What counts as a hobby

Is there something in your life that you do — with some sort of regularity, and without direct compensation — that you find tremendously satisfying? Something you do just because you like it? CONGRATS, YOU HAVE A HOBBY. And here at Culture Study, we love to talk about hobbies — how to find them, how to keep them, and how to deal with the seemingly ceaseless push to monetize them. Listeners have been asking for a hobby episode for years, so for the New Year, we asked two great hobbyists — Doree Shafrir and Elise Hu, of the beloved podcast Forever35 — to come on and answer all your hobby questions, including: How do I find time to hobby when I'm a parent? How do I figure out my hobbies now that I finally have time to myself? How do I keep myself from BUYING ALL THE STUFF every time I find a new hobby? How do I keep a hobby from becoming a chore? We can't wait to hear your own thoughts on these questions in the comments.

ALSO GUESS WHAT, WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODES TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod, so you just have to be a little patient and then come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible!

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Thanks to the Sponsors of Today's Episode!

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Show Notes:

• Go listen to Forever35!! And follow Doree on Instagram and Elise on Instagram

• Read Doree's tennis newsletter, Courtdate

• I love Doree's celebration post from nationals:

• Listen to Elise's previous appearance on the podcast talking all about "Sephora Teens"

• Read my post about The Unexpected Benefits of Starting a Small-Scale Dahlia Farm with Your Friends

• Doree's IVF podcast

We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• '90s Movie Soundtracks

• How incel culture and slang pops up in the mainstream

• How we think about the morality of money and taxes — who should pay taxes, who shouldn't, who "deserves" money, who doesn't, how we came to decide that religious organizations shouldn't pay taxes (and how that belief is changing), SO MUCH

• How to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)

• The State of The CHAIN RESTAURANT — and chain restaurant supply chain!!! (I'm so excited for this one)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

  For this week’s discussion: TELL US ABOUT YOUR HOBBY! Or tell us how you've made your hobby a joyful part of your life.