Write because you want to

It’s easy for some hobbies to become work. When this happens they cease to be a source of fun and lose their meaning. Situations include the rebuilt vintage car that becomes a source of keeping-up-with-the-Joneses work after participating in meet-ups, the relaxed gaming sessions that become stressful because of competition or… wait for it… the personal website that is a drain because you feel compelled to produce new content in case your readers abandon you.

Recently, two bloggers that I respect wrote posts that resonated with me as a hobbyist, and I now feel comfortable writing shorter posts (not everything needs to be a long and detailed) and I feel reaffirmed that its fine to choose to play around with formatting and the site itself, as separate from the content. It’s my hobby and I’m doing it because it’s fun (thanks Marco, thanks Gina). I wish it weren’t an external source that brought this realisation, but hey, I’m just glad that it’s happened.

When your hobby becomes a burden, remember why you began and find a way to make it fun again and allow yourself to stop if you can’t.