Old man hobbies

A lot of my hobbies are what I like to call old man hobbies. In fact, I quite often say that I am an old man in the body of a young man, or words to that effect. I think just by the phrase old man hobbies it's easy to work out what these are, but it is things like:

• Gardening
• Playing music
• Listening to music (classical or the like)
• Swimming
• Learning a language
• Cooking
• Golf
• etc.

Basically, things that are slow, quite dull, and don't provide an immediate benefit.

There are more of course. Some are maybe traditionally old woman hobbies, like knitting, or crocheting.

Compare these to young man hobbies. These might be:

• Drinking
• Clubbing
• Raving
• Listening to music (like going to concerts)
• Video games
• Sex or pornography

Now, do I do some of these young man hobbies too? Of course! I go out drinking at times after work. If the night is a heavy one, I'll go along to the club (though frankly, I don't like clubs all that much). I've taken up going to raves and greatly enjoy it. I play video games with a friend of mine for a few hours most weeks. I'm going to a concert next week.

What is the main difference between these? Well, often it's a matter of where the pleasure lies, and how much energy it takes. In fact, some of these have old man and young man versions. For instance, take the hobby of sitting in a church and listening to classical music, a typical old man hobby. How does this contrast with the young man hobby of going to a concert?

• One is generally seated, the other often standing.
• One is relaxed and slow, the other often faster.
• One often involves heavy use of alcohol or other substances, the other doesn't or has minimal use (maybe a glass of wine).

Often, one gives pleasure in the moment and the other gives pleasure down the line.

Now, of course, there are other old man hobbies I don't have. Cruise ships springs to mind, and frankly it's probably just because I don't have the money.

Why old man hobbies?

I think fundamentally, it comes down to how they make a person happy. Going out for a rave is fun in the moment - six or eight hours of getting copiously drunk, dancing around and enjoying oneself. Afterwards, though, it doesn't feel all that great. Basically the whole next day often has to be written off due to lack of sleep and the recovery from the alcohol. A young body can handle this better than an older body, but it still isn't a pleasant process for anybody.

Compare this to: some classical music at lunchtime, and a nice early bedtime. You have admittedly less fun in the moment, but then you still get to enjoy tomorrow. Overall, the enjoyment is likely similar. Instead of a ten on day one and a zero on day two, you get a five on both days. Both lead to ten.

Another point is that as humans we try to optimise for pleasure. We want our lives to feel enjoyable. Surely, a person with seventy years on them has done a better job of finding longer lasting pleasure than one with twenty? Just by the sheer number of years of experience.

So, at the moment, whilst I do have young man hobbies as well, I like to try to spend a good deal of my time on old man hobbies. Actually, this means that to an extent I spend a good deal of my time with older men and women. The mandolin group I recently joined is almost all older men and women. The opera house I like to attend is frequented by the elderly. Really, I actually find older people far more enjoyable to talk to as well, as compared to the young. Such a wealth of experience, and always such humility.

If you want to be happy, be old.