Hobbies
Outline: Definition of the hobby —A pursuit for pleasure; the need for developing hobbies; basic principles for selection of hobbies; names of some hobbies — their effect on personality.
A hobby is a pursuit/pastime followed for pleasure. It is a leisure time activity undertaken for enjoyment. Whatever the hobby we may take up, it must give us maximum joy. Let us enjoy it to our heart’s content. It is something after our heart’s pleasure. It is joyful and least boring. It is something different from the daily routine. A teacher, who teaches is at least not pursuing the teaching profession, as a hobby. It is for his livelihood. But if he reads a light story or a short novel or he is in the habit of writing beautiful poems, it can be certainly called his hobby. As he is deriving pleasure out of it. His job may or may not give him pleasure but composing of a couplet or a song or a ballad surely provides him satisfaction. Whatever gives us pure joy is our hobby. It is our sweet will to follow any pastime.
Different people have different hobbies. Some take up the age-old leisure-time activity of collecting stamps, others follow photography, a few others cultivate gardening. Now all these hobbies have something common that is, they meet our fondness, our love for a particular pursuit. These hobbies have their own uses. They kill your time most usefully. Time does not hang heavy on you. As and when you find the time, you take your camera, go to a park or visit some historical building and begin taking snaps. Now, these snaps and photographs are far better than the ones available in the market. As all is your own creation. They give you a sense of pride, a feeling of achievement that you have achieved something on your own.
Students must develop one hobby or the other. If they remain idle and workless, they are bound to think in the wrong direction. An old saying goes: `An idle man’s brain is a devil’s workshop’. But by following a hobby they utilize their time gainfully. They have a sense of performing something on their own. They gain confidence and freedom. They will not look to others for help every time. They will be self-dependant. They are passing through a crucial period. These years are for shaping and for formation. If they inculcate good hobbies, the rest of their life will go on smoothly.
Basic principles for the selection of a hobby is your bent of mind, your attitude and inclination. What do you like and love more? Your attitude is a must. Now assess the means to fulfil that pastime. If anything is after your heart, you will devote yourself whole-heartedly to it. Your success and failure depend on your willingness. Your participation should be spontaneous. No outside pressure Will do any good. It will rather harm you. It will kill your interest. It will dampen your spirit.
It is right to say that there are as many hobbies as the number of people is. It is one’s own choice. Even your teachers or parents cannot force you to adopt a particular hobby. They can guide you, no doubt Their experience can be valuable to you. Most common hobbies are as written earlier photography, gardening, stamp-collecting, painting, novel reading or preparing a scrapbook. It can be anything of which you are fond of. Where your spare time flees in minutes, where you feel paucity of time always.
Your hobby is a part and parcel of your total being, your total personality is involved. What will you become in life can best be predicted by your early age habits and inclinations (leanings). We must understand that a hobby is a favourite subject or occupation and that is certainly not your main business in life. It is something for recreation. Then what is personality? It means being a person existing individually. A good hobby helps form your identity. It definitely outshines your personality. It gives charm to it, a new meaning to yourself.
