If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed that I just posted some Call It Consequences fan art.

You might have also noticed that I don’t post art nearly as often as I used to. What happened?

We all have things we love to do. Things we slowly lose time for.

But is that it? Is it just because there’s no time? Or are there other factors at play?

Why do we stop doing things we love?

1: Priorities

Sometimes our to-do list fills up fast, with no room for pastimes.

A friend of mine had to stop playing D&D with us because she needed to focus on her job. That’s fair! Some fun things–though fun–take up time we don’t have anymore.

But sometimes the priorities aren’t so obvious. Sometimes they’re so sneaky you don’t even notice them.

I don’t draw as often anymore. That’s not because I don’t physically have time–that’s not where the “priority” lies.

It’s that I’d rather play Lego games with my roommate. I’d rather go see a movie with a friend. I’d rather read a book in bed or make a 3D model with my laptop.

So do you really not have the time? What takes precedence?

2: Pride

Humans are very good, I think, at creating cyclical problems for themselves. For me, I don’t do art because I don’t feel like it, or I don’t have time, or any number of reasons-slash-excuses.

Then a week goes by.

“I should draw something,” I think.

“No,” I reply. “No no, you can’t do that–you haven’t drawn in a week!”

And then comes the ouroboros moment: I can’t draw because I’m out of practice, and I’m out of practice because I haven’t drawn.

And around and around I go.

But see, habits like that are easily formed, and often easily broken. It comes down to pride, I think. Accepting that you might be a little rusty is the first step to starting up again.

3: Perception

Our last reason is the simplest, I think.

Why do we stop doing things we love? We forget we love them.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me to show her how to draw people. It’d been a while since I’d drawn anything–especially something more than a basic sketch.

We sat at a coffee shop with our iPads and I walked her through my process (which isn’t much of a process, if you ask me, but it’s somewhere to start at least) as we each drew her D&D character.

Once our time was up, I hadn’t finished my sketch. So I decided to keep working on it when I got home. I cleaned up the sketch, “inked” it, colored it, added shading and lighting and all that fun stuff.

And the whole time I thought, “Wow, I missed this.”

Drawing hadn’t been fun in a while. It had become a task. But through my friend’s excitement at creating, my love for it was renewed.

So…no pressure

I think most of the pressure with doing hobbies well, nowadays, is that everyone posts their hobbies online. Pastimes have become content, and we’ve convinced ourselves that if it’s not Instagram-worthy than it’s not worth doing.

Maybe that’s just me, but I don’t think so.

You don’t need to avoid doing things because you’re afraid of doing them poorly. At the end of the day, hobbies are for you to enjoy. Not the internet. Not me. Not Hermione. YOU.

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