re: Would you say that your hobbies make your life bearable?

My hobby has been, for years, competitive shooting which also includes reloading, handloading. It embodied teaching as well.

Speed and accuracy on the pistol or 3-gun course and long range precision shooting on a 1000 meter line are perishable skills that deteriorate with age. Muscle memory, eyesight, cardio recovery and the subsequent decline ... it's inescapable.

My Dad was a hobbiest carver, sketcher and painter that honed his hobby into a marketable skill to the point where he made 100s of 1000s of dollars doing it after he retired at 62 years of age. At around 72 he had so many back orders and so many demands for more of his work that it became a job rather than a hobby so he gave it up.

Point being, a hobby quits being a hobby when one becomes obsessed with it (perfectionists understand) ... doesn't matter what it is, fishing, painting, shooting, competing on some level.

I am now mostly handloading ... matching perfect loads to perfect rifles all with the idea of handing it all down one day, before or after I die.

Dad left 100s of carvings and paintings now on display in stranger's homes, some celebrity's homes ... and our family's homes.

Point being to all of this ... as you get older your hobby usually encompasses something, some skill or srrvice, that will have worth or value after your death. At least that applies to most people.

Fishing is not so much a hobby as a pastime and that illustrates a significant difference between a hobby and a pastime.

Drinking is a pastime.

Helping disadvantaged children, mentoring, can be a hobby or a calling or both.

Attempting to write a publishable book, a novel or an instructional volume of some sort, something of worth ... is it a hobby or a pastime?

Tracing, putting-together, your family's genealogical history to pass down to your kids ... that's a hobby.

Woodworking is a common hobby among men ... even if it's building birdhouses.

Name a common post menopausal hobby for women.