Getting old and boring – What can I do about it?

I am 23, just getting started with the corporate/working world. The way you describe yourself sounds a bit like my Dad. He was a software engineer. So am I. I remember growing up and occasionally getting frustrated with his lack of interests and hobbies (past a certain point), especially when he started developing major chronic illnesses and we stopped going on as many weekend trips.

I lost him 2 years ago.

This comment is the first time I've even remembered that old frustration in many, many years. The moments I think about, and the types of conversations I wish I could still have, have nothing to do with "interesting" hobbies or being "cool".

He passed on his love of reading and we would frequently discuss ideas from his favorite authors. He loved the scorpions and many similar classic rock bands. Some of my favorite memories are us just chatting about those subjects, or things that were important in my life at the time, or current events, or about nothing at all, while doing something else. I wouldn't trade a single one of those for having a "cooler" or more interesting Dad. Now that I am also in the software industry, I wish we could complain (or celebrate the good) about work together. If anything, I wish he was more open about the boring things that went on in his day to day.

If pushing yourself to try new things is a journey you want to go on for yourself, by all means, do so. Your kids would probably find that interesting in and of itself. But don't do it just to "have something to talk about." They will love you for who you are (...eventually, if not now), and be much more interested in what's in your head and what you care about, than seeing that you check off some amorphous checkbook of "still having cool hobbies." If anything, it will probably be more rewarding for them as they grow up to know more and have more access to the person you already are and the things you already care about. You can buy travel and lessons and "interestingness" or get those things from someone else-- but once you're gone, you're gone forever.

It sounds like you're a caring father. You already got it, man. Just show them who you are.

Wishing you and your family well.

The social pressure to "be interesting" is one of the factors that I think leads to a lot of our collective misery. I think the problem is one of scale - if you're not engaging with other people because they don't share your interests, you may be hanging out with the wrong people, but you may not have a choice. You may be required to hang out with them because they are co-workers, neighbors, etc. - members of communities to which you may belong but may not have willingly chosen (i.e. if you're lucky enough to have been able to choose your job and your position and the team you work with, you are in a very fortunate minority).

So much of our self worth is wrapped up in "being important" or "being interesting". We don't ask the question enough, "To whom"? As someone else mentioned here, you should be important to the communities you have explicitly chosen and built - your wife and kids, the friends you choose to keep in your life, etc. If they find you interesting and important, that really ought to be enough for just about all of us. I do feel like an awful lot of this pressure to be interesting stems from people who have not cultivated such communities of choice and are left with a dire need to feel important to anyone who will pay attention to them. It's a sickness that I think a lot of people have been able to muster into the wrong kind of attention building, which makes it seems better than it is (e.g. parasocial relationships through social media, etc.)

All of this is to say: Are you happy? Do the people who matter to you find you interesting and fun to be around? Focus on them and be happy. Our lives are enriched by the people we let into them. So long as everyone in our circles are well fed, well loved, and well rested - ourselves included - we can find peace and happiness. Excitement means different things to different people - you'll never catch me bungee jumping, but I get a rush when a delicious meal I had planned turns out exactly as I intended. Find what excites you, surround yourself with people who love and appreciate you - and whom you love and appreciate in return - and work toward your own sense of happiness without the judgement of the chattering classes.

You're boring to everyone else? Fine. Don't be boring to your kids. Be there for them. "Dad spent time with me" will matter to your kids far more than being able to tell some rando about your hobby will matter to said rando.

(Don't be boring to your wife, either.)

In fact, don't be boring to the neighbor kids. You want your house to be the place they hang out, rather than your kids hanging out at the neighbor's house. That way you find out what's going on in your kids' lives sooner, when you can do something about it, rather than later when you maybe can't.

Kinda same as you, pushing 40, wish I had clients instead of a boss (or both) and a social circle with more nerdy people (or students). I was able to get one young intern started on coding and it was the most fulfilling thing I did. He's mantaining the systems I left behind on the old company, and pretty excited about improving (he's like 20).

More interestingly: I like running and also go the gym most days, but honestly not sure its a great idea since all my (physical) energy is gone after training. I feel like if I don't train I have more gas in my tank for family.

With kids of 3 and 7 I have to think that you have plenty to occupy you. Your kids school or extra-curricular activities will probably get you new acquaintances soon. (We are in touch still with some people we met through our son's school or school activities, and he is older than you are.)

You could try volunteer activities I suppose.

And let me also say that 33 is hardly even "getting middle aged".

>> When I meet new people, I realize I don't have much to say because nobody cares about my work or my family or my books (nor should they, necessarily).

I recommend reading "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

The book won't remedy all of the problems you list, but it should help you to recognize the power which comes from getting people to talk about themselves -- which they love to do.

