Ask HN: Skills that give you joy/flow

by viginti_treson 1/18/2022, 2:22 PMwith 16 comments

I have some skills/hobbies like music and boxing, and these things give me joy/flow. What are the skills that give you joy/flow? (flow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology))

by smk_on 1/18/2022, 2:52 PM

I love this question. First and foremost, meditation. It definitely helps me be more present. Another skill that gives me joy is reading. I can concentratedly read for 2 hours, but after 2 hours I need to take a break. I can't think of any other activity that I can concentrate so long on. Ideally, I would become a scholar but I'm going into software engineering for now:)

by drakonkaon 1/18/2022, 3:31 PM

Reading, writing, coding (usually debugging, once I have a consistent and smooth repro process), lifting.

by dokemon 1/18/2022, 4:05 PM

I've been painting some walls in my house recently. After getting over the short learning curve of making a mess everywhere I find it pretty therapeutic and meditative.

by starwindon 1/18/2022, 7:04 PM

Listening to music. Flying an airplane. Doing a hard workout. Building a Lego set. Fixing something with my hands. Cooking (trying not to cut off any more finger tips).

by amerkhalidon 1/18/2022, 3:59 PM

Coding, video games, listening to music, painting.

And long time ago when I used to run, running.

by floppy-diskon 1/18/2022, 4:14 PM

Refactoring legacy code.

by tekichanon 1/18/2022, 4:20 PM

Coding, solving math problems on paper (equations and stuff)

by billconanon 1/18/2022, 3:58 PM

drawing.

Thank you for sharing the wiki link, I learned something. I like drawing, it let me forget about other things for hours. I use it as a therapy for anxiety.

by AnimalMuppeton 1/18/2022, 5:28 PM

Ultimate frisbee is a "flow" kind of game.

by ambivalentson 1/18/2022, 3:04 PM

Bouldering, meditating, ping pong

by mikewaroton 1/18/2022, 5:05 PM

Machining, making gears.

by dominotwon 1/18/2022, 4:21 PM

coding, skiing.

by navyadon 1/19/2022, 6:20 AM

running