SO…… Where to start?

I guess the best place would be the reason for recently looking for a hobby.

A few months ago I began thinking that something was missing from my day to day life (not in a TV Soap dramatically over the top break down type of way), more specifically, that what I was missing was a hobby. So I started thinking about what type of hobby I might want. A possible return to a hobby I had done before? A hobby I knew a little about (or so I thought initially)? A hobby that would involve meeting groups of new people? A hobby that used skills not based on ones learnt at work? But, most importantly, a hobby I almost certainly knew I would enjoy.

I work in a rather generic call centre (nothing like the one on TV), a long way from where I grew up, so almost all my friends are work colleagues. Not all I work with currently, but still they were all met through our joint need for paying the bills. As nice as these friends are it is good to have a wider group of friends where your shared experiences, both good and bad, are not all related to a particular job, company or hell bent demonic boss.

 

Also, everyone needs a release. Something they can do where they are not thinking about work: worried about the latest staffing plans, running scheduling options through the back of your mind, thinking of business buzz words that will sound cool, professional and as if they warrant a pay rise in your yearly appraisal. Therefore I wanted a hobby that required concentration during participation and allowed me to get away from the rest of my world, so that my brain could switch off from work and home issues.

I already read and collect comics (I am happy to call them comics, not hung up on them being called Graphic Novels to sound cool) and try to get to the cinema often, mainly with my girlfriend, to catch movies. But neither of these is particularly social or likely to get me outside much mixing with new people.

Preferably I also wanted something with a slight competitive edge too, as we all like to think we are good at something, even if it is seen as unimportant by others. It is the sense of achievement, confidence and pride in being better, not necessarily better than someone else, but sometimes simply better than yourself before the last time you tried. Making steps forward in a new skill and finding out that you have learnt, progressed and now further forward on the learning curve than you were last month (something that is very much the opposite of office work where you can often feel you’re hitting a brick wall each day).

So I began scratching my brain for hobbies that might interest me………………………