i kinda feel like most pure hobbies are regarded as eccentric, like we’re all being pressured to either covert them into “side-hustles” or drop them for something that can be, or find something that is professional development oriented. like there’s this pressure around disclosing a hobby to justify it if it’s well outside of your “work life.”

this opinion goes for hobbies that are outside the generally-approved gender-coded ones like regionally popular or seasonal sports, or ones that dovetail with professional networking and their affinity groups like golf-business or whatever is connected to the profession (i.e. outdoor education w/ rock climbing). there can be a social aspect to hobbies that i think invites some amount of pull into certain groupings, because maybe a group wants to invite more participants.