I just graduated optometry school and I feel like I’ve lost a bit of my identity. I didn’t have much free time to focus on the things that make me happy and now I’m lacking inspiration. I can’t work until my license is approved so I’ve had days of doing nothing since May 7. It’s been great but it’s starting to get boring; I can only play so much Zelda and doom scroll so often.
So whatcha got? What do you like to do? What are some hobbies or passions everyone has? What are non-drinking related activities to do with a partner or friends?
Similar situation - I’d been at a job for about 10 years that robbed me of all of my time, but didn’t pay me enough to comfortably stay home or take vacations.
I went freelance but current events happened and now I’m home a lot. I beat Elden Ring. I put like 100 hours into Rimworld. Gaming can get super depressing in a concentrated binge, so what I also have done:
Backpacking. Nerd out on gear for a week or so, go to REI and drop some money, and go walk for days at a time. I love it. Most recently just did a 15 mile out, sleep, 15 mile back trip and it definitely was good on my brain (rough on my body)
DIY tech projects. I had a couple raspberry pis around. One is now a synth / sequencer / workstation with a midi keyboard using the Zynthian OS and the other is going to do some self-hosting.
Fixing my furnace. This one isn’t one I recommend.
Cigars for me, but any kind of highly indulgent consumable that people like to talk about. Chocolate, wine, cheese, etc.
Exploring. You’d be amazed what you can find just walking around. A friend just showed me a crazy underground stream that I’ve been walking over for YEARS now and I had no idea it existed. Going to go check it out.
Plants and Birds. I have a front porch. My days of nothing to do usually start with about an hour or so on the porch with a cigar, watching and trying to identify the birds that come to my feeder and admiring the progress of my plants that are growing out there.