The Puritan self-abnegation strikes again:
I do much more than an hour a day. I love my hobbies. Aside from reading, I paint, decorate my notebook, study German for fun, and I’ve recently gotten into Bible illustration. I also do beauty routines. Blogging is clearly a hobby. So are my YouTube videos.
(I have almost no social life, this is how).
The life of only work and useful pursuits is a punishment.
This person sounds insane, they’re one bad moment away from going postal. I can’t live without my writing or listening to music or my other hobbies, I get anxious if I don’t do any writing because of work or stuff. I decompress from work by writing fiction and listening to music from my enormous collection and reading, without that I’d be angry and depressed and drink even more. People need hobbies no matter how silly they look to others, people weren’t meant to be mindless drones or robots
Ime, people without time consuming hobbies are either socializing or mindlessly scrolling tiktok in place of it. They generally aren’t any more productive than people who have time consuming hobbies; I would argue they’re less productive if anything
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They’re also a lot less interesting too, a person with hobbies will always have something to talk about even if it’s not a hobby that interests me. I love talking to other writers and discussing favorite bands with other people, people mindlessly scroll TikTok are boring AF
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Absolutely less productive. I work with someone who drops by my office two or three times a week to complain about how busy she is, complain about co-workers, or try to find out if I know any gossip. These conversations are always way too long despite my efforts to communicate that I am busy and don’t have any gossip to share. I know she does this with similar frequency with several other people in our area, and probably some others I am unaware of. And she frequently mentions getting lunch or coffee with people to network. She is always stressed and harried, always behind or down to the very last minute on basic work stuff, and her office could be featured on one of those hoarding shows. (I don’t want to know what her house looks like.) And despite being desperately behind all the time, she volunteers for all sorts of time consuming extra committee work and special projects.
I am not always the best at managing my time, but I look at her and realize I am doing quite well. I have time to read, garden, cook, and exercise most days of the week. My house and office aren’t spotless, but I can make them presentable with just a tiny bit of effort.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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