How I Manage Having Too Many Interests (Spoiler Alert: I Don’t)

I don’t know much about boredom. A natural curiosity and a passion for learning have always supplied me with a never-ending list of interests and passions. Many of them don’t require equipment or anyone else’s company, so I always have something enjoyable to do with my time, even when I’m alone at home—especially when I’m alone at home. But I discovered, mostly in my adult years, that there is such a thing as having too many interests, and it’s proven to be both a blessing and a curse.

So how does someone with a full-time job and a very average collection of errands, appointments, and responsibilities manage to juggle several passions?

I’ll be honest—I don’t. And that’s okay.

The Mental Load of Having Too Many Interests

Feeling a hunger for the many experiences life has to offer and being unable to satisfy it properly can cause a lot of bitterness. It’s frustrating to head to work, do the grocery run, clean the kitchen (again?!), when what you really crave is a slow game of chess, sketching birds, or browsing an art gallery. (Feel free to insert your own version here.) With all these must-do’s, will you ever have time for any want-to-do’s?

Social comparison doesn’t help with passion overwhelm, either. As we now have an unprecedented amount of access to other people’s lives, the idea that someone out there miraculously manages multiple interests is dangerously easy to fall for. It’s a perfect soil for self-criticism and dissatisfaction with life: if others can juggle their jobs, hobbies, and sleep schedules with ease and grace, why can’t I?

At the end of the day, we may find ourselves consumed with guilt, FOMO (the fear of missing out), and a feeling of falling behind in everything we love.

The Reality Check

An unhealthy and potentially dangerous idea that I’ve come across online made me believe for some time that I was struggling with my many passions because I spent too much time doom scrolling, procrastinating, or checking social media. According to this theory, if only I stopped doing all those things, I would suddenly see that there is no such thing as having too many hobbies and I actually have enough time to do everything I want to. Imagine my disappointment when I minimized the doom scrolling and the social media time, and still I had to choose between my hobbies and prioritize my passions, compromising one in favor of another.

Cutting back on social media helps, sure—but it doesn’t change the reality. A huge portion of our days still goes to working, studying, caregiving, and keeping life functional. And even if we manage our time well, our emotional and mental energy still has limits. Unless we learn how to shift the time and space continuum, we’ll have to accept that there are only 24 hours in a day.

Falling Victim to Creative Burnout

In my attempts to fit everything I love into my limited free time, I tried to do a bit of everything—as long as I could cross as many items off my to-do list as possible. This eventually led to creative burnout—a state of mental and emotional fatigue that happens when your creative energy is stretched too thin.

The joy I normally felt from my favourite activities became diluted and unsatisfying. I barely learned to play a new chord on ukulele when it was time to switch to chess. And if the hour I’d set aside for chess wasn’t enough to figure out a new maneuver, I had to leave it unfinished and move on—lest I fall behind on the rest of the list. My passions were gradually turning into chores.

Letting our favourite things become a never ending race does nothing but take all the joy out of them. If it’s something we wish to get better at, there’s little progress since we don’t take the time needed to actually improve. And if it’s something we do out of pure joy, we force ourselves to cut it short under pressure to keep up with an insane hobby schedule we set up for ourselves. This path leads to the same destination—the one of hobby overwhelm, creative burnout, and overall dissatisfaction with life.

How I Balance Multiple Interests

The reality is that, with too many interests and too little time to fit them into, I have to prioritize. The top-priority activities are the ones that either bring me the most joy or serve my immediate or short-term goals. Everything else is postponed for a later chapter in life.

In the process of dividing my interests this way, I devised a “someday” list of hobbies that consists of things I either have already tried and enjoyed but haven’t been able to permanently fit in my current schedule or haven’t tried yet but would love to. Here’s what my “today” and “someday” lists look like:

Creating a “someday” list is my way of acknowledging that life happens in seasons. Not everything has to fit into the current one. As I think of all the things I’d love to try, I feel hopeful that, although these passions will have to wait, whey will happen someday, because my life and my schedule won’t look this busy forever.

When you trust life’s timing, it allows you to anticipate with excitement the future chapters of your life when you finally get a chance to try scuba diving, or to impress your friends with playing the opening theme of Adventure Time on your ukulele. Remind yourself occasionally, if you have to, not to equate productivity with worth, because the very idea of having interests suggests they are supposed to bring you joy, not keep you overwhelmed and dissatisfied with life.

Adopt a Mindful Approach to Passions

In a world that encourages a constant hustle, let’s accept that life has its limitations and release the pressure to do it all now. Let’s challenge the idea that not doing everything right now means we’ve somehow failed. And when in a conundrum of having too many interests, let’s choose joy and depth now, and believe that the future will give us plenty of opportunities to align over time with those activities and passions that matter to us most.

---

Questions to Sit With

• Which of my current interests bring me the most joy or comfort right now?
• Which interests are helping me build the life I want to live?
• What can I gently postpone for another chapter of life—without guilt?
• Am I trying to do too much out of fear of missing out or falling behind?
• How can I show myself compassion when I can’t do everything I want to do?
• What would it mean for me to trust the timing of my life and passions?