I know this is going to ruffle some feathers, but here’s my unpopular opinion: not everything you enjoy doing needs to be turned into a business. Not every hobby needs to become a brand, a source of passive income, or a personal “journey” to be documented online. Sometimes, it’s okay to just… enjoy things. In private. For fun.
We’ve become so entrenched in hustle culture that we’ve forgotten it’s fine to be mediocre at something — to paint badly, to write messy poetry, to bake lumpy muffins, or to play an instrument without any intention of performing. Not everything has to lead somewhere. There doesn’t need to be a five-year plan for your crocheting.
Take YouTube or TikTok for example. You’ll see someone say, “I picked up embroidery during quarantine,” and before you know it, they’re launching an Etsy store, filming tutorials, starting a Patreon, and getting burnout six months later. What happened to just stitching a cute mushroom patch on a jacket and calling it a day?
It’s especially rough when people feel bad for not monetizing their interests — like if you don’t try to “capitalize” on your hobby, you’re somehow wasting your time. No. Time spent doing something you enjoy is not time wasted. Even if it earns you nothing. Even if no one sees it.
Case in point: I had a friend who loved baking. She made these amazing, over-the-top cakes just for fun. Then people started telling her, “You should sell these!” So she did. And a year later, she quit. The joy was gone. It became about customer requests, deadlines, and Instagram aesthetics. She doesn’t bake for fun anymore, and honestly, it’s kind of sad.
Or look at people like Emma Chamberlain — she started making YouTube videos because she liked editing and being funny. Now she’s running a coffee company and doing high fashion, but in multiple interviews she’s talked about how burnt out she became from monetizing every aspect of her personality. The thing that once made her happy became a job, and that changes the dynamic completely.
I’m not saying it’s bad to turn your hobby into a career — if you want to, and you enjoy the business side of it, go for it. But the pressure to do so, like it’s the default, is unhealthy. Not everything needs to be productive or profitable to be worthwhile.
You can knit a scarf and not sell it. You can make digital art and not post it. You can play piano and never perform for anyone. That doesn’t make your time less valuable — in fact, it might make it more.
Let’s bring back hobbies that are just hobbies. No audience. No monetization. No pressure. Just joy.
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I totally agree with this. Once something I love turns into a chore or a job, it just doesn’t feel the same anymore. Hobbies are meant to be a way to relax and enjoy yourself, not stress about deadlines or making money from them.
I agree and there’s plenty of hobbies I have that are just that. Even my YouTube channel is something undoing for fun not because I want to make money from it in the future.
I wish this was not unpopular.
I turned one of my hobbies into a full-time freelance practice. I’m happy that I did it, because, compared to my previous job it is, well, kinda awesome – I earn a lot better and it is much less stressful.
That being said, it is a job. It’s not really a hobby anymore. I have to take projects that I don’t like, I often have to follow clients’ requirements that I don’t agree with, I have to meet deadlines. Again, I’m not complaining. I’m just tired of people saying that if you turn your passion into a job you’ll never have to work – because that is just not true. You will have to work, and you will have to work a lot.
A lot of adults quit practicing their hobbies because of outside pressure to monetize them. I’ve felt it. I’m a professional film translator now, but I started as a fansubber – and people would often ask me why I was doing this for free. And often, apparently saying that I just enjoy doing it was not good enough. And yeah, now I do it for money. And I still do it for free when I have the time – to unwind, to get back the feeling of actually having control, to follow my own requirements for making subtitles, to work on a movie or a TV show that I actually enjoy…
I play four instruments. When I mention this (and yes, it does come up), often the first question I’m asked is why I’m not trying to play in bars or restaurants, or something, to make money… Because I don’t want to, that’s why. Because I don’t want to turn it into a job where I will have to play music that I нате.
I’m a hobbyist photographer. Guess what happens the moment I mention this or try to show people some interesting photo I’ve taken. Yup, “Why are you not doing it for money?”
I used to practice martial arts before I got badly injured. “Well, you could become a security guard, you know!”
Ugh.
It’s like… Once you’re an adult, you can’t do anything just for the joy of doing it.
I agree. I was into MTG, learned how to evaluate cards over multiple formats and learned very quickly that land was a good investment. I was all caught up in making money that I hardly played the game, although I acquired a substantial collection.
I would go on to sell said collection, makes a bunch of money and got out of the hobby altogether.
After a 2 year break I came back to the game, and now I enjoy and get to play. I no longer have to keep up with the market and it’s like a weight lifted off my shoulders.
My hobby is my main hustle. I’m a goldsmith