Picture this: you’re sitting in a career development workshop and listening to an incredibly established speaker tell you all about her career experiences. You come up with a killer question to ask her: “If you could go back in time, what’s one thing you would tell 20-year-old you?” — a great question, right? You’re expecting her to say she would work on networking, apply for that one internship, and maybe attend a different grad school. Instead, she throws you a curveball; she tells you, “Start developing your hobbies now, you’re gonna need them later.” Your face goes white when you realize, I don’t have any hobbies.
It’s a real problem; as college students, we all too often get caught in a cycle of class, homework, sleep, repeat, leaving no free time to even consider what we actually enjoy doing. The experience I just told you about happened to me a few months ago, and ever since then, it’s been lingering in the back of my mind. Once I learned that people with hobbies are less likely to suffer from stress, bad moods, and even depression, I decided to take my hobby journey a bit more seriously. This week, I’m prioritizing a new hobby every day and letting you see firsthand how it affects my life.
Day 1: Reading
I’ve always enjoyed reading in the summer when I have more free time, but consistently seem to fall off my reading habit when I get back to school in the fall. Something about reading for leisure on top of all the reading I have for school just seems daunting, and honestly, unappealing.
But, today I started to change that. I first downloaded an app “Goodreads,” which lets you keep track of and rate the books you’ve read, and then suggests new finds for you based on what you like and don’t like. After downloading the app, I decided to put my fate in the hands of others and ask for a few book recommendations from friends. I landed on the book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and decided that my usual before-bed TikTok timeslot would be replaced with reading.
Today’s results: Honestly, I LOVED this. I always waited to find more time to read but never could fit it into my day — little did I know that the hours I spent on TikTok at night could be easily swapped out. There’s something so nice about settling down to read before bed (even though I kind of feel like a grandma), and honestly, I felt less wound up before sleeping after reading for just a short time. Not to say that TikTok isn’t a good wind-down option for before bed, but if you’re looking to read more, I highly suggest swapping it out with a good book!
Day 2: nail painting
Day two was perfect timing for me to fix my horrendous-looking nails. I was a little stressed during the day knowing I would need to set aside extra time for this hobby, but honestly, working a little harder so I could have some me-time was definitely doable. I put on one of my favorite shows (Friends, duh), sat down at my desk, and dedicated some time to painting my nails. Since I put on press-ons and painted them, it took around an hour.
Today’s results: This one was less relaxing. I love doing my nails, but I think doing them at the end of the day made me a bit more rushed/stressed than I would have liked to be. Maybe if I picked a day when I had more time I would have enjoyed this hobby more, but today, it felt like adding an unnecessary task to my to-do list. Oh well, not every hobby can be a success.
Day 3: Giving back
Okay, you might think I’m kind of cheating on this one because I already had a charity event to go to on this day. UConn’s HuskyTHON event, which raises money for Miracle Network Hospitals, was today from 4:00 a.m. to midnight, so I obviously didn’t have time to do anything else during my day today. BUT, this brings up a really important point: sometimes you just don’t have time to take time out of your day for your hobbies, and you might need to find ways to prioritize them within your crazy schedule.
Luckily for me, I do really enjoy getting involved in charity work and giving back to my community, so this hobby could easily fit right into my plan. To focus on prioritizing the hobby aspect of this event, I made sure to be really mindful of why HuskyTHON was important to me, and what aspects of this hobby could be incorporated into my daily life. I tried to be purposeful and mindful about everything I did, remembering to appreciate every moment of the event while thinking of it as a hobby.
Today’s results: Most of all, today reminded me that hobbies don’t just influence our ability to relax and unwind, they can influence some of the most important things we do on a day-to-day basis. Even though I wasn’t actively giving time to a hobby today, being mindful about how charity work is a hobby of mine both made me appreciate the event even more and plan ways to continue to incorporate it in the future.
Day 4: Time with Loved ones
After an 18-hour dance marathon, some of my friends thought I was crazy for wanting to wake up early and drive all the way home to see my boyfriend and family. And I’ll admit, I did need an extra coffee to get through the day. But spending time with the people I love is one of my most treasured hobbies, so giving some extra effort to make this happen was something I knew I needed to do (plus, since I’m in a long-distance relationship, I almost never pass up an opportunity to see my boyfriend). So for my hobby today, I spent the day with my boyfriend and had dinner with my family.
