Don't be snobby about your hobby!

So there I was again, on a Saturday evening, mindlessly scrolling through social media, bored out of my mind. The next day, I met up with my friend for coffee, and she asked me how my week had been. The only term that came to mind was ‘brain rot,’ and saying the word made me uncomfortable and miserable. It felt like I was wasting my life by decaying on social media and living through a screen. I was determined to change this, to live as the film ‘In Time’ quotes “as if it was the last day of my extraordinary ordinary life.” 

To begin a new hobby was harder than I expected, but I centred on the question, what is it that I want to learn?

Well, I have always wanted to crotchet and learn how to make my clothes. Luckily, it was the beginning of Fresher’s week, and I found the Instagram page ‘Stitch and Bitch.’ It was a society that I had wanted to join the previous year but I had been too intimidated to attend any of the sessions as I had no previous knowledge of crotchet, yet this year I was determined to go. There was a beginners' crotchet session on Monday, and after my lecture, I took a deep breath and took the plunge.

I was awful at crochet at first, the whole session I could not get the crotchet hook through the loop or I kept missing stitches. However, I knew that skill took time and practice, and over the next few days, I watched YouTube videos as I was intent on getting better. The wonderful thing about crotchet is that it can be done almost anywhere. While I was watching television or on the train I would grab my crotchet instead of my phone, and slowly I could see myself getting better.

Having a dedicated space each week to crotchet with others was helpful too as it meant that I made sure I took time out of my week to practise instead of focusing on university work and feeling guilty if I did something else.

Although beginning a new hobby is intimidating the best question that you can ask yourself is, “what have you always wanted to do”, and then start. Look at beginner YouTube tutorials online, set yourself small tasks each week, and maybe get your friends involved so that you can help each other improve, and most importantly don’t be disheartened if you’re not instantly good at something. A hobby is not meant to be competitive or stressful it is meant for you to have a break and do something that you enjoy. There are no career ladders in hobbies, the hardest part is starting and after that, you’ve already accomplished so much so why stop now?