Should Hobbies be Monetised?

We live in an age where not taking a rampant approach towards making money makes us question if there is any other alternative to it at all. And gradually, the mind starts thinking - what are the avenues I can make money from? Alas, the purview of encroachment over hobbies that starts expanding there, very hardly stops.

We all strive for more. More money, more time, more respect, more experiences and more opportunities. And the one 'more' that we all want (either upfront or secretively, no judgements here) most is money. That thought nudges us to hunt and secure multiple streams of income and most commonly, the routing logic our brain resorts to is - turn something you enjoy doing into something that pays.

Simple right? And quite sensible too. It seems very prudent to make money off of something you enjoy doing. But the question is - the moment you start doing that, do you really enjoy it anymore?

Maybe an example here would help - I for one enjoy writing, and not in any particular genre as such. I feel sometimes I channel my love for talking into the calm of writing because every single sentence I write here first gets formed in my head, processed through my brain, spoken through my mouth and satiated through my smile of contentment that yes - this will feel nice as part of the blog. To be frank, my writing flows from vivid and random thoughts that strike me (hence the very unpredictable posting timelines, excuse me for that) and every time that I have submitted to the urge of monetising my blog, somehow I have had to pressure myself to turn that randomised thinking into structured results.

Making money requires discipline. And discipline requires a fixed pattern. So in all the past instances wherein I have let the thought of monetising what I put up here play along, I have had to commit to a routine of writing and posting blog content which meant manufacturing topics based on what's trending and what will click amongst my readers. It no longer would be about me writing what I felt and spinning that into a blog that could make readers pause and reflect on their life. It was increasingly becoming about committing to a planned and established cycle of posts which would mostly earn me some money but maybe would change my reasons for 'why' I write.

What I'm arriving at is - when the lines around pursuing our interests and monetising them start to get blurry, deciding what to make of it is very simple if we ask ourselves this one question - why am I doing it?

What is my purpose of pursuing a hobby? Is it to unwind from daily hustle? Or is it to let my imagination run wild? Is it to do something with a carefree mindset without focusing much on the outcome but more on the process? Is it to just feel good without the pressure of achieving something hanging over my head? Or is it to structure it in a way that works more towards paying my bills rather than being a mere source of entertainment and relaxation?

The answer to the title - 'Should hobbies be monetized' lies at the core of that one question. And that is an evaluation one must make for themselves without caring about anyone's judgement or perception.

Ask yourself - If I make an income stream out of my hobby, would I be able to enjoy the experience it produces in the same way that I would be able to achieve without tying the experience to a monetary output? If yes, then great - you most definitely should think about how you can spin your passion to fill your purse. But remember - taking up something that might pay you and might also align with your interests is not the same as converting your hobby into a money-making machine. In the former, the mindset is to earn money and you would not care much about seeking happiness from it but in the latter, your primary goal would be to have a relaxed time and you would not want to invest energy into monetizing the fun bits of it.

Out of my personal experience, I believe that the moment a hobby is converted into a job, it becomes a financial obligation rather than a portal to lose oneself into. It mounts the very pressure on us that it ideally should help us escape, not attract. We get tied to a responsibility to deliver, to show up, to do all those things that we normally don't need to be bound by when choosing to unwind.

So yes, hobbies can most definitely be monetized but my two cents on this matter would be - if monetizing your hobby means changing the purpose of why you pursue it in the first place, don't do it. Because the constraint of making something out of a hobby forces one to leave the joy behind and focus on the outcome first. And you might end up realising that what once used to be fun and fulfilling for not having a result tied to it, has become a vicious cycle of meeting financial goals when it was never supposed to be that way.

Allow your interests to excite you, not confine you. Give yourself the luxury to embrace your hobbies with happiness, not resentment. If you have a hobby in the first place, its not because you want to make money out of it. If that were the case you'd pursue an internship or a freelancing gig. Remember why you chose it and you'll have your answer within no time.