The Oxford Dictionary defines a “hobby” as “an activity done regularly in free time for pleasure,” so what you’re looking for may be totally different from the next person’s, and that’s okay! What counts is that your hobby is fun, enriching or in some way beneficial to you.
And whether it’s gardening, crafting, or playing an instrument, hobbies become even more important as we age. A recent study published in the journal Nature medicine It even found that having a hobby is linked not only to fewer depressive symptoms in people age 65 and older, but also to higher levels of happiness, self-reported health, and life satisfaction.
However, your age doesn’t matter, according to a licensed therapist Torrente Guarida, LMFT, we all have a «growth edge» to cultivate, that is, some area of our lives where there is an opportunity to improve. Torrent says discovering a hobby that aligns with your growing edge can help you focus on yourself and find more joy in your life.
Hobbies can help you take advantage of the present and work with your flow state. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, founding psychologist of «flow» research, says that «the path to happiness is not through mindless hedonism, but through conscious challenge.» Therefore, engaging in a challenging hobby can be rewarding and contribute to positive feelings of accomplishment.
So without further ado, let’s get into all the hobbies there are to try.
