hobby update, birds and books
Update blog
In my last blog post I started with something like:
I am not the only one to think “When I retire I am going to get really into (insert old-person hobby).” That hobby might be bird watching, writing, pottery, reading, or playing bingo. But here’s the obvious thing that only clicked for me this year: I can start doing these things now.
Well that was about 6 months ago, so sorry that it has been a while. The fun news is that since then I have in fact picked up a lot more reading, and bird watching! Yipee!
This post is just to talk a bit about them, and the joys of neuroplasticity.
Birds
For those that know me, they know I adore my wife. Well, my wife adores birds. They have always been a fascination, something beautiful and interesting, but never something I was as interested in beyond pointing at a colourful bird and thinking “neat”.
It wasn’t actually until my mum recommended we watch the YouTube documentary “LISTERS: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching” that I honestly thought I could get into birding. Not in the same crazy competitive form portrayed in the documentary, but I can download some apps and make the effort to go look at birds every now and then. And I must say, it’s super fun.
I’m definitely no expert, but I really enjoy going to a new place and ID’ing a bird I haven’t seen before. Or seeing a bird I haven’t seen before in a park I walk often.
I got a camera just for birding… Which feels like it could be the start of a whole other hobby, but one that has a bigger barrier to entry in terms of dollars $$$. But so far I have been happy with the results of a second hand Nikon D5500 I got on marketplace.
Books
I have also read through a bunch of books over the last 6 months, probably more than any other period of my life. Audiobooks have been a game changer for me personally, I have been a big podcast listener for years, the change was pretty seamless.
Like a lot of people I have binged through the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and I’ve gotten through the first 3 Red Rising books. These were both very entertaining and really helped to start my love for reading. I am currently on Gideon the Ninth, and have many, many more in my backlog, but feel free to reach out and recommend your favs. ben@bensblog.buzz
Neuroplasticity works
Stay with me here, but with hobbies a big part of why I struggled to stick with them is that I was not getting the instant feedback I wanted. When you play a video game you instantly get a point for doing the thing. But, when you read a page in a book or go for a walk you are in your own head and things are slower. I attribute this to two things, having a weaker willpower at that time, and not understanding that Neuroplasticity would take some time to kick in. So what changed…
Well the obvious thing I have talked about before is the gym. I strengthened the willpower muscle by forcing myself to do things I didn’t want to do. Like, going to the gym when it’s dark, raining, the bed is comfortable etc etc. I think over time that has made my brain a bit more resilient. I’ve proven to myself that if I do a thing I am not good at, that over time I will improve.
So birds and books
Yep, Birds and Books… while I am loving the hobbies for myself, the entertainment they provide and the communities online that come with them. The best part is that they are hobbies my friends and family both share, and it’s been so rewarding being able to share moment watching Bird with my wife, or talking about recent reads with family and friends.