Hobbies, The Cure for the Common BLAH!

Like most people, I have my hobbies that I like to turn to when I need an escape from reality. Oddly enough, my hobbies mostly center around what I do for a living. For example, when I’m feeling particularly stressed out or in need of escape, I like to fire up my favorite text editor, Notepad++ and hack away at some code. Today was one of those marathon coding days.

All in all, this week was good. I accomplished some important tasks for work. Got a decent amount accomplished around the home, and generally had a decent week. Still, for some reason, I’ve been in an absolute funk most of the week. I’m sure part of this is due to fighting a sinus/respiratory infection. Regardless, I really needed a release today. Since my wife is also sick, I couldn’t really escape to my first choice escape, hiking, but I could remain around the house to help and still get quite absorbed in coding.

I like coding because it has a tangible result. When I’m done tackling a particular task or project, I can stand back and say, “Look what I did!” Given that the vast majority of what I know about programming I’ve taught myself through trial and error and through resources like W3 Schools, I take a lot of pride in what little I can do. Granted, a LOT of people out there can do more. I kid myself not. Regardless, I can do what I can do and it feels good to be able to do it. This is especially true when there is a particular problem that’s been eating at me for a while and I finally figure out a solution on my own. That feeling ROCKS!

Today, I needed some quality time with code. Non-geeks might read that sentence and say, “WTF?!”. Geeks/Nerds/Programmers, or whatever you want to call them, will understand entirely! There’s something about hacking away at code that takes away much of the illogical insanity of the world, even if for only a little while. Code, in its truest form, is pure, devoid of emotion. It will only return a result that is already defined. In many ways, it just makes sense. Now, many of my programming friends, and even I at times, will argue that code can be completely illogical. Sure, but only when it’s programmed that way. Hence the reason why I say, in its purest form.

Today was one of those days that it’s probably best I don’t know how to program more than I do. I had one epiphany after another. If I knew how to program more, I’d probably allowed myself to get sucked into a 72 hour coding bender! Ignorance is bliss indeed!

Sorry, I’m not going to share my code with you this time. The code I wrote today was for one of my sites. I had to take one script I paid for and one I got for free and figure out how to merge them to fix the shortcomings of each script. The people who wrote the original programs know a heck of a lot more PHP and MySQL than I do, but the both lacked attention to detail. As a perfectionist Virgo, this bugged the HELL out of me! So, hacking away I went. The end result is that I fixed a site that has been very problematic due to those half-assed scripts. Well, I mostly fixed it. I still have a little debugging to do, but what I did accomplish is functionality 10x greater than the original author’s achieved. That feels awesome!

Now, after sitting here hunkered over my computer for many, many hours today, I feel somehow cleansed. My mood is better, I feel a sense of accomplishment, I feel like I’ve invested my time wisely as it will save me many hours later and even though I didn’t get some stuff done today I needed to and I still have some work to do on my scripts, I feel comfortable in what I have done today.

So, why am I sharing this with everyone here? Simple, regardless of what you do for a living and what you enjoy doing for a hobby, sometimes you just have to let yourself get absorbed in a hobby for a day and let it take over you. As I stated earlier, even though this week was OK, I wasn’t in a good mood. That was having a very negative effect on my overall well-being and, most importantly, the people around me. By allowing myself to just get completely immersed in something that I thoroughly enjoy, I was afforded a much needed release and I will be much more productive and pleasant to be around.

Now, as with all things, moderation is the key. If you’re turning to your hobby every day or you are investing more time in your hobby than you are family or responsibilities, then you’re taking it too far. But for those of us who rarely get to invest time in something just for the sake of relaxation or self-improvement, taking such a diversion can be very rewarding.

I know I’m not the only Type-A personality out there. Honestly, many of my friends and family fit the profile! Type-A people often find it hardest to take that needed break and many of us feel guilty when we do so. Ironically, we are often the ones who need a break the most.

I’m glad I got to take this diversion today and I’m equally glad I shared it here. I may not have a wealth of programs or designs, or marketing tips to share with the world, but what I do have is my experience, strength and hope. That accounts for something.

If you haven’t done so lately, take a break and enjoy a hobby, whatever it is!