Hobbies in FIRE

Today this should be an easy post. I would like to write about my hobbies. It might look bit irrelevant in the FIRE blog, but it is actually VERY relevant because of 4 main reasons:

One. You need hobbies to survive hard working days on the job while saving the stash for your independence. Your mind need to relax sometimes.

Two. When deciding to which hobbies you will devote your free time, make sure that some of the hobbies are of physical nature. That will mean you don’t need to exercise as much as you will be doing physical activity through your hobby.

Three. If you decide to be financially independent, you will need a hobby which is not extremely expensive. Unless someone else pays for it or you are able to do it professionally, hobbies like car racing, yachting or flying planes are very expensive and might make your journey towards financial independence a lot longer or indefinite.

Four. Once you are financially free and you happen to quit your job, you might be having a lots of free time. I believe one of the very nice ways to live your life is to be able to spend as much time as possible doing what you like.

I was lucky that growing up in not very rich family and small village while my country was unsuccessfully attempting to build bright communist future, there was not much money around. So everything was done on the budget. Example is price of my motorbike when I was 15. My dad bought it for me for $100. It was Jawa 50cc about 30 years old with top speed of 65kmh. That was one of the pricier purchases.

So hobbies which I keep now are still mostly quite low-cost. One of the more expensive ones was skiing while I lived in Europe. I have skied for 20 years but in Australia is skiing quite expensive, season is short and ski fields are far from where I live. Skiing got shifted by surfing.

Surfing

I started surfing only at 27 which is bit late. I always made sure I live close to the beaches in Australia. I think surfing is awesome hobby. As long as you live close to water all you need is surfboard which you can get used from $50 and good ones for $300. Of course nice Malibu longboard can cost easy $1500, but I never felt urge to splash this much on my beloved hobby. Dependent where you live you might need a wetsuit, which can be about $500 but is should last 3-4 years. It is not the price of the board you have which counts, but the time in the water spent surfing.

Surfing is very addictive and in the future I might write whole blog post about it as it seems difficult to stop writing about it. Surfing is beautiful, physical, mind clearing and connecting with nature. Lucky me to be living in one of the best surfing country in the world. Best surf spots I had the pleasure to experience surfing are as follows. Sydney with its hundreds of surfbreaks good weather and bit crowded beaches. NSW South Coast with extremely beautiful nature, bit cooler water and empty waves. I used to go surfing many times to Bali in Indonesia. It is hot there, again bit crowded but waves are perfectly shaped and swell is consistent.

Sunshine Coast

Now I live in Sunshine Coast in south east Queensland. Surfing was one of the main drivers for the decision to move here. We wanted to stay close to ocean and enjoy a warm weather. I was considering Gold Coast but the surfers’ crowds are often worse than in Sydney (though one of the places is called Surfers Paradise it seems to be bit far from paradise for me). I am living in Sunshine Coast now for over a year and all my family loves it. One of the advantages of surfing as a hobby that is you can do it anytime (as long as there are some waves) and you don’t have to rely on other people like in soccer or tennis.

Another of my hobbies is soccer. Coming from small village in Eastern Europe it was one of the most common sports for boys. Unfortunately I was never that great in it and I have spent lots of time as substitute on the bench, but I still loved the game. Somehow I have managed to keep playing from about 10 years old till now at 45 with sometimes larger gaps and I am hoping to continue for a while. I have always tried to find a team close by to each house I have lived. Currently on the Sunshine Coast I play in the over 35 competition standard 11 players a side. Soccer is quite inexpensive. Once you have your boots, all you need is a registration.

I have always played tennis. There was a clay tennis court close to my house in our village when I was a kid. At that time we did not have to pay court fee so once you had a tennis racket and a friend, it was time to play. I still own couple of rackets and enjoy casual game with a friend but I am not a member of any club.

Taekwondo and BJJ

One more hobby I have picked up in Australia was martial arts. As I mentioned before, my village had a soccer club and that was about it so I was not exposed to these sports before. Somehow I got interested later in my age and at 39 one of my New Year’s resolutions was to start some martial art. I was not sure which one, but as my wife is Korean, I have checked if there is some Taekwondo club nearby. I have started Taekwondo that January.

It was great decision. Taekwondo is very physical and spiritual and it teaches great discipline. Our Master was in his fifties but he was incredibly strong, gentle and patient at the same time and he was doing martial arts for 35 years. He never had to demand respect. He just naturally received it from all of us. I kept doing Taekwondo for four years with some travel and injury gaps. Then we have moved and there was no Taekwondo club nearby.

What was nearby, was Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu club. While doing Taekwondo we have done couple of BJJ basics classes which showed how effective BJJ is. So I have joined BJJ club. Currently I am doing BJJ about a year and I find it very good. We have Brazilian Master (Professor) and it is incredible martial art. My weight is close to 90kg and one of the black belts is just 65kg. I have absolutely no chance and all I can try is to extend the time until I get submitted. It just shows how skills can overcome weight and power.

Hiking

One of my great hobbies is walking. I always love to go out for a hike with my wife. We have done a lots of day hikes in many beautiful places in Europe, Asia and in New Zealand. The best way to get to know your holiday destination is walking anyway. From the price point it is difficult to beat this hobby, it is great for socialising with your partner or friends and you should be able to take long walk hopefully very late in your life. Also as you get older it is not that taxing on your body as some other hobbies above.

TV and net time control

I do like to do some other things than sports in my free time. I read lots of books, blogs and news. I will have to limit the news as it seems to be bit addictive and limiting productivity almost similar to watching TV. I find TV and reading too much news is taking from you a lot and not giving much. Also news seem to be containing many negative things and negativity is something I am trying to exclude from my life.

My mum doesn’t own TV for last 20 years and it is not a bad decision as she does not miss it TV all, because she can read all her favourite news in newspapers which keeps her across all politics and economics stuff which she is interested in. I still watch TV but only in the evenings, mostly documents and as we usually go sleep early, this naturally limits our TV exposure. Another great thing is to watch some of my favourite documents on demand so I can decide when would I watch it and also it limits number of consumed commercials.

I know many people without hobbies. For me it would be very boring being.