Shy-friendly hobbies?

[Midlife Bookworm]

Just wondered what hobbies other shy people out there had, and could recommend for me. At the moment I read a lot, am on the Internet daily and occasionally go out for meals with my fiancee. I am also a member of a social group for shy people and go to the cinema or for a meal and drinks with them about once a month. But in between I will literally lie in bed for hours listening to MP3s and not having a reason to get up that inspires me (I have bipolar disorder and am not able to work). There are things I think I should be doing - journaling, meditating, and exercising - but I can't motivate myself to do them yet. Just wondered if there is anyone else out there in the same boat - shy, depressed, and on a small budget - and what you do for enjoyment?

[Sweet Pea]

Apr 13, 2009 21:55:45 GMT -5 Midlife Bookworm said:

Just wondered what hobbies other shy people out there had, and could recommend for me. At the moment I read a lot, am on the Internet daily and occasionally go out for meals with my fiancee. I am also a member of a social group for shy people and go to the cinema or for a meal and drinks with them about once a month. But in between I will literally lie in bed for hours listening to MP3s and not having a reason to get up that inspires me (I have bipolar disorder and am not able to work). There are things I think I should be doing - journaling, meditating, and exercising - but I can't motivate myself to do them yet. Just wondered if there is anyone else out there in the same boat - shy, depressed, and on a small budget - and what you do for enjoyment?

lately, besides the things you already mentioned...drawing, painting, writing poetry, singing, dancing, hiking and driving to places of natural beauty.

[skoot]

I use computer software to make music..It's really fun and gives you something to share and talk about with others. Great tool for expressing yourself

[rukryM]

I have a hobby that can be VERY non-shy at times; Taekwondo. But then again since it's an individual versus another it's a lot more "shy friendly" than other sport activities.

[audioalone]

I got in a nice walk the other night with my zune and my fave music for company.

Let's see - shy-friendly activities. Can't think of anything different than what was already mentioned.

Perhaps solitary games (I have a hand-held checker game I play sometimes)? Crossword puzzles; that word-finding puzzle I mentioned on another thread (where you make up as many words as you can with a group of 9 letters, including one 9-letter word), etc.

I have a very big room so sometimes I like to experiment with recipes (I made fudge yesterday). It's relaxing to just cook when there's nobody around. I myself can't do it around people, that's the extent of my particular "shyness" or "sociophobia".

The usual standbys were already mentioned: reading, writing, etc. I like to play the guitar and try to make up songs or practice lead guitar runs or riffs - it's a good way to pass the time in solitude.

Sewing and knitting and crocheting or other crafts would also be good ways to spend time without having to be involved with other people.

Well I'm "all thought out" for now. Hope this helps, AuroraSky .

[Farouche]

When I'm in a zone-out mood, Stumble Upon (the Firefox add-on;it's the other SU!) can be pretty awesome. You can make it entertain you with videos or comics or online video games, but you can also use it to find some really cool sites out there. A lot of times I'll get inspiration from something I've seen on Stumble Upon, or I'll be reminded of something I wanted to do, see, or learn. There's a lot of cool free crap to do and see out there in cyberspace, and Stumble Upon is a lot easier and more satisfying than Googling around randomly in search of awesomeness.

Speaking of learning, there are a lot of useful skills out there to try your hand at. I like brushing up on my high school Spanish, and I'm kind flirting with the idea of trying my hand at a new one to bring back that new-language rush of accomplishment, heh. Another thing I'd like to work on at one point is learning some HTML-type stuff, which could be useful and interesting if you don't know it already. The guitar suggestion is a good one, too. Any musical instrument, really. I used to spend a fair bit of zone-out time playing on the keyboard or with my recorder/flute from middle school. Skoot's idea about mixing your own songs sounds like it'd be a lot of fun if you're a musical person.

If you've got fifty bucks to spare, you could buy a SIMs game and channel some creativity into making life interesting for people in your own virtual universe. Or you could play something like World of Warcraft--which is supposed to be insanely addictive, so be ye warned. Aside from MMORPGs, there are a lot of online social things like Digg or Newsvine where you could exploit your work-free hours to build a formidable reputation.

I like the idea of crocheting, too... You could at least give your hands something to do while you listen to music. One thing I think would be cool to try is some sort of weaving. But I'm not actually sure how that's normally done. It might be hard, lol. I mostly like to doodle and sketch when I want to work with my hands, which is another good recommendation. And combining drawing with hiking seems like an ideal solitary pastime.

Of course, with any of this stuff, getting up the motivation can be hard. I hear that making a schedule can help with that, but I know firsthand how hard it can be to actually follow one. It might be worth a try, though. Or you could keep a list of things to do on your bedside table, and look over it for something to pop out at you when you're feeling listless. Or put up a dry eras board on the other side of the room, write different activities all over it, and shoot Nerf darts at it from your bed to find out what you have to do that afternoon...

