Go ahead and geek out

Some people get super into this kind of stuff. Good for them! (Image by Tumisu)

Growing up in the nineties, when it was all about slackers and irony, it wasn’t cool to be into things.

My friends and I were so into music that we couldn’t be cool. We were always playing or listening, or wishing that we were playing or listening.

In the span of about 12 weeks in tenth grade, I learned how to play the guitar to a decent level of proficiency — enough to perform in public. I was not particularly talented. I was merely obsessed. In that short span of time, I dedicated every possible moment to music, and it’s been paying off ever since.

If I had kept a measure of ironic distance from the instrument — “Yeah, guitar is okay, I guess, whatever” — I wouldn’t have done as well. Getting good quickly meant that I couldn’t play it cool. I had to involve others. I had to be willing to be heard. I had to be willing to ask for help. And I had to play with my fellow musicians.

I also had to acknowledge to myself that this was a priority. Secondary concerns, like sleep and homework, temporarily fell by the wayside as I went after my passion.

The result was nothing less than a career as a musician and music educator, which led to entrepreneurship. What if I had spent high school trying to fit in with the popular kids, like I did in seventh grade? My life would have turned out totally different. I can’t say it would have been better. My love affair with music as a teenager gave me a sense of identity and carries a lot of happy memories. Not only was I a Beatles nerd and guitar aficionado, I was a full-on chorus kid and a band geek, too, and participated in all the school musicals. Music was my whole life and kept me out of trouble.

I have had subsequent obsessions in my life, and still feel a bit sheepish about them. Perhaps because of our cultural worship of overnight successes and natural talent, you don’t hear about how much work people have to put into something to be good at it. Just Olympic athletes and Juilliard-bound violinists, right?

But then again, kids these days can turn to the Internet and geek out over their fandoms and favorite activities even if they can’t find anyone at school to share their interests. And judging by the conversations I’ve heard over the years about Star Wars, Minecraft, Fortnite, and The Office from my middle schoolers, Gen Z’ers have no qualms about proclaiming their geeky interests loud and clear, thus attracting classmates who are similarly oriented. A lot has changed since I was an adolescent.

I think we can all learn a lot from the way these kids validate and encourage each other’s obsessive interests and hold nothing back. Why should I feel sheepish about how much time I spend on a hobby? Currently, I’m learning a foreign language, which takes a long time. I might as well spend as much time as I want to on it, especially when there is nothing else to do. When the moment comes in which I’m tempted to ask myself whether I’m going too far, I can just turn up my French-language podcasts and ignore it.

To get good at something in a short period of time, I tend to spend three to six hours a day on it — and longer on the weekends. In this way, I can create a virtuous cycle in which I’m increasingly motivated to do the work because I’m increasing my stamina and tolerance for it. It’s satisfying and fun, and it still keeps me out of trouble.

In these days, you could hardly call me well-rounded. The guitar hasn’t been taken out of its case in weeks, and my knitting needles sit idle. But who cares? There’s no law that says I have to enjoy my hobbies equally in a given week or month. I’m a grownup — I get to do whatever I want in my free time. Right now, I’m choosing to go ahead and geek out on French. It’s bringing me a much-needed level of fulfillment and novelty in a time when that is most welcome, trapped as I am in my home with a restricted social life (much like my teenage years, as a matter of fact).

I make no promises about how well I’ll be able to speak French next time I have the opportunity or how long my dedication to this project will last. But I will tell you that studying is the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night, and for quite a bit of time in between, too. It’s the best way I know to learn, and I have no one to impress by holding back or pretending not to care. I’m a geek, and proud of it.

What do you like to geek out on? Have you ever received negative attention or criticism for your hobbies and passionate interests? What would you do if you gave yourself permission to dedicate yourself fully to pursuing a particular activity? I’d love to hear in the comments.