Trying to find a new hobby

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2016/...-hobbies-for-men-75-ideas-for-your-free-time/

Heh heh heh.... parkour. Didn't know about geocaching. Sounds interesting. Used to do paintball and snowboarding.

Now for me is reading/working out/tango classes/baccarat (analog games)/learning Python/cooking

 

I'm also hoping that I develop some hobbies now that I have so much more free time thanks to nofap. I program as a hobby but only because it's a personal goal. It's often frustrating and will make you wanna vent even more.

 

Hobbies are a tough one! Things sound interesting, but doing them is often a different matter. Some things take years of practice to develop enough skill to make them fun, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

Like others, I've been reading a lot more than I used to. I've also been working out at the gym a lot more, as well as running and even taking long walks (5 miles or so). Exploring my own neighborhood on foot has been kind of fun, and it gets me out of the house (away from the computer!!) and into the fresh air. I don't take my cell phone with me either, so I can just be present with what's happening around me and in my own mind.

A couple of other thoughts I've had: woodworking projects, writing, and baking!

 

Jiu-jitsu is a great activity with numerous practical, real-world applications. No exercise quite matches the primal intensity of two men or a man and a woman trying to rip each others arms and legs off. It's expensive, but if you can afford it alongside your other bills and expenses, it's awesome!

 

Helps you build willpower, commitment and discipline. Qualities that are attractive to women in case you don't know plus helps you develop confidence. What is worth having and keeping takes time and doesn't happen overnight. Well I am sure you know that! Especially if you can take whatever skill(s) you have developed and show case it in public where that female to male ratio is high you will be quite surprised. You may end up interacting with women you thought that was once "out of your league."

 

Learning a new language can be fun.

 

Do you have friends with hobbies? One of them might introduce you to his.

 

You seem to be enjoying comics. And you seem to not be very physically minded. So maybe some activity that involves brain more than body would be better suited for you? Maybe drawing? So maybe one day you could draw your own little comic story! Or maybe writing? Comics have some great stories, it takes skill to write a good story! Just as it takes skill to draw. Both of those are learnable skills.

How about music? That's another art related thing. Maybe learning something like Harmonica or Ukulele? Those instruments are very cheap and relatively easy to learn compared to some other stuff. I'm sure you could find tons of free tutorials on internet. You can learn to play them decently in like couple months, a camp fire kind of material decently I mean. It will take you years to master them though. So you won't get discouraged, but also will have a lot to look forward to.

Another brain related, beneficial activities might be learning to play Chess, Poker or maybe even things like new language. Like maybe programming language. It can be fun to build things. You can use programming language to build many things, video games, even animations. Maybe eventually make an app and sell it on app store or something.

 

Owler, I would definitely encourage you to more fullly develop the activities you already enjoy. and they don't seem to fill that void for you, then choose another one. I have a couple myself, but the one that keeps my hands busy during times I can't do much else is knitting. I knit during church services, meetings, and drives (when I'm not the one driving, ha!).

 

I don't know how much of a dancer you are, but I definitely recommend it. I am more into hiphop especially breakdancing myself. But my friends have dragged me along to my fair share of ballroom dancing, swing etc. I can guarantee you all these dances give you one hell of a high. If you are adventurous you can go one step further and do a musical/panto.

I personally prefer breakdancing becuase it is high paced. I like being high paced, individual in the zone pushing my own self with no one able to pull me back down. That why I enjoy trail running and rock climbing as well. But ballroom and tango have their perks too. Because they are with a partner you have to become one with them. Its quite hard to really understand a person like that, plus you look sexy as hell when you pull of a sleek lift.

Dance isn't your thing take up a new instrument. I personally like music becuase my parent's forced me to do it. I was a angry little boy, my do to reaction when things didn't go my way was anger. So they started making me take piano lessons. Have you ever tried getting angry at a piano? It doesn't work lol. But there is another timeless beauty in it as well, something which I can't really put into words but it lets you express yourself more clearly than words. That being said I am no musician by far. It takes me at least 3 times as long to learn things on the piano than other people.

