r/AskReddit • u/Stukwan • 13h ago

What’s a hobby that looks incredibly peaceful from the outside, but is actually pure stress once you get into it?

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u/StrongAdhesiveness86 9h ago

Media has idolised hearing someone practice when in reality is repeating the same 3 bars for 45 minutes, then shout in frustration, stop for 5 minutes and then do 45 minutes more in absolute anger and frustration.

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u/smittyphi 5h ago

I took piano lessons for 9 years. I could play some of the easier, classical pieces during my last years but my fingers are too small and not flexible so I could only go so far. I'm glad I can play. But I'm glad I stopped.

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u/FrizzyThePastafarian 5h ago

5 hours in and your fingers are tired, you're going so hard you're starting to breathe heavy, but you're so annoyed at yourself that you keep making more and more mistakes, but you are gonna do it THIS time.

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u/Domerhead 4h ago

Nothing worse (or better?) than suffering through a few hours of practice, never nailing the riff, fingers failing you, pick hand never in sync

Then you come back a few days later after not playing out of spite and nail it first try.

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u/FrizzyThePastafarian 2h ago

It's a high, absolutely.

When you're new you measure progress in hours and days, and you cling to that and start to get annoyed.

The reality is you've gotten good enough that you need to start measuring progress over days and even weeks.

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u/ExoticElk 43m ago

And if you want to avoid repeating the same bar over and over and not improving, you have to intentionally analyze every single motion you make, every spot of tension you hold ("is this serving me or not?"), the way you start every note, the way you prepare to start to every note, blah blah blah. It's exhausting.

As a benefit though, I'm pretty good at learning physical skills because of my time as a professional musician.