decent French Horn player, for instance, but now the instrument gathers dust in a corner of my house. It’s easy to turn your brain off after a busy day at work and let old passions fall by the wayside amid the demands of daily life.
I suspect I’m not alone in this. Maybe you, like me, would like to cultivate an enriching pastime or creative outlet. Maybe you are scared of trying something new, or aren’t sure how to find a group of like-minded individuals. Maybe you’d just like to sound more interesting at happy hour — no judgment here.
For this entry to KUT’s Field Guide to Austin, I set out to learn from folks who have made hobbies a priority in their lives — and have helped other Austinites do the same.
Reject productivity. Embrace fun.
If Austin has an expert on hobbies, it might be KUT’s own Mike Lee. On his podcast This Is My Thing, Lee’s guests have included a sword fighter, a recreational pole dancer, light saber choreographers and a group of ukulele-playing retirees who call themselves the “Ukuladies.”
They all have one thing in common: they do it for the love of the game.
It’s something Lee can relate to. He thinks of himself as a collector of hobbies, a sort of gleeful dilettante: he’s been known to get immersed in everything from 3D printing to building cigar box guitars, which he actually plays. He enjoys being a novice, but understands why the fear of looking foolish or inexperienced holds a lot of people back from trying new things.
“Learning in public is one of the scariest things for people — the idea that someone might see the hidden shame of your bad ceramics,” Lee said.
He said one of his goals with his podcast is to make people more comfortable with the idea of being just OK at something — or even at bad it — and doing it anyway.
“There's a couple of results that can happen from that if you keep doing it. One is that you'll get pretty good at it; that's really great,” he said. “The other is that you'll stay kind of mediocre at it, but enjoy it, and that's also really great.
Another key to prioritizing and enjoying these pastimes, he said, is to let go of the idea that hobbies are only valuable if they can be spun as lucrative or productive; you don’t have to turn the thing you enjoy into side hustle.
“I don't see any real reason why the other stuff you do can't be just as important [as your job],” Lee said. “It's not just a way to spend the time that's left over. It's a way to spend your life.”
Find what’s out there
Hobbies can be a satisfying solitary pursuit. But joining a group of people that shares your interest can help forge accountability — and maybe a few friendships in the process.
Austin has no shortage of clubs and groups dedicated to mutual interests. Are you into stamp-collecting? The Texas Philatelic Association has a chapter for you. More interested in the Japanese art of bonsai? Look no further. Interested in discussing one chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses each month over the course of years, if not decades? There's literally a book club for that.
And if there isn’t an existing group that matches what you’re looking for, you can always bring it into existence yourself.
Emma Van Dam, a marketing professional and Texas State University student, leads Journal ATX, an organization dedicated to the art of “junk journaling.” It’s a lot like scrapbooking, but with the added goal of making use of found objects, like ticket stubs or receipts — things that may carry memories, but are otherwise likely to be trashed.
“I invited a bunch of friends to come journaling with me one day, and then I decided to start an Instagram account for it, and then it just kind of became this bundle of all these great things happening,” she said.
Journal ATX hosts periodic, open-to-all community meetups, and has teamed up with other local organizations for events that mash up various Austin communities; members have journaled with film buffs at Hyperreal Film Club and scrapbooked under the stars with the Austin Astronomical Society.
In addition to offering folks a creative outlet, Van Dam said she’s seen friendships blossom from the connections formed in her group.
“I've had people become other people's bridesmaids from this group, and I've had people become other people's roommates,” she said. “I think it helps them find that community easier.”
…and put yourself out there!
For myself, the idea of finding a group to engage with was appealing — but getting over the hump of showing up to that first meet-up still felt like a barrier.
I’d been wanting to polish my sad, neglected French Horn for a while when I heard brassy strains of “Lambada” drifting through Hyde Park on a walk one evening. I followed the sound and discovered Blowcomotion, a ragtag nonprofit community brass band that practices weekly at Shipe Park.
It looked like a group of multigenerational band nerds having the time of their lives. I wanted in! But after a decade without meaningfully practicing my horn, I was nervous about putting myself out there. This story gave me the push I needed to show up to my first practice this spring.
Blowcomotion’s bandleader Matt Mossman reassured me that many of the group’s members have shown up in the same boat as me, dusting off instruments they haven’t played since high school.
“Some people come in and they're already amazing, and some people come in and they haven't played for 40 years, and some people have never played a note on this instrument,” Mossman said. “Our whole thing is to be warm and welcoming to everybody wherever they are.”
I can attest that there are some excellent players in this community band — but no one has held my own rustiness against me. I’d estimate that I only played around a quarter of the notes on the page during that first practice. But the music gets more accessible each time I show up.
“I always compare it to a kickball league, except that it's music,” Mossman said. “It's like, you show up and do what you're gonna do, and if you're having fun, you're doing the right thing.”
You heard it here first: there’s no gate-keeping in community band.
In fact, KUT’s Mike Lee said he has found most hobbies that Austinites bring to the table to be open and judgment-free; people are more likely to hold themselves back than get turned away.
“I think that Austin can be pretty welcoming to people who want to do new and interesting things,” he said. “I think maybe people fear that the thing that they want to do is just like, not Austin-y enough or not ‘cool’ enough. But who cares?”
Just get it out there and try it, he said. And if you aren’t sure what your thing is yet, go ahead and try 10 things.
“One of them might click,” Lee said.
