Quick Answer
An avocation is simply a hobby or spare-time pursuit you love. It matters because it offers a vital escape from your daily grind, helping you de-stress and avoid burnout. It's the flip side of your job: what you choose to do for pure pleasure, providing a different, enriching kind of fulfilment.
In a hurry? TL;DR
- 1Pursue a serious hobby (avocation) for enjoyment, separate from your career (vocation), to find personal satisfaction.
- 2Understand your avocation as a passion project that offers a mental escape from your primary job's demands.
- 3Dedicate significant time and skill-building to your avocation; it’s more than a casual pastime.
- 4Engage in an avocation to gain cognitive benefits that can improve performance in your main profession.
- 5Keep your avocation strictly non-commercial to preserve its restorative, non-judgemental value.
- 6Use avocations, like Churchill's painting, to manage stress and prevent burnout from your vocation.
Why It Matters
An avocation is your personal calling away from work, offering a vital mental escape and fresh perspective that can surprisingly boost your main career.
An avocation is a side activity or serious hobby pursued for pleasure rather than profit. Unlike a job, it is a chosen calling that provides personal satisfaction and mental escape from one's primary profession.
- Definition: A secondary activity or hobby pursued for enjoyment
- Contrast: While a vocation is your career, an avocation is your passion project
- Origin: Latin roots meaning a calling away from work
- Why it matters: Prevents burnout by providing a separate identity from your 9-to-5
An avocation sits in the narrow space between a casual distraction and a full-time career. It is more intense than a simple pastime like watching television, requiring a level of dedication and skill-building that mirrors a professional life.
AV-uh-KAY-shun (/ˌævəˈkeɪʃən/)
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A hobby or minor occupation pursued for pleasure
The Calling Away
To understand avocation, you must see it as the mirror image of vocation. While a vocation is what you are called to do for society or survival, an avocation is what calls you away from the grind.
Historically, this distinction was sharp. In the 17th century, according to etymological records, the word was often used to describe a distraction from ones duties. It was almost a pejorative term for something that pulled you away from God or work.
Today, that meaning has flipped. Psychologists, including researchers at San Francisco State University, have found that people with creative side pursuits perform better in their primary jobs. The avocation provides the cognitive grit that the day job might lack.
Sir Winston Churchill provides the classic historical example. While his vocation was the high-stakes world of global politics, his avocation was landscape painting. He famously claimed that without his oils and canvases, he could not have endured the stress of leadership.
Examples in Context
- Despite his success as a corporate lawyer, his true avocation was restoring vintage motorcycles in his garage.
- She found that her avocation for urban beekeeping provided the mental clarity she needed after long shifts at the hospital.
- Many great writers started their craft as an avocation while working clerical jobs to pay the bills.
- The university president maintained a lifelong avocation for amateur astronomy, spending his weekends at a remote observatory.
Related Terms
- Synonyms: Pastime, hobby, sideline, pursuit, enthusiasm
- Antonyms: Vocation, profession, business, duty, calling
Practical Usage Tips
Use avocation when you want to describe a hobby with weight and seriousness. If someone simply enjoys movies, it is a pastime. If they write deep-dive film essays and attend festivals every year without pay, it is an avocation.
When networking, asking someone about their avocation rather than their job often leads to a much more memorable and spirited conversation. It allows them to speak about who they are, rather than what they do for a paycheck.
Is an avocation the same as a hobby?
Yes, but with more gravity. A hobby can be fleeting, while an avocation implies a long-term commitment and a high level of personal significance.
Can an avocation become a vocation?
Yes, though the transition often changes the nature of the activity. When an enjoyment becomes a source of income, it acquires new pressures that can diminish its role as a mental escape.
Why is it called a calling away?
Because it literally calls you away from the demands of your professional life. It functions as a necessary psychological border between your work self and your private self.
Key Takeaways
- Balance: An avocation creates a necessary buffer against professional stress.
- Purpose: It should be driven by interest, not financial gain or external validation.
- Intensity: It usually involves developing a specific skill set over many years.
- Contrast: While your vocation pays the bills, your avocation pays the soul.
Learn more about related concepts like the Flow State, the history of Polymaths, or the etymology of Amateur.
Example Sentences
"After a stressful week at the office, gardening became his cherished avocation, providing a peaceful escape."
"Her avocation for painting allowed her to explore her creative side, far removed from her actuarial career."
"Many professionals find that pursuing an avocation helps to maintain a healthy work-life balance and prevents burnout."
"Despite his demanding job as a surgeon, antique clock restoration was his serious avocation."
"He treats his avocation of amateur astronomy with as much dedication as his paid employment."
