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Have you ever asked someone what their hobby is and they responded with things like, “Listening to music” or “Going shopping”?  While fun activities indeed, they’re not really productive activities or activities that require much action from the individual participating.  These I like to refer to as “passive hobbies.”  While they’re not all bad activities and by no means do we need to stop doing them altogether, saturating your life with passive hobbies can lead to a life that’s…well, passive…and BORING.  But the good news is, if you really have a passion for your passive activities, you can easily turn them into “active hobbies”, hobbies which allow you to do more, express yourself, and improve your character.  So let’s take a look at 7 passive hobbies and how you can turn them into productive activities (activities that are more deserving of the term “hobby”)

“I like to surf the internet”…great, but so does everyone else in this day in age.  Might have been a unique hobby during the 90s, but just randomly surfing the internet for random junk is pretty passive unless you’re actually trying to improve your trivia knowledge so you can win big money on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”  The solution?  Create your own website.  There are plenty of free web services where you can create a blog or a website to express yourself or even start a business.  Or if you’re really ambitious, study a bit about web programming and create a website from scratch.  Not only will you be able to express yourself, you may learn some new skills or improve on old skills that may be of great value to you, especially in your career.

“I like to watch TV, movies, and online videos”…A good movie or television show now and then is a good thing, but unless you’re a film or TV critic who gets paid to constantly watch…and critique television and film work, constantly watching stuff on screens doesn’t really take you anywhere new or exciting in the long run.  The solution?  Use your favorite movies or shows as inspiration to create your own movies or videos.  Buy a decent camera and film your favorite live action footage or learn a few tricks on how to animate using programs like Flash.  Or you can even use your favorite shows as inspiration to perform live acts for your friends or family.  Sure the quality of your material may not be as great if you’re starting out, but who cares?  It’s more fun and you get a better feeling out of being able to entertain others in addition to being entertained by something you’ve created.  And oh yeah, for those who love watching sports, the answer is simple…get out and play or learn to play your favorite sports!  You’ll have fun in addition to getting much needed exercise.

“I like listening to music”…Music is great and I personally love music.  Listening to music is great especially on the go, but when you could be doing other things, simply listening to music all day and nothing else can end up being quite counterproductive.  The solution?  Play music!  Learn an instrument.  If you go to church, you’re already a step ahead as you’re practically surrounded by music and musicians.  Learn from friends who are experienced if possible.  Or better yet, get a group of friends together who also like to play and jam together (this is a whole lot of fun).  Buy an inexpensive guitar or keyboard, learn a few things using online resources or DVDs, and start practicing the songs you constantly listen to!  Playing music is very relaxing, a great way to express yourself, a great skill to have, and quite enjoyable, especially once you get the hang of it.

“I like shopping”…Well, yeah, don’t we all?  We all need to shop for the things we need.  But going to the mall and randomly browsing items isn’t really productive for you nor for the store owners who actually need to sell you stuff.  The solution?  This one’s a bit tricky, but if you love buying things for the sake of buying stuff, try starting a collection.  Many hobbyists have huge collections of things like stamps, toys, jewelry, etc.  It’s a very unique hobby, but it may be right up your alley if you simply love “stuff.”  Plus who knows, you could end up breaking a world record for “World Largest Collection of [fill in the blank]”

“I like eating”…Yes, me too (See my Eurasian Epicurean blog for details).  But if you’re not a food critic, you’re just eating.  Not that eating food is a bad thing (unless you’re overeating or eating bad tasting food).  But it’s not a unique “hobby” because we all need to eat.  The solution?  Learn to cook!  Learn to make that pasta dish or roast chicken you saw on Food Network the other day.  Once you learn a few tricks to cooking, you can also experiment and make your own creations, either entirely from scratch or based on existing recipes.  And if you’re really ambitious, it may even turn into a career.  Cooking is a great way to express yourself and it’s a valuable asset that you can use for entertaining, whether it’s for a group of friends or for that special someone who you just asked out.  Oh and one more thing, learning to cook can save you tons of money as opposed to constantly eating out.  For some fun recipe ideas visit my Eurasian Epicurean blog at http://eurasianepicurean.wordpress.com

“I like playing video games”…In other words, I like being able to indirectly do things that I can’t do in real life through playing video games.  Well yeah, we obviously can’t shoot people or steal cars in real life without the risk of ending up in prison.  And yeah, some of us can’t play in the NFL, take command of a Boeing 747, or perform an exciting military mission in real life, but we can in video games.  And we’ll obviously never get a chance to meet Sonic or Mario in real life either.  So yeah, there are some unique uses for video games and they are a good source of visual entertainment that can’t really be easily replicated completely elsewhere.  Plus the Wii and its new motion-gaming competitors are also taking steps to make video games more active.  And lovely, lovely if you’re learning some new things while playing video games.  But there’s still much more that we could be doing to develop our own skills.  The solution?  Well, first off, only if you CAN and if its SAFE and LEGAL, try doing actual activities.  That means do NOT do anything you’re not capable of doing properly.  And that especially means DO NOT TAKE PART IN ANY ILLEGAL, UNETHICAL, IRRESPONSIBLE, OR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY.  NO IMITATIONS OF GRAND THEFT AUTO OR WHATNOT.  Sure you may never end up playing for the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees.  But you can go out and learn to play your favorite sports.  You may never end up being able to skate like Tony Hawk, but you can still learn to skateboard.  If you love SimCity (as I do), you may want to check out 3-D design software for structures or even mess around with building models.  And for those who love Guitar Hero or Rock Band, yes I’ll admit, they’re fun games and good for parties.  But its much more fun when you’re actually playing real instruments (see the “I like listening to music” section for more).  However, if you love video games for the sake of video games, try learning how to create your own video games!  Flash and other similar programs are good to get you started on making simple games.  And you can move further up the ladder if you’re really ambitious, maybe even take a few classes if you can find them.  Like learning how to make a website, learning to make video games is great way to express yourself and a great way to improve both your technical and creative skills.

And finally…“I like hanging out with my friends”…awesome, its great to be with friends!  But what are you guys doing?  Just sitting around and talking about that action movie you guys all saw and listening to music and watching TV together doesn’t really make “hanging out with friends” much of a hobby, despite the fact that these are fun activities to do with friends.  The solution?  Do active things with your friends.  Cook together, make music together, play sports together, or better yet, go out and help the community together.  Again, if you’re part of church, you’re already a step ahead.  Try organizing these types of activities with your church groups.  Not only are they healthier ways of hanging out, but they also strengthen bonds and friendships in addition to creating more meaningful memories so much more than passive activities.

That’s pretty much it.  What’s the overall message?  Don’t just do things that require just your senses, get out there and use your arms, legs, hands, and feet to express yourself, improve your skills, and to simply have fun!  Yes, it takes more work, but its well worth it in the end.

God Bless ^^.

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