Do you ever completely lose interest in hobbies you were into for years?

[Sidewinder]

Yeah, gave up on all my hobbies thanks to a bunch of mental illnesses. Photography used to be my passion, pretty much haven't touched my brand new camera for over 3 years now and before that I was barely taking any pictures either.
Same thing for videogames, played since I was 7, now I can be happy if I play like two hours in a week, lol.
Hiking? Lol what's the point.
Reading books? Maybe one a year if I'm lucky.

 

[rashbeep]

Chronic depression and constant work do that to a person.

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[Pyramid Head]

I used to collect Transformers figures and do a lot of TF related artwork, but not so much these days. The movies kind of killed my interest in drawing/3d modelling Transformers, and diametrically opposed rise in price/decline in detail and quality of the toys pretty much killed my collecting.

I buy Gundams now.

 

[Rendering...]

Reading fantasy books went away for me for a very long time. Then, suddenly, I met a friend who used to read Wheel of Time and he basically got me back into that series. So now, 20 years after starting the series abs losing interest, I picked it up again and I'm having a blast with it.

It can definitely come back. Maybe try a book club?

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A book club might be good, yeah.

I should also just remind myself to open my Kindle app more often. I love reading on my phone because I have a big library that's instantly accessible, and the notetaking, highlighting, and bookmarking features are so useful for the way I like to read.

Or I could try opening one of the physical books at my bedside. I think I've had The Long Ships sitting there for upward of five years, god damn.

The real issue is how my head is packed with bad memories, and reading tends to make my mind wander. So that's a problem. But then, compulsive internet browsing isn't really a fix for that, and I don't love the idea of wasting even more time.

Actually, I was thinking of starting The Stormlight Archive, because it could be nice to get lost in an ambitious epic fantasy story. I don't really know what to expect, but I did like the preview of the The Way of Kings intro that I partially read today.

 

[Ciao]

Not as invested in games as I used to be. Lost a bit of passion for reading too these last 2 years. Can't complete books or game anymore, I'm sitting on a huge backlog for both, playing/reading them for 2h and then dropping them to do something else.
I don't know if it's really losing interest, maybe it's just an attention span problem. Having too much entertainement available can be overwhelming.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

A book club might be good, yeah.

I should also just remind myself to open my Kindle app more often. I love reading on my phone because I have a big library that's instantly accessible, and the notetaking, highlighting, and bookmarking features are so useful for the way I like to read.

Or I could try opening one of the physical books at my bedside. I think I've had The Long Ships sitting there for upward of five years, god damn.

The real issue is how my head is packed with bad memories, and reading tends to make my mind wander. So that's a problem. But then, compulsive internet browsing isn't really a fix for that, and I don't love the idea of wasting even more time.

Actually, I was thinking of starting The Stormlight Archive, because it could be nice to get lost in an ambitious epic fantasy story. I don't really know what to expect, but I did like the preview of the The Way of Kings intro that I partially read today.

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I've never had a reading device before. For me, it's always just books. I like the idea that it's a completely unplugged experience powered solely by my mind and the words on the page. It helps me enjoy the experience a lot even though I wouldn't call myself a book collector.

 

[TheGummyBear]

As others have mentioned, clinical depression made me withdraw from my hobbies. A messy break up was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, and stopped really deriving pleasure from anything. I'd play video games for something to just do, rather than out of any sense of fun, I stopped going to the cinema and whenever I mustered enough energy to attempt to find a new hobby, the venture would be doomed to be a non-starter. Most days Id either be drunk or couldn't muster the energy to even get up in the morning, and would spend all day laid down.

That lasted for about 4 years, and it was only after coming out of the closet in the summer that I started engaging with hobbies and feeling a bit more like my old self, spending entire days in the cinema and my gran giving me a loan for a PS5 as a coming out present.

