Returning to childhood hobbies can help adults better understand themselves — TIME
Returning to activities people loved in childhood can help connect memories of the past with present experience and ideas about the future. TIME reports this in an article about adults who have resumed ballet, knitting, pinball, piano, or basketball.
The connection between the past and the present
Northwestern University psychology professor Dan P. McAdams, who studies narrative identity, said that returning to an activity from the past that was important to a person can be a positive experience. According to him, it can help integrate into one’s life something that once had special meaning.
Hollen Reischer, a visiting associate professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo, explained that narrative identity is a person’s internal story, which changes and encompasses the past, present, and imagined future. According to her, reviving a hobby abandoned in childhood can simultaneously draw on memories of the activity’s significance, influence actions in the present, and indicate who a person wants to become.
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Ballet, knitting, and pinball
Kristen Martin, author of the book The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow, learned to crochet from her grandmother as a child. In fourth grade, they made a blanket for Martin’s dog together. As an adult, she began knitting and crocheting again, mostly in the evenings while watching television. Martin called it a relaxing activity that allows her to focus without giving it all of her attention, while also making things for others.
Chicago social media manager Benjamin Wiegent grew up in a house with a pinball machine in the basement. In his late 20s, he started playing again with a friend in bars and later founded a pinball league in Chicago. The article’s author also described her own return to basic ballet exercises after a break of more than a decade. This allowed her to notice traits that had remained since her youth, including persistence and a willingness to try difficult things.
