Doctors, psychologists and health professionals are practically unanimous when it comes to saying that having a hobby greatly improves your quality of life, because it helps us to balance out both physically and mentally.
A few years ago, following the suggestion of my therapist and my doctor, I experimented with the power of “having a hobby”. At that time, I was going through a very stressful period at work, and among the many alternatives to help me deal with the situation, the suggestion came up for me to take on a hobby. It could be anything I wanted, as long as it was something I really enjoyed doing.
Since my professional activity, as an executive, was above all very mentally oriented, I looked for a hobby which allowed me to use my hands more, such as building things, sanding, painting. I decided therefore to go back and expand on a childhood passion: building airplanes. This time, however, instead of building and painting miniature 1:48 or 1:72 scale airplanes, I decided to build 1:8 scale model airplanes, which could actually fly! Who knows, this way I could fulfill another childhood dream: piloting those airplanes!
What I didn’t know when I started the hobby was how much it would help me at work. Sounds like a joke, but it isn’t. Or is it? Well, whatever! What really matters is that a hobby has many benefits. The most amazing thing is that you start to see them as soon as you include these activities into your life.
The first benefit on this list was one of the most important for me: stress relief. When you dedicate yourself to your favorite hobby, you become immersed in it. Your mind concentrates on something which gives you immense pleasure and stops thinking about things that generate tension for you – in my case they were work-related. This way, a space is created for you to recharge your batteries.
What few people know is that having a hobby is as beneficial as playing sports and taking exercise. This happens exactly because of their ability to bring down sadness and stress levels.
A recent study published in the annals of Behavioral Medicine showed that people who took part in recreational activities had 34% lower stress levels and were 18% less unhappy than those who didn’t. People were calmer, their heart rate went down, and the positive effect lasted for many hours afterwards.
I didn’t take part in this study, but I can tell you from my own experience that this is indeed what happens. As building a plane involves many sessions, the subject remained in my mind between one session and another. My brain focused on solving the challenges that came up during the assembling. You know when you’re really stressed out about something at work and it just stays in your head? Well, in these cases, my brain had two options: focus on stress or on the problem presented by the hobby activity I was working on.
Building a model airplane scale 1:5 (Foto: Slavica / iStock)
Since in this type of situation there are no favorites chosen by the brain, what always happened was that I would focus on the hobby and the effects of stress over me decreased. Even better, hours later, in the shower or whilst preparing meals for my kids, the solution to the problem at work would come up in my mind all by itself.
As I was more relaxed, my brain worked on its own, connected the dots for me and came up with a solution. Without any effort. I got so good at this that I became used to applying this technique in my favor. Whenever I was going through a tough time at the company, I would intensify the activities used in my hobby and reaped good results at home and at the office.
As I said, those were the main benefits for me, a stressed-out executive! But there are many other benefits from hobbies that you can experience as well, amongst which we can highlight the following:
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There are countless types of hobby, which can be divided into many categories. The list is long and there are options for all tastes. The main ones are classified into 4 major groups:
1) Think about what you do most of the time and is your main source of daily stress. It’s usually your profession. What is it like? More mentally inclined? More physically inclined? In my case, it was mental. In the case of my physical trainer, it was physical. Once that is duly identified the suggestion is that you choose a hobby in a different sphere, that complements what you do every day. In my case, I chose to do something manual (building model airplanes demands a lot of manual skills in order to sand, cut, paste, paint); my personal trainer chose activities that were more mental and emotional, such as reading and playing an instrument.
Riding a bicycle (Photo: filadendron / iStock)
2) Choose at least two hobbies, one for indoors and one for outdoors. That’s right, you don’t need to have just one. Two options will provide greater diversity. Model airplane building is something that I do at the table at home close to my the family. Bike riding in the park, on the other hand, is something I do on weekends, on a sunny day (and I also take the baby with me, to boot!).
3) Choose something that you love doing. Be totally selfish here. Pay no attention to other people’s suggestions and don’t worry about looking silly or childish. That includes your spouse and friends, by the way. The objective here is to derive pleasure and enjoyment, relax and connect with yourself. It only works if it is a true passion.
4) Connect with others from your tribe. Depending on your hobby, it will be difficult to have people from your current social circle who like the same things as you (how many people do you know who like building model airplanes?). No problem. We have the internet, where it’s easy to connect to people from the four corners of the Earth who love what you love. I’ve made virtual friends and have had deep discussions with people in Croatia, Hong Kong and Chile just as passionate or more passionate than I am about model aircraft. It’s nice to make new friends who share the same passion as you.
Making the first move and starting a hobby can be difficult and intimidating. You may tell yourself that you don’t have time, that you’re not good enough, that you don’t have enough space at home, etc. It really is difficult to take that first step, after all you haven’t yet got that individual first-hand feel of the benefits of being involved in a hobby! So, follow what I suggested in another article on fighting off a sedentary lifestyle: choose something you really like and take the first step.
See this beginning as a gift to you (actually, my first model airplane was a birthday present a few years ago, already in the middle of my adult life). Go to a physical or online store and purchase something basic to start your hobby. Then, wait for the kit to arrive, like a child waits for a Christmas or birthday present. When it arrives, tear open the wrapping and start having fun. I guarantee that your quality of life will change there and then with this first interaction. If you are able to integrate the hobby to your busy daily routine, then the benefits will last you a lifetime!
And what happened to my hobby? Still there, strong as ever! After assembling a few models, I plucked up the courage, joined a flying club and learned to fly. I can’t describe the feeling of giving flight to a pile of wood that after hours of cutting, sanding, gluing and assembling, turned into an airplane. Better still: if the plane falls, I know how to fix it. Which by the way has already happened a few times…
Building and piloting a model airplane (Photos: Jeff Cheriegate)
Invest in a hobby and have fun. It will do you the world of good at home and at work!
Cover photo credit – Man painting (Foto: Eddy Klauss / Unsplash)