[Tal]

I think computer programming is one of the best hobbies for shy people...no cost besides having the computer and no interaction with others if you don't want to...and it's actually quite fun and interesting once you start to understand what you're doing. Web design, html, javascript, php, mysql and/or java are good ones to begin with.

Scale modelling (e.g. painting model soliders, building plastic aircraft & tanks) isn't too bad either...fairly inexpensive and again no social interaction required...just lots of space to store the damn things.

Write a story/world building - if you like reading, try writing fiction, or learn about something and write non-fiction. After that maybe turn your writings into a book or website. I plan to do this eventually. You could even write music reviews if you're really into listening to music.

lol, do what Farouche said and become a Simmer, then you can become sigh's new Sims buddy.

[Sigh]

Apr 15, 2009 15:39:16 GMT -5 Tal said:

lol, do what Farouche said and become a Simmer, then you can become sigh's new Sims buddy.

I see your ploy, you're sick of me bending your ear with my sims waffle aren't you

But yeah, games are a good hobby

[Farouche]

Sigh -------------
I see your ploy, you're sick of me bending your ear with my sims waffle aren't you

You're into the online version? I've never tried online Sims, but I've played Sims 1 and 2. Sims 3 looks pretty awesome. It's like Barbies for gamers, heh. ;D But I'm trying to be frugal with my time and money these days, so I'll just salivate quietly over the previews.

[Sigh]

Apr 15, 2009 21:12:06 GMT -5 Farouche said:

Sigh -------------
I see your ploy, you're sick of me bending your ear with my sims waffle aren't you

You're into the online version? I've never tried online Sims, but I've played Sims 1 and 2. Sims 3 looks pretty awesome. It's like Barbies for gamers, heh. ;D But I'm trying to be frugal with my time and money these days, so I'll just salivate quietly over the previews.

Um no, my PC is capable of playing the game and being connected to the internet for browsing, and destroying people's will to live

I'm not overly excited about the Sims 3, I don't like the thought of starting over lol.

[10010101001111]

Same as skoot but I don't recommend this if you're not a musical kind of guy. It's pretty damn hard if you don't know what you're doing. Another hobby of mine is going to the park. I finally found one down here! It's such a nice environment, this I recommend. I sometimes just go to lay down on the grass. Fell asleep a couple times. Or to do some bird watching. I also take my guitar and play it! Climb some trees... for more bird watching, and have a small talk with 'em(A word of warning!!! Them birds are scaredy cats... (City)pigeons not included). I also jog around the lake for a couple of minutes, to an hour. Throw some rocks at the duckies, just to scare 'em. Feed the ducks, the birds, the people lol (no joke). I sometimes go to the swings. I can swing myself , but I prefer getting pushed. Finally, I always take my poker cards just in case.

Other hobbies are cycling, outdoor sports, drawing, learn a new language, play with clay, play with those bouncy little rubber balls, and I also make rubber band balls

The rest of my hobbies (I don't recommend): TV + chips, google, and more google.

[Farouche]

Sigh ------------
Um no, my PC is capable of playing the game and being connected to the internet for browsing, and destroying people's will to live

I'm not overly excited about the Sims 3, I don't like the thought of starting over lol.

First part made me giggle, lol. But count me curious: what do your Sims get up to?

I've never really played fair with mine. I tend to use the $100,000 cheat code a few times so I can build my people a giant mansion and make them spend all their time dating each other, leveling up their skills, and maxing out their happy meters. Good times. If I didn't feel like there were a million productive things I ought to be doing instead, I wouldn't mind trying a "real" game, though.

[Rose]

"Shy-friendly" hobbies I enjoy: hiking in the woods, drawing, healthy cooking and inventing recipes, exercising, some weight lifting (what my puny arms can lift anyway, hehe) and sometimes I just like to sit somewhere like a park and just observe my surroundings and inspire thought.

Hmm, I could probably use some new hobbies and routines myself.

[Sigh]

Apr 17, 2009 23:12:47 GMT -5 Farouche said:

Sigh ------------
Um no, my PC is capable of playing the game and being connected to the internet for browsing, and destroying people's will to live

I'm not overly excited about the Sims 3, I don't like the thought of starting over lol.

First part made me giggle, lol. But count me curious: what do your Sims get up to?

I've never really played fair with mine. I tend to use the $100,000 cheat code a few times so I can build my people a giant mansion and make them spend all their time dating each other, leveling up their skills, and maxing out their happy meters. Good times. If I didn't feel like there were a million productive things I ought to be doing instead, I wouldn't mind trying a "real" game, though.

Mostly levelling up skills, maxing out the aspiration meters, trying to get their long term want, sending them to uni, getting them pets, trying out the different supernatural characters, and letting them date, marry, have kids. And I make a bit of stuff too. Also I cheat, quite a bit ;D

[superlative introversion]

Apr 13, 2009 22:24:05 GMT -5 Sweet Pea said:

lately, besides the things you already mentioned...drawing, painting, writing poetry, singing, dancing, hiking and driving to places of natural beauty.

Since when were singing and dancing considered shy-friendly hobbies?