Useful vs. Useless interests and hobbies

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For my entire life all of my interests needed to useful to some degree and all possessions that I have desired have always been one type of tool or another.

For example, I've been extremely interested in photography, programming, electronics, welding, home brewing, ham radio, graphic design, and mathematics.

I sometimes foolishly spend money on the things that enable me to pursue those interests in a professional manner. I've made money off of just about all of my interests at one point or another.

Some things I would get interested in only to find out they have no point. I started to get into origami but realized that you ultimately just end up with a bunch of paper sculptures that don't do anything but exist. I suppose that everything is ultimately useless as there is no end-goal to the universe in general, but we're speaking about life experiences and that goes a bit beyond that.

Only very recently have I been able to say to myself "it's OK to just do something because you enjoy doing it" but it's been very difficult for me.

Anyone else like this? I ask because I see some folks on here have interests that are wildly useless.

Also, I tend to quit things once I get very good at them. This too bothered me for a while until I realized that I'm just adding more and more skills to my toolbox. For instance, I used to think about and do little else other than photography, but then stopped and moved on. However, I still have all my pro gear and so if I or someone I know has a need for some photos, I can step up and provide that service.

What do you consider 'wildly useless'?

I've turned some of my interests into something useful.

I would argue that if one enjoys it, it's is not truly useless. But then I have never been one for pure utilitarianism.

I try to profit from my interests either spiritually, materially or mentally.

If useful = material wealth ONLY we may as well have a cultural revolution like the Chinese, and kill all the artists

nothing i like to do has any welcome use in the world outside my hermithood. i have been doing audio restoration since 1991 but in all that time [20 years] have persuaded precisely 2 paying customers for my work. i guess it just wasn't meant for me to have earthly success in this lifetime.

I had a big interest in macrophotography of insects and flowers.. Did it get me anywhere? No. Did I make any money? No. Was it incredibly fascinating to me? Yes.

So something is useless unless you make money from it?

I absolutely do not think that usefulness has anything to do with money. Perhaps I phrased this wrong.

For example, I find pure mathematics (math that is generally not applied to anything, it's just beautiful and elegant) not to be useless, even though no money is to be made off of it.

Perhaps I should have phrased the question more along the lines of arbitrary vs. ultimate/pure/logical/meaningful.

I'm not even sure what I'm asking any longer.

If you are speaking of fractal geometry, then yes, math is beautiful.

I catch your drift.. I've gotta push myself to make art or practice knitting that I am about to unravel.. things that have a practical use seem worthwhile, while activities that I simply enjoy doing for the sake of doing them are harder to get started on when I am in a bleak, what-is-the-point kind of mood. It helped when I decided that art is defined as something that exists for its own sake and not necessarily for any functional purpose.

that said, most of my hobbies lean towards the useful, practical, activities that yield some kind of product that I can use for something other than just having made it.. like cooking, vegetable gardening, sewing, knitting, ya ya ya. vs. when i watch tv, I know it's because I just need to laugh or follow along some kind of little storyline.

how would we define this separation? it is like the difference between novels and nonfiction, although some novels have much more life-use relevance than many works of nonfiction.

sometimes I feel like a lot of the philosophical stuff I read is completely useless to me in the long run, other than just f*****g with my thought processes. Then I realize that that is the point.

I sometimes get overwhelmed with what I have collected due to interests (not always special intense interests). I often wonder---what do I do with it all? Here is some of it:

*around 30 synthesizers and electronic keyboards
*enough halloween props to fill an amusement park funhouse---literally
*a large collection of magic stage illusions and tricks---I used to do magic shows
*3 old Hammond organs and 2 Leslie speakers, 2 pianos (one from 1885)
*a bunch of house plan blueprints I have slowly collected
*approximately 300 HO scale model railroad structures for a 26' X 26' train layout
*a collection of roller coaster blueprints---one being the only plan of it in existence (from 1928)
*a master dub reel for a late 1970s gold record---I acquired it from the studio
*an original television script for a failed TV series in the 1970s
*a piece of fabric off of the Graf Zeppelin German airship of the 1920s
*an autographed Amityville Horror novel signed by George and Kathy Lutz
*a freak 100 dollar bill (severe printing error)
*1961 Airstream Overlander travel trailer
*one of a kind factory customized automobile
*and a bunch of other things I have collected over the years

I mean what will my kids do with this someday? How can they sort through it and know what they are dealing with. The 1920s blueprints should go to amusement park historical societies. Three of the HO scale structures were made by prominent custom model builders and are one of a kind---they actually make them for museums. A lot of this isn't just stuff you would put in a regular auction. And if I sell some of this and later regret it, I couldn't get another one like it. The magic tricks fill an entire room as do the halloween props---although they could be replaced.

But---collecting can be fun and relaxing, not to mention exciting. But money is tight now, and I have put a stop to collecting these kinds of things.