I started reading regularly. Been doing it for a few years now. I think it was exactly what I needed in my life. I pretty much cut off playing video games and replaced it with books. π
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Started playing chess. Did all the lessons on lichess. I still suck, but I definitely am a lot better than I was.
I did the same thing. My playing somehow got an entire friend group that never played chess to all start playing regularly. Every time we hang out someone breaks out the board and everyone tunes in. It's so much fun and I never expected to be a chess person.
Enjoying your time doing something is the point, getting better can always be the result. Keep it up!
I got in the habit of taking pills for anxiety and add! I told myself it was just for a little while (i hate taking pills) but here we are! Hahahahahaha! I hate this hobby but it is a requirement with my other new hobby im working on: not having panic attacks, like, ever again. Nope. No thanks. No
Keep it up! I feel that you are choosing the safest and most responsible way to deal with your panic attacks. You should feel good about that.
Thanks! I'm even someone who knew of a couple people who had panic attacks a long time ago and was one of those guys who secretly thought "they can't be that bad just take a breath" until i actually had some. Wow! I sure learned my lesson
Walking every street in my giant suburban section of L.A, picking up litter as I go. 3 years, and 1,200-ish miles so far. And probably thousands of pounds of trash.
I picked up baking soughdough loaves - like a lot of people...
I've managed to keep the habit! I've made a loaf once a week (pretty much) for almost 3.5 years. Which is a crazy number now that I've calculated it.
Feeding/kneading/shaping/baking just became part of my routine and it is now super easy to maintain, especially with the 1 a week low commitment. It makes the best sandwiches!
What is your process/recipe?
I'm no expert, please take the below with a pinch of salt (pun intended).
I keep my starter in the fridge and feed when I use it.
Make a levain: 60g starter (week old) 60g water 60g flour
Cover and leave that for 8 hours (remember to feed the starter and add back to the fridge).
Make the dough by mixing with the levain. Ratio is 1:2:3 (levain:water:flour): 10g salt 360g water (Lukewarm) 540g flour
I usually add the water, stir, add the salt, stir, add flour and mix by hand.
Cover and leave that 45min to an hour.
I then do a bit of a knead, then every 20mins do some coil folds. How many depends on how bothered I can be - between 1 and 5.
I give at least 2 hours from the last fold to proof, essentially at least 4 hours from making the dough. At this point dough should have doubled in size so you can also use that as a visual guide. How warm your kitchen is plays a bit part in how quick the proofing takes, hotter=quicker and colder=slower. So in winter I will wait a little longer.
Get the dough on your work surface and give it a quick shape. Let it bench rest for 5mins. During this time I get my proofing basket ready and make some space in the fridge.
Using flour, shape the dough and place in basket and then the basket in the fridge.
Leave this overnight.
Preheat oven to as high as it goes with Dutch oven inside.
Wait 30mins to heat up.
Get dough out the fridge and give it a brush to get some excess flour off.
Take the Dutch oven out and place the dough in the Dutch oven, score the dough, spray some water in the Dutch oven and place back in the actual oven.
Wait 30mins.
Turn oven down to 180 and take lid off the Dutch oven.
I then play it by eye on when to remove the loaf from the oven, usually 15-20mins. Depends how dark you like your crust.
Leave it to rest at least an hour before cutting into it. I've started leaving it another day and then cutting it all up and placing the slices in the freezer. Much easier cutting after a 1 day and this let's me use the slices over the whole week.
It's been a long time since I have looked at how to make soughdough loaves, so I probably have a few things wrong. However the above works for me. Let me know if you have any follow up questions and I'll do my best to answer.
I built a basic gym in the basement and started powerlifting. I get excited for every lift day and find it genuinely fun. None of my clothes fit anymore, but I feel incredible, all my aches and lower back pains from years of office work have disappeared. For anyone thatβs remotely interested in weight training I would highly recommend picking up a squat rack and barbell, it will change your life
Homebrew computers. I started with a 8 bit z80 and kept at it until I almost got a 80486 based homebrew working. I got it to run 3 bytes of program data before crashing one time. Computers are hard. I keep hoping someone else will find the missing piece to the puzzle but I ain't getting any further with this otherwise. Homebrewers are on 286 and 386 stuff right now so they'll get to 486 eventually.
I think most people would be surprised that computers barely work. Itβs only thanks to a bunch of tricks that make them seem more reliable than they are.
Nightly drinking. At this point, I don't know what life was like before I started, and as much as I know I'm shortening my life, I actually really enjoy the daily stress relief - I'm weirdly happier overall these days as a result, although I do keep my intake low.
I don't smoke, vape, trip, weed is a no go, as it triggers psychotic thought patterns, and I don't take anything else (unless caffeine counts, in which case, I'd rather fucking kill myself than give up coffee.) I enjoy having something to lean on. We're all dying, some of us slightly faster than others by choice. I don't think a couple whiskeys a night is all that bad, all things considered. The world is moving in a direction I'm not compatible with on a deeply personal level anyway, so fuck living until 80.
You could try taking edibles with lower amounts of tch. Taking 1MG might take the edge off for your coping needs but shouldnβt be enough to give you high anxiety or psychotic thoughts.
As someone who drank like you for years, it slowly became a much larger problem in my life. Sober for a little over 2 years now and use THC regularly to help when needed.
Sounds like youβre happy where you are at now but if you do want to look into it, there are stopdrinking communities here and Reddit (more active there) to learn more.
Disc golf, free to play on courses. Discs are much cheaper than golf clubs. The skill floor is low enough for most people to start having fun pretty quickly and the ceiling is high enough to have an entertaining to watch pro scene.
I also got into disc golf over the pandemic. I hope the sport sees a lot of growth. I like that courses don't require much upkeep or forest clearing
how about combining it with skeet shooting?
