Flying As A Hobby

Ask a room full of people what hobby they have and you will get as many answers as there are people. Others will confess that they don't have a hobby. They probably do; but just don't label it as such. By definition, a hobby is an activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.

Whether flying, stamp collecting, chat rooms, trains, softball,scrapbooking, golf, reading, painting, tap dancing, yard work, crafts, auto mechanics, music, hunting down garage sales, sewing, fishing, cooking, boating, furniture refinishing, javelin tossing or a plethora of other activities or interests the key element is balance. You must find balance between your family life and your extracurricular activities.

Too much of a good thing turns bad. Everyone should have an outlet and a special interest that they enjoy doing for themselves. Self indulgence, to a point, is quite healthy. Escaping from day to day grinds to take some time to devote to your flying hobby or concentration is therapeutic. You've all heard, "if Mamma ain't happy, no one's happy." It doesn't matter if your role is father, mother, husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, son, daughter, brother or sister, if you're just going to work or school and have no real outside activities, you're probably not always the most friendly person to be around.

Conversely, if you bury yourself and it seems to others that all you care about or all you ever want to do is fly all day (or hang around the airport), you're setting yourself up or prolonging discontent. People deal with depression in many ways. Some sleep all the time. Others want to do nothing but read,read, read. Still others will spend hours upon hours downstairs building a bigger, faster widget, just to avoid the real cause of their frustrations. Hobbies are supposed to be a healthy outlet, not a catalyst to ignore issues that need addressing.

Likewise, hobbies can get very expensive. Sure, flying, snow mobiles, motorcycles and ski equipment are obviously expensive. But sometimes those seemingly low cost activities can add up. You start out with trying to budget for the weekly flying lessons. Then you need (or want) the unnecessary (but fun) goodies that we all "need" to pursue our passion. "Let's see, do we pay the mortgage this month, or get that (fill in the blank) that you just have to have?"

If your flying hobby is doing more harm than good, if it's dipping into the family budget and time allocation, more than you can or should be spending, it's time to reevaluate. Not stop the flying, mind you, just make sure it's appropriate for you and your family and its lifestyle.

Yvonne Volante, webmaster for http://www.fixairplanes.com, is a big fan of flying and flight travel. She operates a web site that is devoted to flying and aviation resources. Email her at yvonne@fixairplanes.com

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President-elect Barack Obama names Nancy Killefer, left, to the newly created position of chief performance officer, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, at his transition office  Washington. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)AP - President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that reforming massive government entitlement programs — such as Social Security and Medicare — would be "a central part" of his effort to control federal spending.



Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid(R), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi(L) addressing reporters on Capitol Hill on January 5, 2009 in Washington, DC. The new US Congress was convening Tuesday at the dawn of an era of dominance for Barack Obama's Democrats in Washington with lawmakers consumed by the worst economic crisis in generations.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Mark Wilson)AP - Roland Burris says he expects "very shortly" to represent the state of Illinois in the U.S. Senate.



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In a  photo provided by the 'Tiergarten Nuremberg' zoo in Nuremberg, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009 'Flocke', the young female polar bear left, seen with a young, nameless male polar bear from Russia. Nuremberg's celebrity polar bear cub, Flocke, has a new friend: a Russian bear. The city's zoo says it introduced the male polar bear Wednesday to 1-year-old Flocke, who was raised by zookeepers after her mother rejected her. (AP Photo/Tiergarten Nuremberg) * EDITORIAL USE ONLY * NO SALES *AP - Nuremberg's celebrity polar bear cub, Flocke, has a new friend: a Russian bear.



Florida head coach Urban Meyer speaks during a press conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009. Oklahoma will play Florida for the NCAA BCS football championship Thursday, Jan. 8. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)AP - Florida coach Urban Meyer believes Utah, Texas and Southern California should fight for their teams to be recognized as national champions.



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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, December 25, 2008. (Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama should seek tougher sanctions against Iran, which will be his biggest Middle East challenge, outgoing White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Wednesday.



Gaza residents tell of destroyed homes and naked prisoners as the civilian death toll in the impoverished strip continues to climb. Duration: 01:19(AFPTV)AFP - Israel silenced its guns for three hours on Wednesday to give embattled residents of Gaza's main city time to seek out food and fuel as international support grew for an Egyptian ceasefire proposal.



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