Finding joy in a hobby without the pressure

A polaroid camera, lego sets and a skull on a shelf l Brenda Guerrero l Lariat

Social media turns our passions into performances, it is easy to forget what brings you joy. Alysa Liu’s return to the rink shows us that fulfillment comes from the hobbies that allow us to grow.

These days we put a lot of emphasis on how many followers we have, if what we do is cool enough or if we are doing it just for show.  This is referred to as performative. 

When was the last time you found the joy of doing something such as journaling, reading or dancing without the performance aspect attached to it?

Or do we do things just to share them online?

Melanie Delgado, a business major, whose hobby is photography because it gives her a way to express herself.

“I can create something, like exactly how I want it to,” Delgado says. “I capture exactly what I want to capture and helps me understand what I like. It’s like a projection of the stuff I’m into.”

The idea of doing an activity for the sole purpose of how it will be perceived online leads to letting go of the reason why they started it in the first place, because they enjoyed it.

People have experienced the shift from enjoyment to feeling the pressure of performing. For example, Alysa Liu who returned to skating and won the gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Alysa successfully returned to figure skating after she experienced burnout at 16 years old.

Alysa Liu’s story is a great reminder about the joy of rediscovering our hobbies and how you can step away and still come back to what you love to do. Hobbies aren’t just past time, but they are the things we do that allow us to grow and find ourselves.

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