>but do we really have to turn all our hobbies and enjoyment into a financial exercise?

Not rally, but it is part of the problem with the modern world that most of our hobbies are far disconnected from skills that support our work and many of them are consumptive and passive only.

Once upon a time, men made tools and furniture as a hobby to support their work and home, women knitted and cooked to do the same. I am not saying that because it should be the same activities now, but once upon a time there was an "ecosystem" of activities with skill interoperability that supported work and leisure, there was a stronger relationship between what we did, and what we needed to do.