For many of us hobbies are the place where we use the passion that isn’t needed or desired or merited at the office. Maybe you’re a dancer, a photographer, a writer, or a gourmet, I bet most of you have something that you really enjoy, and that you don’t get to do nearly as much as you’d like to.

I have a few interests, but if I had the time, I’d choose to get better at making things from wood. It’s a hobby that takes time, energy, and money, and it usually comes in last place after work and family and the other things that life throws at me. Time flies by when I’m doing it, and while my projects rarely turn out as good as the plans, the journey is always fulfilling and it teaches me (over and over again) patience and humility.

But as much as enjoy my hobby, I wouldn’t want to do it for a living. In part because it wouldn’t satisfy all the other needs I get from my chosen profession, in part because I enjoy it too much to want to have it be a job, something that I would eventually  want to escape from instead of escaping to.

What about you? What’s your hobby and if you could, would you do it for a living?