Not sure I'd call my love for tickling a lifestyle, but is certainly isn't a hobby. My hobbies are things such as weather research/ storm chasing, football, and playing the drums/ music...things I CHOSE to enjoy, and have a keen interest in.
I didn't choose to be someone who was fascinated by tickling....it chose me. Whether it was something I was born to do, or from growing up in a home where my parent's had occasional playful ticklefights, it's something I discovered about myself at a very young age.
I tell folks I began tickling pretty neighbor girls and sis's friends from school when I was a eleven, but it honestly began at an earlier age. I remember seeing Marlo Thomas laughing from being tickled on "That Girl"...a sitcom that went off the air when I was 7 (that's the only things I remember about that show....two episodes; one where her foot was tickled, another where she used her toes to dial a telephone).
Tickling isn't my lifestyle....not something I think about 24/7/365 (I don't post or visit TMF every day); but just a hobby? LOL....no way. It's much more than that, and has been for most of my life.