Something this recent pandemic has capitalized on and emphasized the need for is hobbies. Last summer, we all faced the predicament of being trapped at home with nothing better to do and we became immersed in TikTok, if we weren’t already. But something else TikTok managed to do was open up this never ending door to hobbies. From knitting cardigans and making rings, to reading and creating music, the things people were discovering were endless. Now, I’m the kind of person that picks up a new hobby every other month and then rotates between all of my hobbies whenever I tire of one and need a change. That’s not to say my hobbies ever bore me; sometimes I just want to focus on a different one. That’s just the way my mind works. Whether your mind is like mine and needs multiple hobbies, everyone should have at least one hobby they can turn towards when they need something to do.
As someone who has many hobbies and loves collecting them, there are so many benefits to having them. Here are some of those benefits:
- Destroying the boredom
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Around me I see people who reach a point in their day or week and they have no idea what to do with themselves. They have watched plenty of Netflix and they’ve scrolled through TikTok and they have reached a point of boredom. However, when you find yourself with hobbies to choose from, this aspect of “boredom” doesn’t come around so often. I know I’m someone who constantly tries to find time in the day to do everything I want because there are so many different things I could be doing. I could be making jewelry, editing videos, reading my latest book, crocheting, painting, and much more. So I never truly reach that point of boredom because I can just choose the next thing to do, and that’s something I am extremely thankful for.
- Tapping into your creativity
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Hobbies strike at the core of creativity. They require your hands or mind to constantly be working. Hobbies are creative by nature, but there are also hobbies that wouldn’t strike you as being creative such as going fishing or bird watching. However, every hobby requires you to change your thinking or the ways in which you view things, pushing you to be creative along the way. Being creative is a strength to carry with you no matter what you do in life, so I always suggest finding that one thing in life that allows you to be creative.
- Discovering new things
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From one hobby, you can discover a new hobby along the way. Sometimes you take your creativity one step further, and doing this opens new doors. But not only that, as corny as it may sound, you might just discover more about yourself. You might discover that you are not as patient as you thought, or maybe you realize that you have great fine motor skills. Whatever you discover, it’ll lead you to new understandings about yourself, your likes, your dislikes and the little things in between.
- Finding comfort
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To me there is something comforting about having a hobby to go to. Whether you have had a bad day or you struggled a lot, a hobby is something that is yours and it’s something that brings you joy to do. Because of this, it acts as a sort of comfort, something stable in your life that doesn’t change. It’s important to remember that a hobby isn’t something you are perfect at, or even amazing at. It’s something you enjoy doing whether you excel at it or not. When you find the right hobby for you, you won’t let the need to be the best control your perception of the hobby; you’ll love it no matter what.
If you’re someone who doesn’t really have a hobby, I definitely suggest finding one or two that you really enjoy. You don’t have to be a creative or artistic person to find a hobby that you’ll love and want to do all the time. And if you are someone who doesn’t see themselves as a creative person, these will be a great way to get in touch with your creativity. You’ll discover more about yourself than you knew before and you’ll no longer be prey to constant boredom and restlessness. You might just discover a hobby that fills a hole in your life that you didn’t even know was there.