When you use these techniques you will be very surprised at how little speaking you actually need to do.

Why don't you do some shit with your family, like go on a vacation or go hiking or go sailing or go to museum. You'll spend time with your family and have something to talk about.

I'm 38 and I understand this feeling. I'm a software engineer with a wife and kid (age 6) and a lot of my time is spent with them (and happily, too).

I'm with you, I also don't watch much TV (I usually just watch some youtube clips) and I haven't touched a video game in a long while. I don't really like sports either (I like playing them, though) so when I get into talks with other guys, once they got onto sports I can't really contribute (but it doesn't bother me).

Like another person mentioned, I would also recommend reading How to Win Friends and Influence people. It's a great resource to learn how to engage in conversation with people even when you think you have nothing to discuss. For the other person, if you can get them to talk about themselves, it won't really matter if you're "boring" because they'll think you're charming and want to engage with you. Another great resource is The Power of Charm by Brian Tracy (particularly helpful if you find yourself socially awkward).

Since I don't have too much time outside of work/family, one thing I've done is learned how to be a better cook. And over the years, I've learned different dishes, how to cook steaks _really_ well, breakfasts (I make a killer French toast), etc. Eventually I started inviting other families over for dinner and I would cook for them - so this became my hobby that people knew about (and who doesn't like a tasty free meal?).

I got so into it and good at it that recently, I had some friends of mine ask me to cook them a Thanksgiving turkey for their New Year's party, which I was honored to do. There were guests at the party that I didn't know, and when they tried the turkey, they liked it and then started asking me about how I did it, what were the ingredients, etc. (I became "interesting," so to say).

My bigger point is that if you find something that you can do that others will appreciate (i.e. cooking, tutoring junior devs, getting really good a finances and helping others with theirs, etc.), you will naturally fall into a hobby that others will enjoy and appreciate you for (and therefore, will find you interesting).

> How do I find the time?

Start small, test iteratively, fail early, refactor. Much like coding :)

I'm in a similar position, but 10 years older. My oldest kid is 13. I think its possible to put too much emphasis on family. Yes, parents have an obligation and most love their kids and will want to spend time with them but it can absolutely go to far. Balance is necessary. Going too far is a suffocating, robotic way to live in my experience. I honestly feel like a machine, going here, doing this, day after day with no free will of my own.

The counter to this is having a life of your own outside the family. For me these are outdoor sports and adventures. Something that makes me feel truly alive. Every time I go I come back feeling like a better person and ready to face another round of the interminable monotony of family life. If you want to meet people and have something to talk about then I would suggest a hobby that involves skill or equipment. Road or mountain bike riding would be a good one.

I also have found that once my kids are about 10 they suddenly don't need or want me as much and are more interested in friends. I've been extremely dedicated to my family and did so many things with my kids, its a bit hard to see them growing up and separating but necessary and nice in it's own way of course.

Family can be great, and is a rewarding experience at times and of course and loving obligation. Sounds like you are happy but just need a little adventure in your life. Something that a relatively simple hobby would perfectly satisfy while detracting very little from your family life overall. Think about the big picture, kids will grow up, a few hours or even a whole day on the weekend for your hobby is no big deal.

I say this with sincerity, not judgment: You (presumably) made a choice to start a family and be a homeowner. Why not embrace it?

You can always yearn for another life, but if you pursue it, that usually means giving up on family and and home time. Is that worth it in your heart?

I knew a few older men who focused on their careers and personal aspirations more than their families, and it didn't turn out well for the families. They found success and prestige outside the home, but also turned into lonely, somewhat broken men later in life. I also know a few men who decided, fuck it, I'm not single anymore, and there is no more "me"... it's the family life now. They dove headfirst into dad-dom and loved it for all its challenges. Nobody outside their family really cared, but so what? They were happier.

I'm not saying the family life is for everyone. I'm nearly 40, unmarried, no kids, no house, a lot of freedom. I spend my years exploring, working, learning random hobbies, traveling, going back to school, backpacking, etc. But frankly a lot of those are young people's activities, and I'm out of place everywhere I go. That's okay by me though, because it was my choice to live this life. I'm now in a long term relationship with someone with similar life desires. That might make us more outwardly focused than homebody couples and families, but they don't find us that interesting because they have their own lives. We also don't spend too much time thinking about their families and private lives.

It's just different after your twenties. People tend to settle down and become less adventurous.

Sure, there are people who manage to juggle work and family and climbing Everest over the weekend, but they're pretty rare and usually very intense, for better or worse. That doesn't sound like you.

