Everybody needs a hobby. A hobby can be many things for many people. I have had several over my lifetime and, if I include my work, my life has been one continuous hobby. Many of my friends have led the same existence.

Work is perhaps what many consider an affliction. Work meant something they did only because they had too to live. It was truer years ago than today because government has made it an awful lot easier to get by without working. I have had many friends who when asked how’s it going reply I can’t wait to retire. Not me I loved my work. I enjoyed it as much as any hobby.

Want propelled me into the workplace. I grew up in a time when your needs and wants depended entirely upon you to fulfill. My parents were no different than my partner and I are. We gave our all to our children. So did our parents except they did not have much to give but love. I sometimes think it was the best thing they could have done for us.

I believe no one should retire unless they have at least one hobby. I seem to remember that someone said idleness is only the refuge of weak minds. It also is the companion of the devil. I well remember the advice of an old friend who was recently retired to never give up my job. I doubt if he would have said it if he had a hobby.

A hobby can have many faces. I see a great deal of it put forth in our local community in the form of volunteer work. What better hobby could one ask for? My problem has always been that I have too many hobbies. They tend to interfere with one another and the results are painfully evident, too many pursuits and master of none. So what, that’s what keeps you going. Nothing says you have to refine a hobby.

Life is fraught with anxiety and issues over which the average person can do little but wait the course out. Of the various meanings the word hobby engenders none is more app than diversion. A hobby provides a way to soften and still the apprehension for at least a little while.

One of my favorite pastimes is spending time with the grandkids. Just having them around masks much of the uncertainty that comes with age. Children are innocent and honest they let you know what they think about you. An old friend told me long before I became aware of it that one can always tell what parents really think about you by observing how their children react to you. One might say my grandchildren are another of my hobbies.

I have learned that a person should have more than one leisure outlet in their range of activities. A great many especially older people learn that physically they can no longer carry on many of their recreational activities. It’s happened to me and I have only come to realize at this late date luckily I have others to take up the slack. I am sure that most people have no idea how important leisure time activities are to their well being until the golden years are upon them. I never did.

Many times special needs lead to hobby’s that ultimately become sidelines that actually support any expenses concurrent with the activity. One of mine came about as a result of just such an event. When I was a ranger we wore Stetson hats as part of our uniform. They shrank constantly due to sweat or rain. I had a hat stretcher that my father bought from a haberdashery that went out of business. The other guys borrowed it from me on a regular basis. Some of them asked me to get one for them if ever I ran across one. I used mine as a model and started to make them. I became absorbed in perfecting them and believe I make the best money can buy.

It became the start of a wood working hobby and easily the most therapeutic and relaxing exercise I have ever found. No matter how many things one makes, even similar objects everyone is different as you strive to perfect it and make it more special than the previous one. Woodworking I have found commands your entire attention and even the most stressful of problems can be put on the back burner to be approached with a clearer head later.

Woodworking is the only hobby I have ever had that pays for it. Most of my projects I make go to friends as gifts for special occasions or for just being friends. I sell barely enough to buy material, tools and supplies.

I have many older friends who are also into hobbies and they in general portray much more placid attitudes to the oft times stressful vicissitudes of life. I urge those of my friends who feel stress is having a debilitating effect on their quality of life to find something that will get their thoughts heading in a different direction. It may even be something that will bring joy to others as well as themselves. I hope it does.