Even then though, I still have bouts where I don't really feel enjoyment out of anything. Some days it's just a hollow feeling, others its anxiety over world events and a sense that engaging with anything is pointless.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Yeah depression made me withdraw from anime, and I only got back into it fairly recently in fact.

also fwiw, I've been playing games less lately due to some burnout

 

[Seirith]

There have been lots, but mostly as a kid, like I was big into X-men for a while and collected everything X-men but then stopped and got onto to something else. It hasn't happened that much as an adult.

I do find it a bit strange that people who no longer play video games are on a video game forum, I know this is the off topic section and I don't post on the game side very often but I do like and play games.

 

[TheGummyBear]

I do find it a bit strange that people who no longer play video games are on a video game forum, I know this is the off topic section and I don't post on the game side very often but I do like and play games.

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You can still be interested in something while lacking the drive to actively engage with it.

Speaking from my own experiences, even though I lost my enjoyment for things with my depression, I'd still talk about my hobbies. Even if it was only because it was a subject matter I knew about and part of me was seeking a form of social contact while stuck in a depressive episode.

 

[meowdi gras]

I've kind of lost interest in everything, which I think means I'm depressed.

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All the time, more for the lack of money than anything.

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👆 Both of these.

When I started my degree in Japanese I completely lost interest in anime. Being surrounded by weebs all the time and walking into a classroom where everyone is singing the Attack on Titan theme song and having classmates come to class in cosplay, will do that to a person.

I wish I could get into it again, but every show just makes me cringe. Anime was ruined for me :(.

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Lmao

 

[Strax]

I used to live and breath football from age of 6 to 23. I used to watch every game my local team played, I had 10-20 hours of team practice a week and stayed after them to practice with some of my friends, I watched every Man Utd game and many other games, I was a referee for 3-4 years, I wrote about football for the biggest football website in my country for 3-4 years. Now I only watch my national team, CL final, Euros and World Cup.

The main reason I stopped was because watching football was always a group thing for me and when we turned 23 my friends got heavy into fantasy football and after that they didn't care who won or who lost as long as their players got points

 

[Panic Freak]

I don't care to watch football other than my beloved Broncos anymore. I'd rather do almost anything else.

One constant thread for my hobbies has been my love for photography. I love finding a perfect shot and sharing it with my friends or hanging it on my wall. I've tried to find new ways to do that. Most recently is that I bought a ski pass so I'm working on a project where I take black and white skiing photos. It's really gotten me back to the basics.

One hobby that did wane was an interest in movies. I used to go to the movie theater a lot because it was the only place where I could watch a movie distraction free. I recently put a projector in my basement to watch movies and it's been nice. It holds my attention much more than a TV and I don't know why.

 

[EarlGreyHot]

Star Wars. It was everything to me as a kid and teenager. I watched the movies so many times, had a ton of toys.

Don't care anymore. The magic is gone.

 

[nonoriri]

When I started my degree in Japanese I completely lost interest in anime. Being surrounded by weebs all the time and walking into a classroom where everyone is singing the Attack on Titan theme song and having classmates come to class in cosplay, will do that to a person.

I wish I could get into it again, but every show just makes me cringe. Anime was ruined for me :(.

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Yep happened to me too. Though less about cringe and just burnout because of the difficulty of the classes. After studying abroad and graduating, I basically dropped anime for years. Eventually I fell back into it though. I just needed time away I guess lol.

 

[Richiek]

Star Wars. It was everything to me as a kid and teenager. I watched the movies so many times, had a ton of toys.

Don't care anymore. The magic is gone.

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Agreed. The toxic fanbase doesn't help either.

 

[aett]

I've been running tabletop rpgs for a group for the last 3-4 years (first 5e, then PF2e). The pandemic moved us to online play, which we started doing 1-3 times per week, and I loved it. I could have done more if people were interested. I spent so much of my free time planning sessions and reading the rulebooks and so on.

We switched to a set weekly schedule back in July. There are six players plus me, so the rule was: if at least four players show up, we're playing.

