A lot of friends both online and offline seem struggle to engage with and re-ignite their passion for their favorite hobbies in recent years. This has been especially visible within my circles of cinephiles.
I get it.
There is so much out there across so many different mediums and you feel like you’ve already ticked off and had your time with what actually spoke to you and your desires.
Time and energy feel more limited now too, since the world hit ‘resume’ on all the machinery of society after the height of the pandemic. The wheel requires more and more from us as the years pass and social lives in person are back in full swing.
As someone who has burned out a lot over the past years in both my professional life and hobbies, I’d like to give a handful of tips that have worked for me to rekindle that passion for the hobby that speaks loudest to my soul and joys. Tips that still spark that flame for the things I love to engage in.
These are practical tips that aren’t just platitudes. They have worked for me in practice. As someone who doesn’t like the tip ‘take a break’ when it comes to the media hobbies I like, I find the need to have practical tips that DO help bring back that joy and I hope this will help at least someone rekindle their joy for their medium of choice.
I will be framing this around films, but feel free to apply these to any of your hobbies if you see your own parallels or reverse them when applying to long form content where applicable.
Randomize or rewatch an old fave
This is a relative new joy that I chanced upon through my work-schedule induced habits. I work in multi-day 12 hour shifts, which doesn’t leave enough room to watch a film during those workdays, as I only have 12 hours to get back home, eat, sleep and get ready and get back to work for the next day.
However, at the end of the last day of my shift run, I have found the following habit to look forward to when the energy isn’t at a critical low.
This does require setting a few things ahead of time if you do this like me, but you’ll only have to do it once.
- Put together a list of films you have access to that you have seen and liked. You can have that be a Plex library, a VLC playlist, or just your preferred storage unit housing your physical media. You only need to set this up once but feel free to update it over time.
- Stock up on and grab a snack of your choice. I prefer non-buttered popcorn, since it doesn’t stick or oil up my fingers and it’s not that high in calories. If I’ve had a physically exhausting day though, I might grab something a bit heavier or sugary for extra energy.
I have started adding my own disc collection to my Plex server and there are a bunch of films there that I love but never prioritize due to FOMO of what else is out there right now that is more relevant. There is this constant self-imposed pressure to justify a rewatch by writing about it if I do engage with something I am familiar with. But this habit frees me of pre-assigned expectations and notions since I don’t know WHAT liked title I’ll be watching. I have more films on disc than I could watch in a year, so this also removes any analysis paralysis.
Now, here are the steps:
- Randomize the selection of films you have already seen and liked. I hit shuffle on my owned Plex library but you can do the same with VLC playlist or even with discs off the shelf, you’d just need to put it in without checking the cover or the disc. Once your device has started playing, you’ve committed. No going back, no changing titles. Commit.
- Allow yourself to much through your snack of choice while the film starts and settle in. Not unlike going to the theater, most of what’s in a popcorn bowl will be more than halfway empty once I am settled in. By the time you finish your munch you are already locked into a title and your body has firmly planted itself into the groove of your seat and has whatever energy needed to just go through with the rest of the watch.
- Enjoy your guilt free watch of something you like already but don’t usually allow yourself. Begone productivity mind goblins and choice paralysis.
Limit yourself to going to the theater
This and the next tip are about increasing the novelty and format-joy of feature films specifically. When we watch and play everything on the same screen, the novelty of the format and its uniqueness can wear off or pale in comparison to the strengths of other mediums sharing some of the same audio-visual qualities on that same screen. TV shows trying to be films and many AAA video games taking a crack at being playable films has only increased this ‘everything is content’ feeling that nags me and many other cinephiles when it all starts to blur so much.
So how about making the most of the film format and limit yourself to a while to seeing films only on the big screen?
Seeing the strengths of other mediums also just feels more novel on the big screen. I recently saw Chronovisor in the cinema and most of that film is reading text from books on screen but that felt like a MOVIE MOVIE when blown up to those proportions in an audience attuned to that space. It was transportive and unique to this medium.
You’ll get the fullness of the format with no distractions and it’ll help you separate the joys of films from TV, books, games and Youtube.