Today’s results: Today’s hobby required by far the most effort, but was honestly totally worth it. Being able to spend time with my loved ones during a stressful week was so rewarding, and I left the day proud of the effort I put into my relationships even when it wasn’t easy. Yeah, having a few really busy days in a row tired me out, but today reminded me that spending time on your hobbies sometimes will require sacrifice, and that’s okay. What’s most important is making sacrifices when you know it’s feasible for you, and paying attention to putting energy into what you value most.
Day 5: Listening to a podcast
If Call Her Daddy has a million fans, I am one of them. If Call Her Daddy has one fan, it’s me. If Call Her Daddy has no fans, I’m no longer alive. In all seriousness, though, I love Call Her Daddy. Something about listening to Alex Cooper and whatever kind-of-famous person she decides to have on that week is truly one of my favorite things to do. I had a long drive to take today, so instead of letting the radio play in the background, I decided to throw on an episode of Call Her Daddy.
Today’s result: This plan was honestly foolproof. I saved a good episode for today, and spent an hour of my time laughing while listening to Alex Cooper and Chelsea Handler. Listening to the podcast was the perfect hobby to incorporate into a day where I had nothing to do for over an hour on my drive, and made the drive way more enjoyable. I highly recommend throwing on something you like to listen to, whether it’s music or a podcast, while you do the other mundane activities of your day-to-day life, and turn this time into purposefully prioritizing your hobbies.
Day 6: self-care
Another thing I love, but tend to fall through on, is self-care. With spring break coming up, I had the perfect excuse to spend time getting myself ready from head to toe before I went to Florida for a few days. Tonight, I spent over an hour using pretty much every skincare product I own, threw on an extra layer of fake tan, put in a hair mask, and gave myself a full blowout. This one also took a lot of work, but it was worth it the next day when I woke up feeling refreshed!
Today’s results: I love some good old self-care. It’s part of why I’ve spent probably half my bank account on skincare products and hair tools. Whenever I fall short on keeping up my skincare routine, it’s not because I don’t want to do it, it’s more because at the end of a busy day, I sometimes just want to go to bed instead of spending time on myself. But prioritizing self-care not only as a way to take care of my skin and hair but as a way to develop hobbies that will keep me happy in the future made this task so much more rewarding. I went to bed feeling refreshed with my skincare and haircare done, and woke up the next day feeling like a whole new me!
Day 7: Writing
That brings us to today, day seven! Today I’m spending some time working on a new hobby I’ve developed, writing for Her Campus! I’m spending some time today working on this article and getting it submitted so all of you reading can see what my experience was like, and hopefully prioritize some of your own hobbies if you want!
Today’s results: This is a part of my day that’s a little bit stressful but mostly joyful. Since writing is a new hobby that I’m getting into, I’m still working out all the kinks of being the best writer I can be. But working towards a new goal, no matter how challenging, is always rewarding when you focus on the ways you’re growing from this new experience. Also, the fact that I get to try writing out in a way that’s not judged or graded is a really nice way to try out a new hobby!
Overall
While reading over all of these new hobbies, and reflecting on my week, I’m honestly really happy I did this. Some hobbies, like reading and skincare, were really fun and easy to implement into my life. I’ve been reading every night before bed, and since I completed my hobby week, I’ve read four books (it helped that last week was spring break, but still)! My skincare routine has been picked back up, and I remember now why Sephora has most of my life savings; there’s nothing like a good moisturizer! Some of the other hobbies I tried out are not ones that I plan on implementing daily or even weekly, but they reminded me that even in the busy life of a college student, there are small ways we can incorporate our hobbies into activities we probably would have done anyways. Overall, I feel proud of the effort I put into myself and my hobbies this week, and really happy with some of the new habits I’ve picked up. I really encourage all of you to try and give yourself and your hobbies some time if you can, and hope you enjoy it just as much as I did!