Hobbies are important habits to have in our lives because they give us a chance to enhance purpose and meaning. Hobbies also allow us to grow and develop our skills in ways that might not be possible with our jobs.
Here is a list of 15 reasons why it is crucial to pick up a hobby.
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1) Hobbies give you a chance to meet new people
Many hobbies will require you to get out in the world and interact with other people. When I was into entrepreneurship, I joined a meetup and got to know a few people in the group pretty well, and we continued to keep in touch long after the meetups stopped happening.
Anytime you meet people with similar interests, you have a chance to make friends.
Some hobbies might have you working alone late into the night, but generally speaking, most hobbies will require some human interactions. These interactions will give you a chance to meet up and get to know new people who could turn into friends.
2) Hobbies give you something to focus your energies on
I get bored if I’m not working on a project, which often leads me to feel lost. Working on this website has become a hobby for me, so it is an aspect of life where I focus my attention.
The thing is, I do put a lot of energy into it, but if I weren’t doing this, I’d constantly be seeking something else.
We all have focus and energy that we need to work off, so why not focus your energy on a hobby.
If you have the energy to do something, you might as well make it worthwhile by contributing to something you care about. Otherwise, you might find yourself wasting your time on less productive endeavours.
3) Hobbies give you something to do so you avoid bad habits
When I was younger and less driven, I’d waste a lot of time getting high and watching TV or playing video games. While there is nothing wrong with doing those things occasionally, doing them all the time means they are bad habits.
When you have a hobby to keep you busy, you are more likely to do it than other less productive activities.
Bad habits often come out of free time and boredom; if you have a hobby to keep you busy, you don’t have to worry about developing as many bad habits.
4) Hobbies can help improve your self-esteem
Getting good at something feels good and makes us feel better about ourselves and what we can do. This, in turn, translates into a better sense of self and improved self-esteem.
By dedicating yourself to a hobby, you are giving yourself a chance to get good a something that will make you feel better about yourself.
Self-improvement via a hobby is great for your self-esteem.
If you can work at a skill and see improvements, you will feel better about doing other similar tasks. Developing a productive hobby will almost certainly give you a chance to feel better about yourself.
5) A hobby gives you a goto when you are bored
Have you ever spent an hour going through Netflix only to discover there isn’t anything to watch? Sometimes we waste time or do things we don’t care about or aren’t interested in because there is nothing else to do.
Having a hobby you care about ensures that you will always have something to do when you find some free time.
Having a goto when you are bored will prevent you from wasting time.
It is natural to be bored at times; life isn’t always exciting. But if you have a hobby that matters to you, you will always have something to do when you get bored.
6) Your hobbies can make you a more interesting person
Having things to talk about and share with other people is essential to being an interesting person.
The sorts of experience that you will gain through having a hobby will teach you a lot about your topic of interest. You will then share that information with other people who might also be interested in the subject. On top of this, you will have something to talk about with friends and family.
If all you do is watch stuff, you won’t be a fascinating person.
People can see our passions, and when we dedicate ourselves to a hobby, it shows. If you want to have something interesting to talk about, a hobby might help.
7) Hobbies give us something to do outside of our work/day job
So much of our time is occupied with work and or commuting to work. On top of this, we often have specific tasks we are assigned to do at work. This may mean we become a specialist, but in some ways, it can also be limited or boring if we have additional interests.
At work, we are paid for skills that other people value; with a hobby; we can do fun things that aren’t necessarily productive.
Most of our time is focused on work, and at work, we often have specific duties that we are supposed to do. If we want to try out something new that isn’t required to make money, a hobby is a great option.
8) Hobbies are an opportunity to relieve stress
Any time you find yourself doing something you enjoy, it is going to help reduce your stress. For me, walking used to be a big hobby of mine, and I found that every time I went for a walk, I felt much better about everything else going on in my life.
Hobbies give us time on things that we enjoy doing, which helps get our minds off what is causing us stress.
No matter what you like to spend your time on, if you are good at it and enjoy doing it, it will help you feel better, which will give you relief from stress or things that are bothering you.
9) Hobbies help you realize how long it takes to develop skills
My grandfather used to fly remote-controlled airplanes; I always imagined playing with them when we went to his house. At the time, I thought it must have been easy, just push the joysticks left and right, or up and down.
While I never got to fly his plans, when I was older and remote control helicopters came out, I got one and crashed it immediately. It took a lot of practice to be able to fly it around and land without crashing.
People who have been working at a hobby for a while make it look easy, but when we try something new, we realize how long it takes to get good.
Most skills take time to develop, but we don’t realize that until we try them out. It is important to appreciate the dedication and persistence that it takes to develop skills.
10) Hobbies can help you get smarter
Not all hobbies are the same, but by working at something, you are learning how to get better at what you are doing. Hobbies often require practice and research, which in turn lead to the development of skills.
Any time you put in the effort to improve yourself, you allow yourself to get smarter.
Working at an activity makes you smarter and gives you the confidence to improve in other parts of your life.
Hobbies allow you to create new connections within your brain, leading to quick and new ways of thinking about other aspects of your life.
11) Hobbies help you learn new skills or develop ones you already have
When I decided to grow a vegetable garden two years ago, I learned so much about taking care of plants. I need to understand fertilizer and watering schedules; while that information is pretty specific, it has helped me gain confidence in taking care of my lawn at my new home.
Hobbies require skills that you will develop by default with your interest.
Whenever you spend time working on tasks, you get better at them and develop the skills necessary to do them more easily in the future. Often, these new skills are transferable to other activities.
12) Hobbies help you gain perspective by exposing you to more things
Over the years, I’ve had quite a few different hobbies, and while my interests have changed often over that time, I’ve learnt a lot and gained perspective on many things.
Joining the entrepreneur meetup exposed me to lots of business ideas that helped me figure out what ones to avoid and which had some potential.
Even if your interest in a hobby is short-lived, you will still gain perspective and a different way of looking at life.
When you take time to learn about something new, it changes how you look at the world and influences your sense-making. The more novel experiences you have, the more perspectives you will have to choose from when making a decision.
13) Hobbies challenge you to be a better person
Dedication to activities requires perseverance and a willingness to learn; it also improves and develops us.
You might not stick with all your hobbies, but you will develop by being into them.
As long as we are moving forward, we can be confident that we are becoming better people.
Not all hobbies are created equally, but hobbies that force you to be a better person will provide the most value. Think of things like learning a new musical instrument or language.
14) Hobbies help you get a better sense of who you are
One of the best things about trying out different hobbies is that they give us a chance to get a better sense of who we are. You might try something out and discover you hate it, but you might also realize that you love it, and it could be something to focus your career on.
While we all get something different from our efforts, win or lose, we better understand what we should try next.
The more things we try, the better we get at finding the target we are aiming for, even if we don’t know what it is just yet.
15) Hobbies can be good for your physical or mental health
Some hobbies require physical activity; as I mentioned before, I used to walk a lot, which was the only exercise I got, so it made a big difference to my physical health. On the other hand, being into board games might give you a chance to meet with friends, which will help your mental health.
If we have something to escape into, we have time to take our minds off all the stress getting us down.
Having something you enjoy doing will allow you to have fun and break up your routine, which will be good for your health. And while we don’t always want to be escaping real life, if we take some time to do something we enjoy, we will be happier about everything else.
This list of reasons why it is good to have a hobby doesn’t cover everything, but it should give you some confidence in the value of picking up a hobby.
Now it is up to you, are you going to take up a hobby? And what hobby do you have in mind?