Donβt know that Iβd call it a hobby exactly, but a habit at least. Finally working out.
I needed something since I was always home and just felt weak. Got a set of adjustable dumbbells and a small lifting bench.
3 years later and they are still by my desk, used 3 times a week!
Guitar and Ukulele, it's been 4 months since I touched either one. But it's because of a big RFP at work and not anything else.
Cool! I try to make sure i at least pick up my guitar and hammer out one some every day. Just a couple of minutes can make a shitty feel a little better.
Used to read a little bit (~3-8 books a year). Now I read a lot (30+ books a year). Love escaping into a fantasy world
I tried to get into game dev by installing Unreal Engine but didn't really dedicate enough time to really figure it out.
I guess I did get back into console gaming over the pandemic and I've definitely kept that hobby up.
If you built a foundation for developed, then you can always keep that fresh and continue from there. I know that takes a lot of time though.
I learned how to design and build mechanical keyboards. My buddy and I are still at it and are working on our second keyboard that we hope to release publicly.
I'm still using our first prototype as my daily driver for the past 2 years.
Learned a lot about PCB manufacturing and embedded systems design.
Programming.
I donβt do it as much as a hobby anymore. But thatβs because I switched careers and do it all day for work nowadays!
I started learning German, off and on. I know more words than wenn I started.
Spitze!
I played video games more often than usual. I still do when I have the time
I got into doing yoga. I did it daily for about 9 months straight in 2020, and have never felt better. I go through phases now where I can keep it up, but I can also go a while without doing it. I wish I could get back into doing it daily because I feel so much better with the consistency.
When Covid came to town I started learning French to do something constructive. I started with 1 hour+ Duolingo a day, then after a year I added comic books (Tintin/Asterix/Spirou/Natacha/etc.). Now I am reading the Maigret novels.
I finished the Duolingo course after ~3 years but they added more content so now I do ~15min a day just for fun, while most of my learning is through reading interesting novels, like Maigret.
I also took the ANUx's Astrophysics XSeries Program on EdX, it's spectacular and I learned so much from it. So I keep better up with new discoveries and understand what's going on.
Drinking
Being stuck inside gave me the opportunity to go back and replay some of the video games that I grew up with, and the chance to try the games that I saw in stores but wasn't able to get at the time. I have a PC that is plenty powerful enough to emulate games from the Gamecube, PS2, and original Xbox, but it just doesn't feel that same when the game aren't being played on the original hardware. Hardware that is rapidly aging and degrading, and games on discs that are also getting worn down, scratched, thrown out, or just lost somewhere. I also always kinda wanted a collection of consoles.
So far, I have a Gamecube and PS2 that were in a non working condition when I bought them from ebay. The GC reads games from a SD card, and the PS2 read games from a harddrive installed in the expansion port. Both are using external devices to convert the analog video to HDMI, but I recently ordered an internal converter that I can install in the PS2.
I have a half assembled Xbox on my desk that I have been working on for... way too fucking long at this point, but it is really show why "Murphy's Law" is called a law. It has a mod chip for a custom OS, and an internal HDMI converter. However, I fucked up some solder joints installing the HDMI converter and it fried the card. Had to wait a couple months to get a replacement. There is also a Wii I got from a family member that is next in line when I get the Xbox functional.
Awesome! A hobby that refurbishes is great for the environment!
My hobby of home automation, and running a home lab REALLY stopped up.
Pre-pandemic, I had a single server, pretty small, quiet, low energy usage. Post-pandemic, I have a full rack, redundant power, and tons of resources, and hundreds of containers and services.
Home automation: Pre-pandemic, I didn't have too much. Few security cameras, and a small handful of devices, mostly controlled by alexa. Post-pandemic, I can tell you every time you forget to wash your hands after taking a shit. I know exactly how much energy and instantaneous power nearly every device in my house uses. I have automated just about anything you can imagine. Pools, opening windows, controlling a fireplace, scaring cats away from the kitchen table.... you name it, and I have likely automated it and/or built hardware to automate it.
My other big hobby, was working on automotive projects: Pre-pandemic, I build a 1,000hp street-legal "race-car". Would drive it to work occasionally. Spent a lot of time in my garage with tig welders, plasma cutters, metal lathes... etc. Post-pandemic, I honestly have not touched anything in my garage in years. I don't really drive anywhere due to being full time WFH. So, I have not had much interest in messing with it. Also, its been really hot the last few years.
Woodworking. Started during covid with building a workbench in my 2 bedroom condo. Moved into a house, and have a whole workshop with a growing number of more advanced tools to make life easier. Finally starting to cool down again to get back on it.
Backyard badminton every day during lockdown.
We now play doubles with 8-9 friends at a sports centre each week.
Highly recommend to try it out.
Parenting, since our first child was born in September of 2020. Still giving it a go. We just had a 2nd child this July, so I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious.
Started bouldering, still at it. It did wonders for my health (was basically a couch potato before that).
Chess yes very!
tried yoga, meditation, running to fix my suspected adhd, but couldn't stick to it
i am still trying stuff like surya namaskar and make it a part of my daily routine, but still struggling
I started taking biking more seriously around the time Covid started. I built my fitness up over the course of the last few years to the point where I can ride almost anywhere in my city if I have the time and the weather cooperates. Last week I did my favorite 40 mile ride for the 5th or 6th time in recent history and I now average around 80-100 miles a week. My mood is better and I physically feel much stronger.
The best part: all this fitness stuff is a side benefit because I originally started riding for the purposes of sunshine and exploring and just happened to stumble into better health!
I started playing the piano. I have just learned from books and the occasional you tube video. I still practice everyday. I can't tell if I'm actually getting any better, but I do enjoy it.