Type 2 fun and overthinking. I am good at enjoying both.

Bouldering: I enjoy it, even though I’m not great at it. My short wingspan doesn’t help, and neither does my fear of heights. Every climb is a mix of determination and second-guessing my life choices and I’m excellent at the latest.

Gardening: It sounds relaxing, but in reality, it’s a cycle of overthinking. First, I stress about planting. Then I wait. And once/if it grows, there’s a whole lineup of threats: slugs, cats, deer, boars, hail… basically, everything conspiring against success. Not sure what I enjoy about it but I’d say I am moderately successful and can eat a self planted potato every year

Ages ago, before i started to teach my techniques to the masses, i was considered the international specialist in that field. I have withdrawn since then, but I am still good.

Hobbies are about enjoyment, not skill. You should never measure your accomplishments with hobbies based on how good you are at them.

That said… when I was younger, I only indulged in hobbies that I had any skill in. If I sucked at something, I typically gave it up quickly and looked for something else to do.

Video games were an exception. I enjoyed the gameplay so much, it didn’t matter that I was awful at them. I’d grind the same levels over and over, hoping to finally beat it this time.

Interestingly enough, I’m actually really good at video games now. Not professionally so, but I have a lot more skill than most of my friends. I’m usually appointed team leader in any co-op games I play with my friends because I’m really good at tracking the mission objective and keeping everyone together. And now that I’m retired young, I spend a lot of time gaming throughout the days, which only makes me better.

I don’t play games for the challenge or skill, though. I mostly play to enjoy an interactive story. So I usually turn the difficulty down to the easiest option so I don’t get stuck from progression at any point. I can handle really difficult games, but I just don’t want to. Unless my friends want a challenge, then I’ll crank it up and then be constantly bailing them out from the nightmare they chose to play.

Video games? Bad at them. I play lowest difficulty and still die but I have fun. Baking? Pretty good! People like my baked goods and they are almost always eaten before they go bad (unless I make far too much)

A hobby becomes a job when you worry if you are good at it.

I used to be really good at video games, but now I just don’t have the time. I remember being able to jump in any CS lobby and jump to the top of the server. I got kicked for supposedly cheating all the time. That was always a good feeling. Knowing that I’m kicking so much ass that people assume I must be cheating.

My crowning achievement is beating Super Ghouls and Ghosts - both times through (second time with the farie bracelet). This was using an original SNES, no save states or anything. Dedicated an entire summer of my teenage life to it. Game is hard, man.

Computers used to be a hobby but I turned that into a career. I’m a principal systems engineer and I like to think I’m good at what I do.

I got really into cooking, and it was maybe a hobby at some point, but now with a family it’s more of a necessity. A lot of the things I learned while cooking as a hobby turned into skills though. I’m not sure how to explain it, but like having cooking intuition. Knowing when to add more or less of something just by knowing. Also just being able to freestyle meals out of what is laying around or knowing what can be substituted with what or how to make ingredients out of other ingredients.

Decent at some and a beginner at others. Tbh, I have more hobbies than time to practice and really get good at all of them. So progress is slow, but I enjoy each one of them and don’t want to give up any just yet. Guess I’m taking the scenic route to mastery, maybe by the time I retire I’ll be really cooking. And if not, I still would consider it time well spent.

As good as I care to be. Hobbies are supposed to be fun.

Why do you have to bring up my shortcomings like that?

Best part of having hobbies is that you don’t need to be good!

Not good at all, but I’m just happy to be there.

Mediocre at best, and I lack the mental fortitude to work at much of anything these days, so wherever I’m at, I’m not going to improve much.

Some people relish the feeling of swimming through molasses* for the next hit of progress dopamine, or they don’t get that feeling at all, but that’s what happens to me and it basically short-circuits something in my brain. It’s bad enough that I struggled to write the last part of that sentence, and it’s happening while I’m proofreading this as well.

* or treacle if the unintended concept of small mammal anatomy bothers you.

Well I turned one of my major hobbies into a job so I’m pretty good at it. But now that I do it for work I don’t do it for fun anymore.

I think it is a trap to think about it this way. My hobbies are meant to bring me joy and challenge, no matter what level i am on

I am an aggressively mediocre singer but the 2 hour rehearsal on Monday is the highlight of my week. It’s so fucking fun man!