It’s okay to do things just for fun
It sounds simple
I do things just because they’re fun. Not because they have inherit value or because they get me somewhere. I just do them because they’re fun. That’s it. This might sound simple but I can ensure you that when I first set out to do this, it wasn’t easy at all.
For as long as I can remember I have been doing things to achieve a goal. Whether it was creating my previous YouTube channel with 60.000 subscribers, going to university to become a teacher or learning Japanese so I could move to Japan: everything I did had a purpose. Even when I would relax I did so with a purpose, especially when it came to video games. I couldn’t just play a video game for fun, no no, I had to play it to finish said game, preferably getting all of the achievements too.
Same thing with anime: I couldn’t just watch an anime and not finish it. That’d be blasphemy. Once I started one I had to finish it. I then had to add it to my Anilist profile and tell people about it.
Hobbies
As of recent though I am more in touch with the things that genuinely make me happy. It turns out that doing something just for fun, just because I like it, without purpose, makes me happy. For example: I love old sitcoms from the 80’s, 90’s and early 00’s. I can rewatch certain episodes of a select number of sitcoms daily and not get bored. Same thing with YouTube videos: I can watch them all day. Also certain retro games like Donkey Kong Country for example I can replay whenever and love it.
This might sound weird but it was a game called Cyberpunk 2077 that taught me this valuable lesson. I have been trying to get into this game for over a month now, playing it on and off, trying to beat it. People seem to love this game and ever since the it was patched properly it has received nothing but praise. But I just can’t get into it. Yes the story is interesting and the setting is cool, but even so: I just don’t enjoy my time with the game. It’s not for me. Same thing with the Persona series: I have tried to get into Persona 3 Reload, 4 Golden and 5 Royal and I dropped all games after 30+ hours.
Just quit
Whenever I don’t enjoy doing something I just drop it. It’s not worth my time. Whether that’s a TV show, an anime, a game or a new hobby I’m trying to get into. If I don’t like it: I’m done.We all have to do things we don’t like, but when it comes to our free time I think you should give my approach a try: just do something for fun. No pressure to finish it or do it properly, just do it until it’s not fun anymore. You might like it!