Unfortunately, this led to people not telling me that they couldn't make it until, at best, a few hours before the session. This would happen even if they were canceling for plans they'd had for days or much longer, like birthday parties and vacations. The final straw was when three players all did this on the same night after I had planned an important session that took a lot of time and effort.

I talked to everyone about it and got no apologies or, honestly, anything at all (apart from my number one player who was very sympathetic and upset at the others). It took ALL the wind out of my sails. I canceled the game for the month of December, using the holidays as an excuse, but I've lost all interest in running the game for the foreseeable future.

 

[Deleted member 9241]

I've always juggled a handful of hobbies so I just switch to another when I am not feeling my current one. The only thing that I was heavily invested in for a number of years that I dipped out of entirely was Lego.

My current hobbies are broken down between consumption and creative. Something like video games and board games are largely consumption based. Luckily, there is a lot of synergy between my creative hobbies of miniature painting, terrain building, and modeling that bridges the gap and often times everything overlaps in pretty awesome ways, like when I am painting marvel miniatures for a board game. The huge overlap means I am often working on multiple hobbies at once.

 

[Bengraven]

HARD OBSESSED with western history and fiction from the mid-2000s and for many years. After RDR1 came out it got even worse. I have hundreds of books on western history and actually wrote three western fantasy novels during NaNoWriMo. Still LOVE the time period and the history, but I don't devour it anymore. I used to have Encore Westerns on TV all day long while my kid was growing up, just for atmosphere. Western groups on Facebook helped knock me down a few pegs, though, with the rise of Trumpism and getting banned for posting actual history to back up arguments with some of the racist moderators.

Obsessed with Marvel comics in the 90s and early 2000s. Faded, came back briefly, died again. No interest in comics anymore, if ever again.

Obsessed with manga and anime in the mid-90s. Came back hardcore the last couple years. Currently massively obsessed with collecting and reading manga.

Obsessed with collecting action figures for the last four years. Suddenly decided I didn't want to do it anymore and am selling most of my collection.

Obsessed with adult fantasy novels for several years during the GRRM hype. Ice and Fire, Scott Lynch novels, Joe Abercrombie, Rothfuss, Jack Vance, etc. Obsessively devoured Robin Hobb's Farseer books and after was like "you know what? I've read enough books about white dudes with swords and horrific human cruelty, I think I'm okay now".

I've always juggled a handful of hobbies so I just switch to another when I am not feeling my current one. The only thing that I was heavily invested in for a number of years that I dipped out of entirely was Lego.

My current hobbies are broken down between consumption and creative. Something like video games and board games are largely consumption based. Luckily, there is a lot of synergy between my creative hobbies of miniature painting, terrain building, and modeling that bridges the gap and often times everything overlaps in pretty awesome ways, like when I am painting marvel miniatures for a board game. The huge overlap means I am often working on multiple hobbies at once.

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I think you and I are very much alike. Any excuse to mix creativity with consumption will make me even more enthralled and obsessed with something.

I always said that if I could have ever found PNP RPG friends, I would have become massively obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons - creating hundreds of character, my own worlds and modules, furiously collecting the books, painting the figures, but I just never did so I never scratched that itch.

 

[entremet]

Sports of late. Games are just too long.

 

[Cubaneyes]

i agree with most, sounds like its a bit of depression that can cause that distaste for things. i have many issues but i noticed my hobbies never stopped, they just go into hibernation. the biggest thing for me is video games, i noticed that even during the worst moments in my life, ive always escaped to video games

 

[Gray Matter]

I lose interest in cycling over the winter months because I can't ride outdoors and I lose interest in video games over the summer months because im too busy riding my bike outdoors.

 

[TissueBox]

Yeah, boyfriend.

 

[hiro42]

I'm taking a long break from Magic the Gathering. It was just more fun and innocent before my friends and I had the means to purchase individual cards.