And if you are really not into the arts I recommend you take up sports. Take up 2. One that is a team sport which you can do while you are young enough. The other a sport you can keep playing when you are older. squash, tennis, golf, rugby, cricket, badminton, athletics, lacrosse, racing, cycling, basketball, horseriding (expensive) anything really. All sports have the same effect when you get good. they are addictive as hell and they boost your confidence sky high.

And then you have my other love as a hobby, photography. Its not for all of us. Some of us like standing in front of the camera rather than behind it. But I love just going on to the streets and talking to strangers and taking their photos, trying to get their story in one picture. I also love just going into nature and taking photos trying to get the story of the land, the story of the bird, tree etc. into on still shot with all its colours. If you do it right each picture will tell more than a thousand words I can garuntee you that much.

 

Meditation should be a part of everyone's day regardless in my opinion. It's probably been the single most beneficial habit I've added into my life in my close to 24 years on this planet. It completely turned my life around in profound ways. So I highly recommend it.

However, I don't consider it a "hobby" with which to replace PMO, more a healthy habit that everyone should be doing anyway. So I'll make some other suggestions too.

One thing I can actively suggest in the longer term: if you're a man of patience with big ideas is to consider starting or exploring the start of your own business. Starting your own business allows you to do what you feel passionate about rather than slaving away for someone else for a pittance, but it also serves as a great way to take up all of your focus and time since getting a business off the ground is especially difficult at the start and will likely require you to dedicate long hours every single day until things start looking up. At the end of it you're left with a legacy that is your own, and during the process of getting there you simply won't have time for the likes of PMO or other negative time-wasting habits.

Even if you aren't considering starting your own business, if you map out the time you used to spend with PMO, and spend that time instead as a side-project making some kind of product (like a book, an app, a game, etc), while still working your regular job, then eventually you'd be able to turn your previous habit into new time that's making you some kind of extra income. Think of it like... getting paid for NoFap!

As for something more short term, or alternatives if you don't quite have the motivation to do the above, is working out. Working out is lots of fun, working out will see better results if you have higher testosterone (which you will have if you abstain from PMO), you get to shape your ideal body, and there is an endorphin rush after heavier workouts that compares very similarly to the endorphin rush produced on orgasm. With orgasm, the beta-endorphin release causes problems for your androgen receptors (where testosterone binds), with working out on the other hand, the increased muscle mass increases your production of testosterone - so the overall effect is a benefit rather than a decrease like orgasm.

I also suggest doing something creative. In many traditions across the world sexual energy is regarded as the energy we use when creating anything, not just children. In other words, if you're saving your sexual energy by doing something like NoFap, you actually have more energy to put into creative pursuits like painting, drawing, writing, playing an instrument, programming, etc. Pick something that you enjoy doing and are willing to invest a lot of time in learning (no-one starts off a master artist or a god-like guitar player - you have to be willing to practice and learn), and do it regularly.

I also suggest investing some time in self-development each day. What better way to reclaim the time wasted negatively with PMO than to replace it with learning the core skills and ideas that can help propel you towards your greatest successes in life? Pick up some classic books like Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, David Deida's The Way of the Superior Man, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, etc, and get studying them. If you're strapped for time and can't really read the books I mentioned, download audiobooks and play them at 2x speed, you'll get the entire book done in like 3-4 hours, while still listening at a speed that you can understand.

Also check out the many YouTube channels on the subjects out there. FightMediocrity is a great one (and the one who gave me that 2x speed audiobook idea, since it's how he digests so many books so quickly) who does quick 10 minute book summaries of self-development books. So if there's a particular book you can't yet get your hands on, you can digest the most important lessons within it by watching one of FightMediocrity's videos. Strength Camp and Elliot Hulse are good for workout motivation & general self-development stuff. Any of the RSD guys (RSDTyler etc) are good for pick up & social advice, as well as some general self-development advice. Julien (another of the RSD guys) has a personal channel for general self-development & book summaries. InfiniteWaters/Ralph Smart is also great, has a great friendly vibe, and has a slightly more spiritual take on the self-development process. Eckhart Tolle for even more spiritually related stuff. I could go on and on!

 

Try to learn computer programming it is highly rewarding and take much time.

 

That's what I'm doing, and I'd suggest it to anyone, also, soldering is fun too. It is very relaxing and cheap to get started with.

 

Which language did you choose as first language? I took Python and it's fun.