Do you want to feel joy?
In today’s seemingly incessantly busy world, how much time do you enjoy doing something you love and feel passionate about? Is your calendar filled with deadlines, appointments and clubs for the kids to attend? Many of you who are parents will see the benefits of enrolling your children into a variety of clubs or teams, you will want them to gain new skills, build confidence, make new friends and feel successful whilst achieving something positive. So why don’t you do the same for yourself?
Maybe you are thinking that time is already maxed out, there aren’t enough hours in the day to do what you need to do never mind what you’d like to do. But consider that maybe you are not as busy as you think, sometimes the more time you have, the longer it takes you to do the task. Brigid Schulte in her book ‘Overwhelmed: work, love and play when no one has the time’ suggests that we have done exactly this, we have created a life that appears incredibly busy but actually, we can make time, we just need to prioritise. Think about it like this… 1 hour for yourself is 1/24th of your day, that’s less than 5%.
How many hours do you spend procrastinating, flicking through social media, the endless box sets on Netflix or the million channels on Sky? These hours could be used to do something that brings you joy.
A hobby should be just for you, a pleasure that distracts from your daily life. A time to be in the moment, when all other thoughts can be left outside. How do we know what we are good at if we don’t give things a try?
So if you are thinking about getting started consider these benefits of a hobby and you will soon be convinced!
Hobbies bring the following benefits…
A hobby can bring balance to an otherwise busy, hectic life that feels like a treadmill. If all you do is the essential day to day tasks then life has no joy, a hobby will give you time out an opportunity to refresh, relax, focus and feel a sense of purpose which will then make daily life more manageable.
When you feel content with yourself, those around you benefit. You are able to give more freely and are more encouraging to others as you feel a sense of personal fulfilment.
Life is full of challenges but when you start something new and make progress you feel a sense of accomplishment. You can build on your success and challenge yourself further. Stepping out of your comfort zone both physically and mentally is great for building resilience and strength.
Sometimes our lives are very insular, we meet the same group of people every day and are exposed to the same thoughts, behaviours and routines. Joining a new group can enrich your daily life, meeting new people with different ideas, backgrounds and experiences can give you a fresh perspective on life. Sharing a common interest helps you connect with people, a great starting point from which to build friendships.
Doing something for you, building confidence and giving yourself the opportunity to experience a sense of achievement is vital to good mental health. Unless you are in a fortunate position when your job offers this feeling of success, hobbies are definitely the way forward.
So what’s stopping you?
So we can clearly see the benefits of having a hobby, but maybe there’s something getting in your way. Is it that you need help with Time Management? See our blog to give you some ideas to get started.
However you choose to spend your 1440 minutes a day is entirely up to you, but don’t waste it! Do something that brings you joy, that makes you feel alive, that enables you to feel a sense of purpose and success. Find yourself a hobby and reap the rewards!