It's your choice whether to have a midlife crisis (lol), but if you love your family, maybe just try to find some fun hobbies to do with them? Go camping. Try tabletop games (many are wonderful these days, not just like Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders, but hundreds of new excellent titles). Take them skiing or biking or rafting. Start crafting projects, learn to 3d print or blacksmith or crochet. Play some D&D. There are many things you can develop an interest in without giving up the life you chose. Just find things with a limited time (and time away) commitment if you want to keep the family close. There's still a lot you can do in 2-4 hours a week, especially together.

"I am generally happy", good for you. That in itself is a huge accomplishment. Not everyone can say that.

My suggestion is to try different things even if you have to force yourself with the hope that you'll find something you enjoy and can share. There will be many things that you can share with your kids or as a family that will get you there. It's just a matter of trying. I know time is limited but you can carve out some time as a goal especially if you can do it with your family. Start with a family home evening where do the activities with your family.

I am 38 and more or less in the same shoes, but strangely, I don’t feel like this. Maybe what helps is setting goals. True, I spend mostly time at work and with my family, but for example I have a small goal of making a microcontroller-driven toy for my younger son (I am an electronics engineer). So every day I spend time working on it. I also have time left for reading my fantasy books and even spend time with my wife. On the rare occasions when I/we meet new people I avoid talking about work. I try everyday stuff (boring or not, boring is just a social construct) and/or books. If it doesn’t work, I don’t give a dime if the person found me boring or not. :) Maybe this comes with the years. When I were single and without too many obligations, the only different thing from now was that I was traveling and hiking a lot. Now with the family we try at least 1 time in every 2-3 months. This really recharges my batteries and removes the social anxieties.

I have a few random thoughts:

- Everything you wrote sounds perfectly fine to me. And I'm often more interested in talking about changing diapers than about Amazing Spectacular Things.

- This might be over the top, in which case just discard it, but if you feel something is missing, and you like reading, maybe check some practical philosophy? It might as well turn out you already have everything you need, or that what you need is not what you think you need.

- I'm a bit over 40 and last year I started doing karaoke, completely by accident (someone suggested it, I went, and stayed). I don't have "musical genes", so you probably wouldn't like to get my signed record :))--but I really enjoy the whole thing. At some point I noticed that some songs sounded better than before, and it gave me some motivation to work on them. And suddenly I have a completely unexpected hobby. My point here is that a hobby can emerge in a completely unexpected way, at any time in your life.

Lot of good points in this section. I had to recently spend a lot of time with myself. Like a looooot. And once I ran out of various kinds of intoxicants, distractions and emotions, I finally had to learn the art of having fun without external input. Just having fun by myself. It sounds extremely easy but it is one of the harder things I've had to do in my life. There’s something to notice there - there’s so much external input now that it is difficult to find things that you enjoy intrinsically.

I've noticed this in myself - if you have intrinsic feelings of excitement and enjoyment, then you just have a lot more to add when you’re around other people. You emit more excitement, and originality.

But this is supplementary - consciously seeking out the right communities that energize you is paramount.

I don't share the feeling of being boring but then again I don't have kids.

That little jab aside, I recently bought a nice bike during autumn sales and equipped myself with a wahoo Kickr smart trainer and cycling shoes / bibs etc.

I didn't think that the gamified zwift interface could be this much fun but I'm addicted and never had better cardio than I do right now. I'm even skipping weightlifting workouts to bike more ..

So yeah get this as a new hobby and then once you figure out all the awesome stuff about it get the rest of your family into it. It's healthy af and there's a huge community of people.

I never really enjoyed running, rowing was much better but biking is on another level. What's awesome during winter is the smart trainer, once you test your fitness level the workouts are adapted to you perfectly.

I've taken great pleasure in cooking and strobist portrait photography. For cooking, I'm naturally terrible but even I can follow America's Test Kitchen recipes and my family has really appreciated the results! Cooking is an opportunity to have a hobby that also improves your family's quality of life. For photography, I started out with a pretty cheap mirrorless and cheap Chinese lights (Godox), and have been getting progressively better at taking pictures (by watching YouTube and practicing a lot) for 10 years. It's a lot of fun for me and at the same time creates memorable photos that my family go back to again and again.

That is OK. I think the art of story telling is turning the mundane into fascinating: people who are good at story telling, or even stand up comedians talk about everyday stuff anyway ALOT. And you can definitely bore people with your 1000 photos of temples and cliff selfies on an "exciting" trip around the world. So don't worry about it.

In terms of hobby, I reckon do a hobby whose side effect makes your home life easier. For example if you do woodwork as a hobby that is a useful thing to be good at for jobs around the house. Also semi professional cooking would be a good one. Or anything that gets you fit.

> I'm 33 and I am becoming terminally boring.

Are you boring or bored? Big difference.

