22/08/2025

Hobbieless and the way it all connects

I have spent years refining a skill: switching off the different parts of my life so I can enjoy each one fully. It does not always work perfectly, but when it does, it makes all the difference.

To me, it is like having several compartments in my mind. I open only the one I need and let ideas cross over from time to time. It is a way of bringing those compartments together when it matters. Work stays in its place, I take my hobbies seriously and, every now and then, something more can come of them.

I like to think of myself as several professionals in one. I work in IT, take photographs, use 3D printing, and know my way around electronics and DIY. Understanding how things work helps me repair them, make use of available resources and help other people. Someone once called me MacGyver, and I do not mind: I like finding the right way to solve a problem with the tools and resources at hand.

People tell me I am quite resourceful and, luckily, I can get things done without depending on anyone else. I wish that were true financially as well, but as long as I can cover the essentials, I keep going. There is always something to do or a project under way.

One day I looked at my whole room from a different perspective, going over every object and every corner as pieces of a larger whole. I started writing down the hobbies connected to them. The list was longer than I expected and eventually inspired the name: Hobbieless. It is a playful name, because I do not have just one hobby, nor do I live only for them. Everything connects in one way or another.

Compartmentalising helps me decide what to focus on and enjoy it from beginning to end. Even getting organised has become another hobby. That is also how the idea for Fix & Make came about: a place to share how I transform, repair and reinvent things, big and small, and how the practical side of life intertwines with everything I think and write about here.

This is the first part of a series: Hobbieless — the way it all connects. I want to tell the story of how this way of organising myself supports my life and lets me enjoy every part of the journey.