Do you feel guilty for having interests or hobbies of your own?

The hustle culture surrounding you can sometimes make you feel guilty for having interests or hobbies of your own, especially if it takes you away from your career or your family.

Sadly, this is truer for women than for men, but sadly, men are also catching up to being overworked like most women are these days.

If you feel guilty for having interests or hobbies of your own, it's important to realize that well-rounded people have more than one passion, don't see non-money-making tasks as unproductive, and recognize the benefits of having more than one interest.

You're Not Obligated to One Passion

Over a lifetime, one person can have hundreds of passion projects and learning experiences related to having and developing interests and hobbies outside of their immediate job, family, or social circle.

While you may not want to pursue too many hobbies at once due to finances and time, you don't have to stick to just one, and you don't have to stick to one your entire lifetime. It's okay to pursue one interest for a few months or years and then drop it for a while to do something else.

You Don't Owe Anyone "Productivity"

One issue that comes up for some people who want to pursue a hobby or an interest that is new to them is that they start to feel as if they're not productive enough. But here is the thing, your entire life is not about productivity. Sometimes your life is just about being and doing something you enjoy. There is value in doing things outside of building relationships, making money, and being consistent.

Redefine productivity in your mind to do anything beneficial for yourself, not just for others, and not just to pad your bank account. You don't need to monetize every interest or hobby to make them worthwhile in your eyes or someone else's.

The value of the hobby or interest may be intangible or something you can name. But the main thing that a hobby or interest needs to be is something you like to do that fills you with contentment and not something that adds stress to your life.

There Are Many Benefits to Having More Interests

Every interest or hobby you have offers benefits outside of what most people see as valuable. For example, a hobby or interest costs money and does not make money, and for some people may feel as if it's wasteful.

However, if you have the budget for the hobby and the time for the hobby, and that hobby makes you feel good, the benefits it offers to help you build your self-esteem, feel more confident, and learn new things are also important.

Having interests and hobbies outside of what you are doing now is a great thing to do if you have the time and the budget to do it. However, if you don't want to do these things, find a way to generate the income and free up the time to make it happen. You'll soon find that the benefits far exceed the costs.

Do You Suffer from Approval Addiction?

Receiving validation from other people feels rather good, so good that some people develop an addiction to receiving that outside approval instead of being motivated intrinsically. If you can't motivate yourself without someone else's approval, out may suffer from an approval addiction.

You're Obsessed with Getting People to Express Interest in You

You like being on social media, dating sites, or in any situation where you can attract people and get their attention by having them express interest in you. It might even be hard for you to settle down with a partner because you enjoy the dating world more than the partnered-up world.

You Need Constant Reassurance

When you are in a relationship, you find yourself asking whether they're "mad" or "upset" with you. This may happen with lovers and friends, and even family members daily. If you often ask for reassurance about how someone feels about you, this may be due to a validation or approval addition.

You Like to Talk About Your Awesomeness

This may be weird, especially if you lack confidence, but sometimes people who aren't confident will talk about all the impressive things they've done to appear more worthy than they think they are in the hopes that the people hearing the tale will agree and validate their thoughts about their awesomeness even though they don't generally believe it themselves.

You're Money Focused

If you tend to think more about money than the value you provide the world, you may have a problem with approval-seeking that is boarding on an addiction. Of course, money is important globally, but it's not the only thing important about you or anyone else.

You Enjoy Name Dropping

If you find yourself dropping names of people you've worked with or met that other people find important, this is a sign of insecurity. You never need to make yourself look better by your company because you are special just as you are without anyone else.


You Make Friends with Folks Based on Their Wealth or Reputation

When you look at your closest friend group, are they really your friends, or did you pick them based on what you think they can offer you? Friends should be chosen based on shared values more than shared finances.

Your Beliefs Change Depending on The Company You're Keeping

If you're not keeping the same ideas and opinions across all friend and professional groups, you are part of, and you may be trying to please people too much. It's okay to have your own fact-based ideas, thoughts, and opinions, and it's okay for everyone else too. Hint: It's also okay not to have any views or opinions about a topic you're not educated enough about.

You Prefer Being in Control of Each Social Situation

When it comes to networking and making friends or building relationships, if you need to be the one in control of the event before you feel comfortable, you may have an issue with approval addiction. Letting other people oversee social situations and relationship building may seem scary because your self-esteem is low but letting people lead a clear sign that you are confident about your thoughts and ideas.

You Easily Feed into Your Own Victimhood

If something starts going wrong, do you have a hard time seeing answers within yourself? Do you place blame on others? Do you feel good and safe being a victim instead of admitting where you have control and where you can make the change?

Rejection Makes You Feel Out of Control

If you've ever been rejected professionally or personally, you know that it hurts. However, if you have an approval addition, it might make you totally flip out if someone rejects you because you are doing everything (in your mind) to give them what they want, but they don't want it anyway. If you take this personally, consider that you're not even really being yourself and this rejection is not personal at all.

If you often find that you're doing anything that you don't want to do, only to gain acceptance of a person or group, you may be a people pleaser and even have an approval addiction. To overcome this, you need to figure out who you are, your personal values and design a path to reach your goals based on your own values.


Related Reading: How To Manage Stress Better

"Power Tips" magazine is back!
You Get A Free Complete Self Help Report delivered to your email box every edition, plus you get a free PLR article and other great gifts!

SUBSCRIBE BELOW ...  I promise you will want to USE what you learn!

I really want to know what you think of this site, this page, and to hear your tips or suggestions about it.

So please share your story or simply add a Comment in the comment box.

If you feel that the information on this page has been useful to you please give it a Like or share it with your friends - thanks!!

"You are a life Saver!!

I recently discovered this site and I can tell you that my life has not been the same. I now come here EVERYDAY and spend at least 1 hour.

I used to spend that time browsing online fashion and beauty magazine which just means that I spend more. Now I have replaced that habit with coming here.

In future I will think about contributing articles as well. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!! and God bless"

Contact Us | About Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | FAQ | Testimonials

Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.