One thing I've heard from many retired people is that they're bored. And I was always like...how can you be bored?! You have all the time in the world to do all the things you want but never had time for because of work! What did you do all day with your time off before retirement?

I read your post and wonder if you're going to end up one of those people.

> Outside of reading I have no hobbies, I am not part of any groups, I don't have any ambitions outside of home & work, and I don't drink or play video games or watch very much TV/movies. [...] Should I try to cultivate new interests? How do I find the time?

You absolutely should try to cultivate new interests.

I'm a big PC gamer, playing things from all genres. FPS, turn-based strategy, real-time strategy, factory building, city building, colony sim, puzzle, RPG (action, MMO, and single-player), racing...I play so many games that when people ask me "What do you play?", I never know how to answer! Though my favorites are typically the city builders, colony sims, and factory builders.

But I recently got into RC cars after digging out the ones I inherited from my dad. He had some stuff from the late 80s, like a Traxxas Bullet and a Kyosho Optima Mid. I upgraded the motors and electronics, but eventually decided to get myself a modern Traxxas Rustler 4x4 VXL. Out of the box, it'll go 45 mph, and if I swap the pinion gear out on the motor, it'll go ~70 mph (at the expensive of some acceleration).

There are so many hobbies and interests to get into. You just gotta find what you like to do! Just don't let anyone tell you that any hobby that doesn't lead to something useful is a waste of time. There are some poor souls, even here on HN, that think anything that doesn't produce value beyond just being entertaining is a waste of time. Fuck 'em. They're going to be on their death beds wishing that they had allowed themselves to have more fun.

Finding time...I don't really know how to answer that one, since I'm not a parent, though I am married, but my wife is a PC gamer as well, so I have plenty of free time outside of work.

At least for me, a lot of people don't really care about my hobbies, other than the people you share them with.

I play a sport in a club. When I hang out with those people... yea it's all we talk about almost. Nobody in my family or friends play this sport, nor do they care to talk about it.

So I just would not expect whatever it is you pick up to be broadly interesting to other people either.

> I have a great remote job which pays well without being too demanding

Do you mind disclosing your employer or at least how you obtained your job? Some of us are having "trouble finding employment"[1]

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38999485

Counter take: Being 'interesting' is over rated ..

At 50+, I'm actually glad how 'boring' my life has become. When I was younger, 'interesting' was generally code for drama...

Now my son is grown, the bills are paid, my health is decent .. I'm happy to just be 'boring' and relax.

This is very normal. Your kids won't need nearly as much of your time in a few years and you'll have time for hobbies again. Enjoy how much time you're spending with them now and have faith that you'll be "interesting" again when you have fewer demands from family life.

Sounds like you have your priorities straight? Do what makes you happy and to hell with everyone (and everything) else.

You don't need to sound interesting or have things to talk about. If you're finding you are not "happy" with what you have, that's another discussion.

It sounds like reading is your hobby. Maybe join some book clubs, participate in online communities, etc.

Why being boring (the way you described it) is a bad thing?

There a millions of "cool" people who would give anything for a chance to live a "boring" life you describe.

At the current place in my life I'm as boring as you (with kids, chores etc.), and I'm pretty happy about it.

Coaching your kids' sports teams is a pretty mainstream social activity for a father of young kids. By age 7, my dad was involving me at least a bit in home repair & home improvement projects.

BTW - are you regularly reading to your kids? That also checks a lot of your boxes.

It feels boring because your life has no real problems. Either you could be glad about that, or give yourself some real challenges. When I felt that way in my early 30’s, I decided to break 3 hours in the marathon, which rejuvenated my lifestyle.

You've gotta get a hobby or multiple hobbies. Also, you chose a family/kids. That's your hobby/direction. This is all normal for your age/choices. Weird that you don't think it is?

In general, I've found that making one's focus of curiosity less about 'how' and more about 'why' opens a lot of new doors, both introspectively and socially.

I have been readding, or listening to Rick Rubins book, it's got some good stuff for finding and holding onto your passions, exploring within yourself what they are.

Dont be interesting. Just do for yourself and your own enjoyment.

I just bought an Oxi One midi sequencer and use it to noodle some music things, it’s super fun. All you need is a laptop or iPad and you’re good to go

Have you considered starting a book club? I love to read and I found a few people that like to read in the same genre and we have a lot of fun.

quit your job. too many people remain in a job for far too long. unless you are in a trajectory to become the vp of the company by 43, quit and start your own thing.

most people think of a job as a lifetime thing whereas it is a short paid bootstrapping session to learn how the adult world works.

after that you should be finding edges and exploiting them on your own.

You will have more time as your children get older and will probably gravitate towards finding new interests naturally.

What are you reading at the moment?