Plus, isn’t almost every film better on the biggest screen anyway? Don’t answer that.
Try longform media first for a while
The need to reset and readjust to each feature length title can wear down whatever energy you have every time you sit down to watch something when the hobby has turned into a habit or compulsion rather than a choice. The varying lengths of each title don’t always fit into a consistent habit of wanting to watch something as well (like with my work schedule), especially when daylight has faded and most of the day’s energy is gone. The prospect creates friction.
So these days, as someone who wasn’t into TV as much as others around me in the past, I have found new joy in having a consistent long form ongoing TV title or two that are easier to get into back to back between days. Same goes for games I am fully involved with when one grabs me.
It’s where I know somewhat to expect to a degree and the length doesn’t vary dramatically between sessions. And, like with the theater, it also makes films more novel by comparison, as they are a one and done full experience compared to long form media like TV or games which are broken up by episodes, chapters, seasons, levels or save points.
Synergize the mediums
On the other end of the spectrum of narrowing down your medium options, go for theme-ing across various mediums!
Reading a book to watch the film or vice versa is the classic version of this, but it’s applicable to other mediums as well. Comparison can be the joy instead of its thief.
For example, right now I am giving a real and honest shot to playing Cyberpunk 2077 and have started pairing that with rewatching Cyberpunk: Edgerunners in anticipation to the second season of the show. The environments, sounds, world and characters change vastly in their affect on you and your engagement when put into the context of different mediums.
Last time I did this, I was watching the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us while playing the remaster AND the remake of the original game, stopping each time I hit the same points of the story. I ended up loving each and every one of those more for it after originally writing off TLOU show, and appreciated their own ways of tackling their specific medium’s way of telling the same story.
You could also do this by going broader, like picking a subgenre you like or a franchise you’ve have been interested in getting to know.
Watch the first five minutes of a bunch of titles.
I kind liken this to creatives who are stuck during a conceptual phase or dealing with writer’s block, where you start listing a bunch of things and testing them out in your head before choosing which path to move on with.
Except you can do that with your media titles as well.
Sometimes I have a whole bunch of films ready to watch that I acquired so long ago I forgot what the original appeal was or feel that initial appeal has faded before getting to it. There is also a chance that a growing assumption that the act of watching those will not reflect the way it was sold to me or how I hyped myself up for it.
So I find the best way to actually know what I want to watch or if it appeals to me when none of the things are grabbing me at a glance as either titles on a list or a library of items to pick from, I simply set a timer that I activate as I press play on a few of those titles one by one. Around six titles (for a total of 30 minutes) has turned out to be my preferred number of titles to try to figure out which one appeals the most in those opening minutes. It usually works far better than any trailer, plot description or lists of cast and crew ever will. Plus you wouldn’t be spoiling or reminding yourself of imagery to come in the rest of the film like if you were to see a trailer for it instead.
At this point, I have seen thousands of titles and I know what I like and what I don’t like, so if I can’t tell early on if there is something in there for me, then I have probably just picked wrong or I can stick with it. But either way, it will be an informed, personal decision made by you.
We are creatures of the moment, so embrace that moment and how it affects you or doesn’t
Feel free to walk away from something if it isn’t grabbing you right away. You are allowed to do that!
It’s a hobby. It is art. It is both, you can’t give a fair shake to all and often your engagement will be dependent on your mood or energy level. It’s better to spend time on what speaks to your heart, soul or joy than forcing appreciation. In an art gallery you can move from one piece to the next and stop by what catches your eye and mind the most and even come back to what you already passed with the added context you have gained between steps.
So please take yourself into consideration first before your ideals for your hobbies. You can always come back for what you feel you SHOULD be engaging with later on when you’re better equipped or ready. Find the joy and soul that only you see in your hobbies, we only live once after all.
Uhm, yeah. Don’t do that if you’re burned out.
Even a phoenix’s ashes have to cool for for it to re-emerge.
I really hope these help you as they have helped me. The point is not to force yourself but to give you easy ways of trying to engage with your fave hobbies when you feel burned out, with as minimal friction as possible.
Have fun, find your joy and love your life when you can.
And for all that is holy and unholy, REST!
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