I am about to finish my sophomore year of college and one of the biggest takeaways I can reflect on with the past two years is how hobbies are one of the most important pieces to living a well-balanced life.
College years are some of the most trying times you will ever have. You go through living on your own, in a new place, with new people, and you are expected to kind of just know what you want to do. These past two years have been filled with nothing but change for me which has been chaotic and stressful, but also fun and exciting. Although during college you are expected to know what you want to do and how you want to do it, you are also trying new things, finding what you love, and meeting new people to share those experiences with. College might be filled with stressful times that are inevitable but how I have learned to move forward is to find things I truly enjoy doing. Having hobbies that let me escape the chaos and have some moments of peace.
Hobbies can be kind of hard to find, you have no idea what you want to do nor how to do them at first. This is my guide to how I found some of my favorite hobbies and how best to ensure that I make the time to experience them.
Diamond Art
I am no artist and honestly will probably ever be an artist. However, diamond painting is such an amazing way to have a fun craft that you can do with no artistic ability needed. They are almost like color by numbers but with tiny jewels you stick onto a paper. They come with all the materials needed and are affordable while you are in college.
This is the pack that I ordered off of Amazon. These ones were affordable and came with so many of them, they lasted an entire year. When I am so busy with school, studying, work, or any other thing that is consuming my time. I like to take 15-30 minutes to breathe and relax while still feeling like I am doing something. They allow me to wind down and be brainless almost, I don’t have to think about anything that could be stressing me out, I can just mindlessly stick tiny diamonds on a piece of paper.
Since this pack came with so many, I also gave some to friends so that way we could watch a movie and do a fun task together. I was able to still socialize in a calm setting and hangout with some of my favorite people. Making memories was always emphasized as such an important thing to me in college and doing a diamond art with some of your friends gives you a great way to make memories in a low stress environment and take a break from some of the typical college hangouts.
Baking
Although, freshman year I rarely baked because there were no kitchens in my dorm. Sophomore year, I have really been getting into trying new recipes and exploring what I like to bake and what I don’t.
I have found three recipes that are fairly straightforward and affordable. My favorite chocolate chip cookie, chocolate chip banana muffins, and garlic rolls. I try to bake once a week to help calm me down and take some time for myself. Although with these recipes I have not found a good way to make them single serving. However, it gives me the perfect opportunity to give some of my baked goodies to some of the people I love.
This can become a more expensive hobby especially in comparison to diamond art. However, I do have some tricks to help make it less expensive. One, I always buy the Kroger brand of ingredients. They are the same thing at a fraction of the cost, and trust me you cannot tell the difference. Two, use common substitutes. If one ingredient seems to be out of your budget, look up common substitutes and buy that so it’s cheaper. Three, you don’t need fancy baking equipment. I use a fork as a whisk. And if you want a fancier sort of tool, ask for it around a holiday — people can chip in and then you don’t spend a dime.
Baking at first can be hard, when something doesn’t turn out the way you expected or something goes wrong along the way. But, this allows you to learn how you will react in bad scenarios and change your mindset in the least high-pressure situation. Things aren’t going to go how you expect them to all the time, instead of being faced with these emotions with serious topics like grades, internships, jobs, etc. You can start to build these habits to change your mindset with something so simple as baking. And when it does come out the way you want to you get to be proud of yourself and enjoy a delicious snack.
Reading
Now, this is something that I at first thought I would hate. People put a bad vibe on reading because we were always forced to read something in school that was boring. However, I have found that I actually like reading when it is my choice to read something. Personally I have found I love a good rom-com book.
These are my top two book series Every Summer After by Carly Fortune and Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez. Finding what you like to read is the hardest part of it. But, the good news is every college has a library and you can find the widest range of books there all for free.
Reading has been a great way for me to wind down, especially at night. After a stressful day I get to lay in bed and read, and it gives the feeling of almost like you are not really in the current world— instead, it is like you are in an alternate universe. I try to read a chapter a night of whatever book I am on. It allows me to get a little tired, and relax without being on any sort of device which I really like, especially since I am always on my computer or looking at a screen all day long.
Trying to figure out your place in the world is hard, and college is only a brief part of that. But, finding hobbies that you enjoy and actually like doing is something that is so important for you to feel like it is just slightly less hectic. There are so many hobbies people can explore and there really is no limit of what can or cannot be a hobby.