Sophomore Will Shoham wants to go skydiving. It’s fast, it’s exhilarating, and he’s young, so now is just as opportune a time as any. 

However, it’s not exactly practical, so he replaces that thrill every day in small increments by participating in his favorite hobbies. 

“Well, I’ve got a lot of hobbies,” Will said. “I like PC gaming, I like fishing, I love astrophotography, I love one-wheeling—you can [always] see me down in Ada when I’m out one-wheeling—and in the summer, I like to surf.”

With the variety present in these interests, it is clear that Will values many different aspects of life, from the isolation and serenity of astrophotography to the hands-on approach of fishing to whatever else it may be. 

While he loves all of them, one of these pastimes tends to take more space in Will’s life than the others: fishing. 

“I’d have to say fishing [is] my favorite hobby,” Will explained. “I think it’s more calming than my other hobbies. I mean, I went fishing yesterday, and I only caught one little fish [which was the size of my pinky], but I was out there for basically the whole day. It’s not about catching the fish—although that is a nice thing to have while doing it—it’s just the calming [aspect] of it. It’s just so calming to throw a bait out and reel it in.”

Fishing provides Will an escape from certain stressful situations in life as hobbies often tend to do. Along with fishing, astrophotography is another means of expression for Will. 

Astrophotography is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. 

“I love [astrophotography],” Will said. “I have two telescopes: there’s a big one at [my house] and the other at a beach house that our family goes to in the summer. One of them is giant; [it has a] ten-inch diameter, so it’s massive. [What I like to do is] take the digital media camera, hook it up, and just take pictures. You can see the planets, like Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and you can see nebulas and galaxies—it’s pretty fun.”

Having the opportunity to partake in things that bring happiness is a beautiful thing, but sometimes it’s not easily attainable. 

Some hobbies, like astrophotography and the sort, are extremely expensive to maintain and use. 

“The unfortunate thing with astrophotography is that it’s really expensive,” Will said. “Honestly, I’ve loved space since I was a little kid. I have this little mural-type setup of space stuff [in my bedroom], and I love space so much that when I got the opportunity to ask for a telescope of my own for my birthday, I realized that it has transferred over from just being because I enjoy space to the idea that I can actually take pictures of it. I want to do something big in life, and that’s why I love space: there’s so much out there, but we know so little.” 

Will’s outlook on life has entirely been dependent on his hobbies, and that’s a beautiful thing.

There are so many benefits to having hobbies. Will appreciates these benefits for what they are, and it has helped him grow as a person over the course of his life thus far. 

“I must say,” Will said, “my hobbies have given me a way to calm myself down. If something happens—say, a relative dies—I’ll go fishing that same day. It’s how I clear my head. Same with the other hobbies, like gaming. There are certain games I really just enjoy playing. I have a whole VR setup and a joystick and all that, and I like to play aircraft simulators so I end up learning a lot about the topic. And with space, I watch a lot of space-related videos, and I learn so much about it. [The only annoying thing is] I remember everything I learn from that, but not what I learn at school.”

Will is in his youth, and he plans on doing a lot more with his life as time passes; but, he wouldn’t be able to do this without the presence of his favorite hobbies.

“If you want to do something,” Will said, “do it before it’s too late. It’s going to make you happier, and it’s going to be really valuable to you.”