Over the past few years, there’s been a concept going around saying that individuals need five hobbies in life. Based on an article from Fresh Hobby, “having 5 hobbies that fall into 5 different categories can help you focus better and pay attention, allowing you to find balance and happiness in your life.” These hobbies include the following: a hobby to staycreative, a hobby to socialize, a hobby to stay in shape, a hobby to engage your mind, and a hobby that makes you money. When I look at these and think about my schedule, this literally makes me want to throw up. I feel like I’m so busy with school and work that I never have time for one hobby, let alone five. However, I do agree with the idea that we need to have little things in our lives to help us find balance and focus. So, here are my thoughts on each hobby and how I go about them.
A Hobby to Keep you Creative
The first hobby asks you to get in touch with your creative side. I personally find myself to be a very creative person. However, since I work in digital marketing and go to school in a creative field, I really struggle with this since creativity falls within my work. Whether it’s making videos, taking photos, creating cohesive feeds, or designing fun graphics, I’m always being creative, and sometimes I find it can burn me out. I also think about trying new things, like painting or drawing, or even crocheting, but I feel like I don’t have the time or energy to really delve into them. I’ve also thought about channeling my skills in work to be a content creator, although I feel like it’ll mesh too much with my work and it’ll ultimately burn me out. So, when you’re working in the world of creativity, finding a creative hobby is HARD! I find that right now the best hobby I can do to keep my creativity fresh is by writing. Whether it’s writing articles for Her Campus (like this one), or just writing in my journal, I find writing allows me to channel all my thoughts into a creative medium, without feeling burnt out by doing it too much.
A Hobby to Socialize
I like to consider myself an ambivert: half introvert, half extrovert. I love being social and talking to new people, but I also rarely go out, and I don’t have many close friends. I find that socializing is hard for me sometimes. From time to time, I’ll go to dinner with friends or go see a movie, but I don’t consider those hobbies. But what I do consider a hobby is a platform I have on my phone called Geneva. Geneva is basically a discord-like platform, but it’s filled with servers (or “homes” as they’re called) based on your favourite topics. I’m personally in a few homes for self-care, freelance/social media management, and personal health, but there are also channels for books, cooking, movies, and even reality shows! I don’t find this app as draining as others like Instagram and TikTok, and it’s filled with people who have a similar mindset to me and whomI can chat with. I find after using this app I feel more inspired, motivated, and relaxed after chatting with like-minded people, and I’m also able to quickly check it within my daily routine.
A Hobby to Stay in Shape
This is probably my hardest category to figure out a hobby for. I genuinely aspire to be a workout girly where I can do Pilates like 4x per week or go on hot girl walks, but I feel like I never have time. What I really need to do is start prioritizing time in my day for movement, as I find when I do move, I have such positive energy after, and I feel super accomplished. There are also so many fun ways to exercise, like walking in nature, dancing, or even just playing games on Wii Fit. So at this point, I feel like I don’t have a consistent hobby of staying in shape, but I’m going to figure out how to make a habit of it.
A Hobby to Engage your Mind
I WISH I could just read for 4 hours as some people do. I want to be a book nerd so badly. But I find with all the reading I must do for school, I never want to read for pleasure. This might be something I try at the earliest in the summer, or at the latest when I graduate, but right now, I find the best way to engage my mind is through podcasts. Depending on my morning, I like to listen to a podcast when I’m getting ready or while I’m driving to school. These are typically on a variety of topics that I pick out depending on my mood. My current listens have been Hot Girl Energy, The Freelance Friday Podcast, and Busy, Yet Pretty, but you can check out my other favourites in my previous article. I just find that podcasts are a great way to continue to expand my mind and reflect, but they are also something I can listen to while doing other things, and I find they can help me be more productive too!
A Hobby to Make you Money
I just wanna know why this is considered a hobby. In my honest opinion, I believe that the career or job you do should be something you’re passionate about. Again, for me, that’s digital marketing, so it’s what I do, but I do also acknowledge I have the privilege to be able to have a career in something I’m passionate about. My main fear with this is that if I were to have a hobby that made me money, it’d eventually start to feel like a job. If you currently aren’t in a career or job that you’re passionate about, I do highly recommend starting a side hustle, as that passionate hobby could possibly become a full-time job one day. But at the same time, I also recommend making sure to not overdo it with this hobby, as it can eventually become draining, and soon you might not enjoy that hobby at all. Maybe someday I’ll start implementing more hobbies that can make me money, whether that’s implementing sponsored content creation into my personal brand, creating fun Etsy templates, or maybe making a blog. But right now, I’m just going to let myself have the career I’m passionate about and try not to add any other money-making hobbies on top of it for a while.
So, there you have it, my five hobbies. I don’t believe you need to have all five, but just having that one thing you do when you aren’t working or at school can make your entire day worth it. So please, when you have the time, find something you’re passionate about; it will make you a whole lot happier in life.