Mental Health

Three Reasons Hobbies Are Great For Your Mental Health

by Pooja G

Why Hobbies Are Great for Your Mental Health

Many people find it difficult to create any sort of free time for themselves. With hectic schedules that last the entire day and heavy responsibilities to take care of, it’s not easy trying to balance everything in your life. However, those precious free hours that you do have can easily be ruined if you don’t have a kind of plan or way of using them effectively. In fact, many of us can wind up wasting our free time because we’re tired from work or feeling depressed and stressed from various life issues. 

One way to overcome this is to have a hobby. Giving yourself an interest and something to do is a fantastic way to overcome mental health issues and also optimize your free time.

I learnt this the hard way when I started working as a freelancer full-time for the first time in the last few months, especially when I first started out. I realised I was taking on a lot of work and wasn’t leaving enough time for myself and the free time I did have ended up sort of being wasted. Not having enough time did end up effecting my mental health and that’s when I took some time off blogging to try to get my schedule together. Thankfully, I was able to get myself together and find it much easier to balance everything now. One thing that really helped me relax was finding hobbies I enjoyed.

So in this post, I’ll be sharing three reasons why hobbies are such a huge help for your mental health.

black and white ceramic mug on brown wooden table

Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/DqmjXvag51U (CC0)

Hobbies can help you engage in different ways

Engagement can mean a lot of things, but in the context of a hobby, it really does cover any potential case where you could interact with somebody else. For instance, keeping up with the latest sports on websites like https://sportnews.in/ can help create conversation topics for your friends and family members. Sports can also be a great hobby because it encourages you to get out and engage in physical activity. Whether you’re playing in a semi-professional team in your spare time, or if you’re just having a few casual matches with friends and family, sports is one of the best examples of a healthy hobby that encourages you to engage in different ways.

Other than sports, there are lots of other hobbies that can help you engage with other like-minded people. You could take a class in something you are interested in such as art, music, cooking, dancing etc. It’s a great way to learn something new as well as do some socialising. 

Hobbies can reduce stress by giving you something to look forward to

Many of us go through depressive episodes because we feel like there’s nothing to really look forward to. This can affect more people than you might imagine. After long and stressful hours at work, the last thing we want to do is feel like there’s nothing for us to do. What we really need is something to look forward to at the end of the day.

Hobbies can be the kind of motivation that everyone needs to power through a tough workday. Instead of feeling like the workday will never end and that there’s nothing interesting to do later on, you’ll feel like you have something exciting and interesting to look forward to.

Hobbies can help create social connections

Lastly, we can’t forget the power that hobbies have in creating social connections. Whether you’re directly engaging with people in team or group activities, or just speaking to people and making new friends on the internet, there are plenty of ways for you to network when you pick up a hobby. This can help remove feelings of isolation and will encourage you to participate in more activities that involve other people.

After spending so much time on our own during the pandemic/lockdowns I think it’s important to remind ourselves how to socialise and make social connections. Social connections are great for mental health because it helps us have people who are there for you when you need them. It’s important to have a support system for times when you are feeling low and it’s always nice to have someone there to celebrate the good times with you too.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this post. I feel like I have been slacking a little on writing mental health posts even though they are probably some of my most requested and engaged with posts. I also hope this post helped to encourage you to get some hobbies and maybe try something new in your free time. Yes, working is important but it’s just as important to have time to ourselves to do things we enjoy.

Do you have any hobbies? If so, what are some of your favourite hobbies? Do these hobbies help you relax? Let me know in the comments below because I would love to hear your thoughts!

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52 thoughts on “Three Reasons Hobbies Are Great For Your Mental Health”

  1. You cover social interaction stuff. For the more introverted, we tend to need down time. My hobbies are knitting, crocheting, sewing, photography, and apparently writing blog, podcasting, e-books and Twitter and most days trying to figure out what is going on. I have other stuff . Of course not necessarily in that order. 😉

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  3. Such a great post and so important Pooja!
    I’ve so
    Many hobbies, I haven’t enough time. It’s important not to turn hobbies into work!!
    Love to arrange flowers, maybe sew.. the machine has sat there for 30 years, KKOW.. who Has time … ha.
    I’ll be we be bored!💕

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  4. I totally agree with getting a hobby! Actually the more the better! I create art, write, make jewelry, take photos on my walks, collect random things from my walks to incorporate into art.

    These are all things which have helped save my sanity!

    Liked by 5 people

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      1. Oh my yes! Saved my sanity, was part of my self therapy, is a release, and of course is a pastime! 😊🥰

        Liked by 2 people

  5. This is a really helpful post. I’ve had a really intense week of studying and it really put me in a slump. This made me realise how much I’ve been missing out on doing some sort of physical activity, which I know will help me get back on track again. Thanks for sharing!

    Liked by 4 people

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    1. Thanks! Yeah sometimes we need to take breaks and do things we enjoy too. It’s good to do some physical activities especially when you’re spending most of your time sitting and studying.

      Liked by 1 person

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  7. Oh, how I miss your posts! This is such a great perspective. I’ve noticed since I’ve picked up basketball with my bf, it’s been so fun inserting myself in random basketball convos and seeing how shocked people are at how much I know.

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    1. Aww thank you 🥰 Oh wow basketball sounds so fun! I haven’t played since high school but I really used to like it back then. Haha people must be surprised lol 😆

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  9. Although the last few years have been difficult, and I haven’t been able to fully benefit from many of my hobbies, I have managed a few. Probably why I still appear sane, compared to some people I know… It is important to have some time out!

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  10. This is a very relatable post, Pooja. Infact, my blog centers around content creation and it is one of my hobbies which keeps my mental health at a good level. I also agree with the part of building community! It is a great form of socializing and building like minded connections

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  15. I love to read. I also like to sing and dance to the Wii. Not doing much of that now, though, as my foot heals, but I’ll get back to the dancing soon. I am considering taking a class in all-natural beauty product making. It sounds very interesting.

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  18. Thank you, now I understand why I feel so much better these last few months. Before my day was work, work and more work. Now I write poetry, I am taking music lessons and learning to blog with all the insights that professional bloggers like you give. Thanks 😃

    Liked by 2 people

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