 

[Sesha]

Yeah that's me as well. Totally forgot about that. Now I'm more interested in YouTube videos than new movies, for the most part. What the fuck is wrong with me?

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Might be computer/internet addiction. I've had that problem for years. Maybe try cutting internet/youtube for a period (a day or a week, for starters) outside of what's necessary (work/school, paying bills) and see if it does anything.

 

[Krombopulos_MK]

The only one I've straight up cut off is fantasy football. It was fun to have the social aspect of it and to have added meaning to a variety of games throughout the week, but by then end I was putting too much time in only to have seasons derailed by acts of god.

On hiatus, reading for fun (grad studies killed that, now trying to bring it back) and playing instruments (drums and piano are not conducive to living in small spaces).

 

[AliceAmber]

I used to be very into sewing and costuming. I just got to a point where I ran out of costumes I wanted to do, and the hobby was so stressful and expensive.

 

[Speevy]

Once you get to 30 it's only a matter of time.

 

[Tohsaka]

Why yes, I do have depression.

 

[Autumn]

Wrestling.

 

[Flygon]

Honestly, it feels like robot combat (ie. BattleBots/Robot Wars) might be becoming that for me.

Which kinda sucks, because I wound up being the ringleader for the weekly watchparty of about 10-16 people every week a new episode happened. And none of them individually could figure out how to get the system for organising everyone else working.
So I feel obligated to keep up with "that" anyway just to keep them happy for the next season early January.

Does that even count as a hobby?

 

[kamineko]

I fell off comics pretty hard. Try to pick them up now but I don't like the stories anymore. Every once in a while, someone will recommend a good graphic novel, and I'll read it, but that's it. This is from buying/reading several issues every month.

I'm over Star Wars, too. Just don't like it anymore

When I'm depressed, all I do is play video games. I don't really enjoy it, but it makes time pass which is what I'm willing to settle for. I don't play nearly as much when I'm doing well

 

[Pokémon]

I used to speedrun NES/Game Boy games competitively and play a lot of retro games in general. At some point I realized I am just not good enough to compete at the highest level and completely lost interest in the hobby, plus I felt burned out from it. I even stopped watching speedruns on Twitch entirely which I was watching religiously over several years.
Nowadays I am glad I dropped that hobby because it was like an addiction, especially following and watching other speedrunners on Twitch.

 

[Ouroboros]

Video games have stayed constant for me. All other hobbies have come and gone. Though some because it's impossible to do while having kids. Now that they are getting older I may have more energy to work out again.

 

[Lunchbox-]

Video games -

it peaked in the 360/ps3 era and everything has been stagnant since then


Modern day NBA -

the league comes up with new ways to ruin the sport every year. The players don't have the ambition to build legacies and win with their teams. You don't have Allen Iversons or Karl Malones fighting every year in the playoffs any more. Most are all ring chasing cowards like Lebron and KD who will jump teams to other super teams to win hollow championships.

 

[Gpsych]

Interesting to see so many posts about video games on a video game forum. I'm actually in the same boat - starting last gen, I just couldn't really enjoy any games. This gen it has just continued; even on PC. I've been through this before when I skipped the entirety of the PS2 gen, but it feels different this time. I doubt I'll go back to it.

My only hobby that has maintained my interest since I was 8 years old is TTRPGs. I literally own a little over 1,000 gaming books and still continue to buy and read them (read 51 this year). Humorously, I still only run old school Earthdawn 1st edition from the 90's despite having all these modern games as well.

I've also recently found my interest in all things Star Wars waning. A lot of this is because the sequels were all so bad even though I like Mando, Clone Wars, etc.

Sometimes I think I may be experiencing some anhedonia but I bet it's more likely just exhaustion from having a 6 year old and a 15 month old.

Edit: I also think the current U.S. democracy crisis really has me down and takes up an enormous amount of time as I just doom scroll through (very real) potential scenarios for my country to be completely and utterly destroyed by insane republicans.

