I’m an avid hobbyist, and certain a greater time period for my situation could also be that of a serial hobbyist.

There should not too many issues on the earth that I’m not fascinated with and spend time at, whether or not it’s my basic “regular” hobbies of amassing cash, vintage pictures, rocks and minerals, fossils, letters and paraphernalia of troopers in each World Wars, vintage radios, 78-rpm data and their related gamers, and so forth.

After which there are the hobbies which can be a bit extra “on the market” that I entertain myself with, comparable to amassing and preserving actual snowflakes, photographing microscopic pond life by a microscope, scanning and archiving 19^th-century pictures, insect and arachnid macro-photography, magnet fishing, and certain a number of others that I can’t recall as I write this.

I’m guessing it began once I was very younger, in early grade college. I used to be all the time bringing dwelling little trinkets after college, normally discovered within the college yard or on my stroll dwelling, and lots of instances they have been small vibrant rocks, and if I used to be particularly fortunate; a fossil seashell discovered amongst gravel.

You could possibly inform when laundry was being washed in our home as certainly one of my treasures would escape the necessary pre-wash pocket inspections by my mom earlier than she loaded up the machine, and the following rattling of rocks towards the metallic sides would quickly reverberate by the home notifying her that she had missed one or two of my valuable stones.

I’m in my early fifties now, and I have to confess, I nonetheless do it. 

And I nonetheless discover that subject amassing is as thrilling now because it was for me once I was a little bit boy.

At any time when I’m at a lakeside or seashore I’m all the time beachcombing like an obsessed crow seeking out shiny objects that could possibly be discovered and brought again to my nest the place all the opposite ones are proudly stored.

Over time I’ve discovered some fascinating issues whereas on seashore strolls (effectively, fascinating to me, anyway).

There was that one time in Jamaica on a seashore once I picked up a damaged shard of outdated English bone china with stunning patterns on it. It gave the impression to be naval in nature, so after all it needed to be from the British Navy within the 1700s, and even higher, a pirate ship!

Ten-year-old me would have been leaping for pleasure.

There was the shark tooth in Cuba, which has been the one one I’ve ever discovered on my numerous seashore walks.

I even have a mason jar stuffed with early pottery bits and china shards discovered on the shores of Newfoundland.

Then there’s the pot shard that caught my eye whereas strolling by an excavation website in Egypt. Once I picked it up, my thumb slipped completely into an historic deep thumbprint on the underside of the piece. The person’s thumb had pressed into the mushy clay as he was shaping the pot previous to firing it in a kiln greater than two thousand years in the past. What a thrill that discover was.

Experiencing that instantaneous connection to a different particular person within the distant previous is among the nice moments of subject amassing.

The primary time that I skilled that superbly humbling reference to the traditional world was once I was round 10 years outdated, and my uncle gave me an indigenous-made stone disguise scraper that was discovered on a household farm many years earlier than I used to be born.

I after all nonetheless have it and I’m proper now holding it in my hand simply as the one who had completed knapping it probably had completed so 8,000 to 10,000 years in the past, a timeline confirmed by a member of the Royal Ontario Museum. It nonetheless provides me goosebumps.

Not all issues that I’ve discovered and picked up are restricted to inanimate objects. I as soon as collected seaweed in a small jar and introduced it dwelling from Cuba to take a look at beneath my lab microscope. Sure, I’ve a house lab. Who doesn’t?

Hidden among the many plant materials was an odd microscopic organism referred to as a tardigrade, or as it’s extra popularly referred to as, a water bear.

This was no extraordinary water bear although. This one was unusual and had horn-like appendages protruding of its head space, which is extremely uncommon.  After sending video of it to an knowledgeable, it was nearly definitely a brand new species. Sadly, I couldn’t discover one other one which could possibly be despatched to a college to be confirmed by DNA evaluation.

My 15-minutes of scientific fame was dashed, or no less than delayed for now till I return to Cuba, and what an thrilling journey and accomplishment all completed in my free time!

So, why do I do all of this and why is it vital to have a pastime or many hobbies?

Free time after all is at a premium these days however discovering that point might assist make your life a complete lot higher and is well worth the effort.

A 2017 article in Psychology At present, titled “How hobbies affect your head and your coronary heart,” describes the various well being advantages of being a usually lively hobbyist.

The creator, Dr. Srini Pallay, writes that spending no less than one hour per day at your pastime might defend your mind from dementia later in life, and helps with decrease blood strain introduced on by participating in a leisurely and pleasurable exercise.

I can definitely get behind that type of pondering.

And I do know I’m not the one one.

My buddy Ryan Rowell, a photographer of notice in Barrie, far eclipses my effort as a multi-hobbyist.

We mentioned this subject not too long ago and he mentioned “I accumulate hobbies if you would like any. There’s RC boats, vans and automobiles, metallic detecting, rock searching, mountain climbing and spelunking, woodworking, ebook making, 3D printing, bee conserving, archery, fishing, air rifle capturing, stitching, metalsmithing with gold or silver, sketching, and writing”.

I needed to know why he was concerned in so many wide-ranging actions, as I’m.

“It’s my ADHD that causes me to seek out new issues. Novelty and intrigue maintain my consideration effectively”, Rowell mentioned, after which added “I forgot, I’m additionally a licensed ham radio operator, too.”

Consideration-deficit hyperactivity dysfunction, or ADHD. 

After all!

I match proper there into that class, and I all the time have in a single kind or one other, together with bouts of hysteria the place I have to focus my consideration onto one thing aside from what I’m worrying about on the time, comparable to writing deadlines.

A pastime, “It does a physique good”, because the basic Eighties milk tv adverts go.

Now go and do one thing enjoyable.

Kevin Lamb is a Barrie-based freelance photojournalist, reporter and longtime contributor to BarrieToday.