It’s important for us to have hobbies – especially as many of us in the legal and technology professions spend a great deal of time being laser-focused on our careers.

As a I get older (and more mature 😎), I’ve increasingly realized the importance of having a wide range of interests that are outside of the workplace and your family.

As an example, during the pandemic, I rediscovered collecting sports memorabilia.

When I was a kid, I collected a wide range of sports memorabilia like baseball cards and autographs. I used to pester my Dad and Mom to take me to baseball card shows in the NYC area where I grew up and I would spend my allowance and my small savings account on baseball cards at these shows.

Fast forward many years later, I attended my first National Sports Collectors Convention AKA “the National” in the Chicago area last weekend.

Sporting my Dave Parker 🐍 Baseball Card shirt that I bought at a Pittsburgh Pirates game in PNC Park last Summer (and the “Cobra” deserves to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame), I was like a kid in a candy store checking out an incredible range of sports memorabilia under one roof at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center near O’Hare Airport.

It was fun to pick up some items from the National for my collection like a few vintage Roberto Clemente cards and a classic Patrick Ewing New York Knicks jersey – that I already wore last night at a local outdoor festival.

It was also cool to view a highly graded PSA “9” of a 1952 Topps Baseball Card of the legendary Mickey Mantle that has an estimated value of $6M!

While a lot have things have changed in the sports memorabilia arena since I was a kid, the National was very well-attended and it was terrific to experience the positive energy in a very fun hobby.

So, my message to you is have hobbies that are of interest to you so that you can improve your wellness – and most importantly, have some fun!