Hobby or Passion or Interest What is the difference? Is there a differ

[Paul B Technic]

This is something I have written on the differences between hobbies, passions and interests and how they relate to the LEGO hobby which some people might find interesting.

"Hobby or Passion or Interest What is the difference? Is there a difference?"

http://paulstechnic.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/hobby-or-passion-or-interest-what-is.html

Is your hobby also your passion or has your passion become your hobby? Does it matter? What about interests, where do they fit in? A lot of people think that your hobby is your passion and that you have to have a hobby you are passionate about; I disagree for a number of reasons.

What is the difference between a hobby and a passion? One definition I have heard is this: “A hobby is something you choose to do when you have a little spare time, but a passion is something that you consider fundamental to your life” To a lot of this people the LEGO hobby fits this definition.

Expanding on this and relating it back to LEGO and me, I have some thoughts this. A lot of people are involved in the LEGO hobby for a number of reasons. Some people have this as an extension of their professional work, for others it was a hobby passed on to them from family or friends growing up, other people have come to it / back to it when they have had children themselves. The main difference to me between a hobby, passions and interests is both how you feel about and also how other people see it.

I first became involved in the radio hobby as a teenager listening to distant radio stations on the AM broadcast band of a night time, as I grew older I became involved in electronics at college and this grew to an interest in another radio related area which was radio scanning, this was about 15 years ago. Over the past 15 years while I have mostly been involved in radio scanning I have a couple of times tried by hand at shortwave and medium wave listening with mixed success. In all these cases this was as an addition to the radio scanning hobby, now I have totally removed myself from the radio scanning hobby and I am concentrating on the LEGO hobby, both designing / building my own MOCs plus assisting with various aspects of our LEGO club / Brixhibition's.

The reason I decided to make this change after 15 years is based on a few things:

- The public perception of radio scanning is not good, most people know nothing about radio scanning and when you try and explain it to them either they think it should be illegal or they look at you like you are some sort of weirdo. Radio scanning is not really the sort of hobby that you can talk to other people about easily. When I was involved in the radio scanning hobby I was more interested in the technical / procedure details and less about the content which is different to most people who only care about finding out what was going on.

- After 15 years the radio scanning hobby has to me lost some of the appeal, you can only hear so many taxi drivers calling for jobs or Jones waste talking about bin pick ups before you get sick of it. As I work during the day my scanning time is limited to a night time or of a weekend, while you can sometimes hear interesting things during these times most of the radio traffic I am interested in happens during the day, while I am at work. My job means that I get some time off each week during the day, even with having the whole day to myself every couple of weeks I was still not happy with what I was hearing on my scanners. If I was not happy in a situation like this when I have the time to do it then I finally realised that I never really would be in the radio scanning hobby. The LEGO is such that I can undertake parts of it any time of the day or night.

Going back to my original question of the difference between a hobby, passion and interest I have some thoughts, I will use fishing as an example but this can be related back to almost anything including LEGO.

- If you go fishing a couple of times a year when you go away to the coast then this is an interest.

- If you go fishing a couple of times a month and maybe read a magazine or two this is a hobby.

- If you go fishing as often as you can, read magazines and books, maybe be a part of a club and plan things around fishing then this is a passion.

Now from a LEGO point of view.

- If you buy a couple of sets a year and build them for display but have no other involvement in the LEGO hobby than this is an interest.

- If you buy multiple sets a year and some other people know about this, you also maybe read a blog or forum about LEGO and am a member of a LEGO group / club than this is a hobby.

- If you buy LEGO as often as you can, many people around you know about your involvement in the LEGO hobby, you read books about it, be a part of a club, display at expos, post on forums / have your own website / blog and plan things around LEGO then this is a passion.

The second part of this is around other people and what they see of you from your interest, hobby or passion. I work with computers as my job and while I enjoy the work it is not really a passion, it is what pays the bills. Some people I know work with computers but also play games, build websites and build computers outside work, this then becomes a passion for them. Sometimes when I am talking to people they are surprised to find I don’t have a computer at home and that I don’t play games much. A lot of people get defined by other people because of their work where as in a lot of cases that is not all that is important to them. I would much rather talk about LEGO related topics than computers for example.

Something to always be mindful of is that your interest, hobby or passion does not come at the expense of your work, family, friends or relationships. I have on more than one occasion seen how destructive having a single focus can be to relationships. Balance is the key; however you should not let somebody try and change you to suit what they perceive as being right or better.

My goal over the next 6 - 12 months is to continue to grow in the LEGO hobby, develop new friendships and expand my involvement in this hobby. My interest became my hobby and it is now my passion.

[Niku]

Really an interesting read, I ll check it out.

By the way nice blog too.

[Paul B Technic]

Really an interesting read, I ll check it out.

By the way nice blog too.

Thank you, it is something I decided to write after talking to a few different people.

I am glad you like my blog :)

[N-4K0]

I only buy a couple of sets a year, so on that area Lego is an interest of mine. But I do build a lot and buy parts through BrickLink and post on this forum, the latter of which puts me into the "passion" part.

Where does that put me, interest, hobby or passion? personally I think of it as a hobby.