Hobbies and Leisure Activities: Elevate your Wellness Routine

I love receiving flowers, who doesn’t right!? Last year I realized that I actually enjoyed creating bouquets more than receiving them and thous a new hobby of mine was born!

Its so important to make time for leisure activities that bring us joy and relaxation, activities that challenge us, experiences that encourage us to grow and explore who we are.

I know its easy to fall into grind mode and become consumed with our day to day obligations. It may feel like you don’t have time for a hobby and I understand, but Im telling you, you do! Dedicating as little as 15-30 minutes to an enjoyable leisure activity has its benefits and you will be happy that you carved out that time!

There are so many different types of hobbies physical, creative, socially engaging, or learning something new. A hobby can even be a completely unique activity that you create, as long as it provides purposeful enjoyment it can be considered a hobby or leisure activity.

I want to discuss some of the wellness benefits of taking up a hobby, and how it can benefit you on your wellness journey.

Relieves bad stress and promote good stress also known as Eustress Hobbies are an escape from the obligations and demands of daily life, helping to relieve stress. In turn, depending on the type of hobby, it can promote positive stressors. Taking on a new challenge can be enjoyable and make us excited about life. A hobby that requires you to gain a new skill or build on skills you already have can be fun but stressful in the beginning. This type of stress is vital to our lives and keeps us healthy and happy!

Encourage mindfulness: Engaging in an activity that requires you to focus so that you can complete whatever task is at hand, keeps you present in the moment. You engage your senses. As you relax, you are more in-tune with how you feel in the moment. Your conscience stores this information which encourages you to stick with the activity and seek out similar experiences.

Cultivate Healthy Habits: Unfullfilled idle time and boredom is a breeding ground for bad habits.When you have a leisure activity that provides purposeful enjoyment, it gives you something to fill your free time so that you don’t resort to bad habits in a time of boredom such as: over indulging on alcohol, television or unhealthy foods to fill the void.

Improve your self worth and allows self exploration: Extending your self-worth out beyond culturally dictated parameters( work, love life, rearing children) has been shown to be beneficial for self perception. Exploring new hobbies gives you opportunity to see that life is so much more than those things and so is your self worth. Getting to know yourself, your strength and weaknesses is very freeing and empowering.

Mental and Physical Fitness: When you take on new challenges or start to learn a new skill, such as playing a sport, your brain creates new neural pathways! This in turn can increase your memory and problem solving skills. It can even strengthen your brains ability to stop bad habits and establish those that serve you better!
Of course we all want to become more physically fit and taking up a new sport that you enjoy can be the perfect opportunity to get moving, improving your endurance and building muscle.

How to find a New Hobby?

I always say do the things that bring you joy, but here are a few things to consider on your quest for a new leisure activity!