If you’re drawn to these 7 hobbies, you’re probably more intuitive than analytical

I've always been terrible at math.

Like, really terrible. Show me a spreadsheet and my brain just shuts down. Ask me to analyze data or create a logical framework for something, and I'll find seventeen reasons to procrastinate.

But ask me to read a room? To sense when something's off with a friend? To make a creative decision based purely on gut feeling? I'm all over it.

For years, I thought this made me less intelligent somehow. We live in a world that celebrates analytical thinking, after all. Logic. Data. Proof.

Then I started noticing patterns in the hobbies I gravitated toward. They all had something in common: they required me to trust my intuition over my logical brain.

Turns out, certain hobbies reveal whether you're more intuitive or analytical. And if you're drawn to these seven, you're probably wired like me.

1. Creative writing or journaling

I've tried outlining stories before. You know, the proper way where you plan every chapter and character arc.

It never works.

My best writing happens when I just start typing and see where it takes me. No plan. No structure. Just following the feeling of what wants to come out.

Analytical people love outlines. They need to know where they're going before they start. But intuitive writers? We discover the story as we write it.

Same with journaling. I don't sit down with specific prompts or goals. I just write whatever's swirling around in my head until something clicks.

The magic happens in the flow, not the planning.

2. Gardening

My neighbor grows the most amazing tomatoes. I once asked him how he knows when to water them.

He said, "I just know."

That's intuitive gardening right there. Sure, you can follow schedules and measure soil pH and track sunlight hours. Analytical gardeners do all that.

But intuitive gardeners feel it. They look at a plant and sense something's wrong. They move things around based on a hunch.

I killed three succulents before I stopped following care instructions religiously and started trusting my gut about what each plant needed.

Now my plants actually thrive. Go figure.

3. Cooking without recipes

I cannot follow a recipe to save my life.

I'll start with one, sure. But halfway through, I'm adding random spices because it "feels right." I'm substituting ingredients based on vibes. I'm tasting as I go and adjusting on instinct.

My sister, on the other hand, follows recipes exactly. Measures everything. Times everything. Her food is consistently good.

Mine is either amazing or disaster. No in-between.

Because I'm cooking intuitively. I'm trusting my palate and my sense of what flavors belong together.

Sometimes I nail it. Sometimes I don't. But I can't cook any other way.

4. Photography

The best photos I've ever taken happened when I wasn't thinking about composition rules or lighting ratios.

I just saw something that felt right and captured it.

Analytical photographers obsess over technical specs. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO. They plan their shots.

Intuitive photographers chase moments. We wander around until something catches our eye. We shoot based on feeling, not formula.

I still don't fully understand how my camera works. But I know when I've captured something good.

That knowing comes from somewhere deeper than technical knowledge.

5. Playing music by ear

My cousin, who's one of the most intuitive people I know, took piano lessons as a kid. However, she hated every second.

Reading sheet music felt like decoding an alien language to her. Following the notes exactly as written made music feel lifeless.

But give her a song to listen to, and she can usually figure it out on the keys. Not perfectly, but close enough.

What often happens is she just feels her way through it, listening for patterns and trusting when something sounds right.

Her piano teacher found this incredibly frustrating. She wanted my cousin to learn properly, analytically.

But her brain doesn't work that way. She needs to feel the music, not analyze it.

6. Thrifting or antiquing

Another "talent" I have is that I can walk into a thrift store and immediately zero in on the good stuff.

I can't really put my finger on it, but I just get this feeling about certain items.

That's pure intuition at work. It's all about picking up on details my conscious mind hasn't registered yet. Quality, era, value. It seems like my gut knows before my brain does.

I'll be browsing racks of clothes and suddenly feel drawn to something. Pull it out, and it's exactly my size and style.

Coincidence? Maybe. But it happens too often to be random. Intuitive people are good at sensing what's worth paying attention to.

7. Tarot, astrology, or other mystical practices

Okay, this one's obvious.

A colleague of mine got into tarot a few years ago. Not because she thinks the cards are magic, but because they help her access her intuition. They give her something to project her inner knowing onto.

Analytical people hate this stuff. They want proof, evidence, scientific validation.

But intuitive practices aren't about proof. They're about feeling and sensing and trusting what you know without knowing how you know it.

As Rudá Iandê writes in his book Laughing in the Face of Chaos: A Politically Incorrect Shamanic Guide for Modern Life: "Our emotions are not barriers, but profound gateways to the soul—portals to the vast, uncharted landscapes of our inner being."

That quote perfectly captures what these practices are really about. Accessing deeper wisdom through feeling rather than thinking.

The bottom line

Look, both intuitive and analytical thinking have value. The world needs both.

But if you're drawn to these hobbies, you're probably hardwired to trust your gut over your logical brain. You sense things. You feel things. You know things without being able to explain how.

I spent years trying to be more analytical because that's what seemed valuable. I forced myself through logic puzzles and tried to make data-driven decisions about everything.

It was exhausting.

Now I lean into my intuitive nature. I choose hobbies that let me feel my way through rather than think my way through.

And life feels so much easier.

So if you recognize yourself in these hobbies, stop fighting it. Your intuition is a gift. Trust it.