 

[shintoki]

You grow up, so many hobbies have fallen to the waste side for me. I still keep my toes in this, but I don't revolve my life around them anymore.

Like, I was really big into Cosplay for a good 5 years. Made a half dozen costumes, done a few shows, ended up a model for a few fashion and drag shows because of it, etc. I still go to a convention every now and then, but I'm not involved in the scene anymore.

All sports, I was heavily involved with either playing or watching for at least half a decade to 15 years. I'll play with some guys at the gym and watch about everything. But nothing like I did previously.

 

[bionic77]

Video games -

it peaked in the 360/ps3 era and everything has been stagnant since then


Modern day NBA -

the league comes up with new ways to ruin the sport every year. The players don't have the ambition to build legacies and win with their teams. You don't have Allen Iversons or Karl Malones fighting every year in the playoffs any more. Most are all ring chasing cowards like Lebron and KD who will jump teams to other super teams to win hollow championships.

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seeing a Celtics fan quit on basketball is kind of delicious.

 

[Wackamole]

Not really. It comes in waves.

 

[Lunchbox-]

seeing a Celtics fan quit on basketball is kind of delicious.

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lakers are a cancer to the sport

 

[bionic77]

lakers are a cancer to the sport

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Lakers mean love bro.

You just have to open your cold hate filled heart and maybe one day you can be one of us.

 

[PumpkinPieAddict]

As others have mentioned, chronic depression will do that (diagnosed).

Hyper focus and growing bored of something is also a sign of ADHD but I'm not doctor.

 

[RuffMadman]

I haven't been in the mood to play a single player game in so long and instead have been playing more casual/multiplayer video games like Mario Party and League of Legends again.

 

[Dr. Sanchez]

for me it's drawing. Used to draw a ton, but stopped around 5 years ago. I just got lazy and then other stuff came up and couldn't find the time to get back into it. I did just quit my job recently, so perhaps I can muster the energy I need to pick up a damn pencil.

 

[Kurita]

Video games are the main one. Kinda lost interest when I entered college. Still played a couple of games here and there, got back into WoW a few times (like 2 months every time) but that's pretty much it. The last console I bought is a 3DS back when it released.

In a way I'll say mangas, but the fact that they've become my job (I'm a translator) definitely played a big part. I need hobbies that don't remind me of work lol

 

[Molecule]

I still love video games but I don't know if it's because I'm so busy now with work and a family that im rarely in the mood to play anymore and if I do it's for a an hour, maybe hour and a half max. Sometimes I feel like games are mentally draining since you have to be active with it and interact with them and with everything going on in my life I don't feel like I have the mental juice to deal with that. Sometimes I rather just watch anime or something since that's passive entertainment.

 

[Random Painted Highway]

Have the money don't have the time or energy. 3 kids, 2 cats, 1 wife 1 house and a career as a trial/managing attorney. The only hobby at this point I have besides some iPad gaming is exercise but that is out of necessity not really enjoyment. But it is just about my only alone time that isnt the work commute and my time to listen to music. Also moving away from my home sports region means I'm pretty disconnected from teams I would follow and have turned into a fan-at-playoffs guy.

 

[LV426]

Video games. I was one of the most hardcore Xbox and Halo fan. I was around during teamxbox and Halo 2 launch was like the second coming to me.

Now I'm just barely a casual gamer that almost forgot that there was a new Halo.

I switched over to cars as a hobby.

 

[Garp TXB]

Video games. I was one of the most hardcore Xbox and Halo fan. I was around during teamxbox and Halo 2 launch was like the second coming to me.

Now I'm just barely a casual gamer that almost forgot that there was a new Halo.

I switched over to cars as a hobby.

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Ah yes, TeamXbox. That was my first real forum stomping ground

 

[bangai-o]

Hmmm... nobody mentioned porn yet.