How Hobbies Can Help You LOVE Your LIFE and the Top 23 Reasons Why You Should Hobby Up Now

Before I get into the glorious benefits and joys of hobbies, I am going to digress and address the number one objection I have heard over the last few decades from people about WHY they don’t have any hobbies: they don’t have the time. While I am not a fan of repeating myself, this bears repeating (from my Blog post titled “Top 35 Ways that Making a List Will Help You Have a Life You LOVE). We all have only 24 hours in a day. It’s just a fact of life. Assuming you work 8 to 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, that means that you have at least 118 hours a week (that is predicated that you work 50 hours a week) to use as you see fit. Hopefully you are sleeping 7-8 hours a night, which subtracting that from your 118 hours leftover after work time is deducted would leave you with 62 hours a week (assuming you sleep 8 hours per night). How are you using your 62 hours per week? I understand that some of you are working more than 50 hours a week, but a lot of you are not. What ARE YOU DOING with your 62 hours per week? I mean what are you really doing with your time? I understand that you have shopping, cooking, cleaning, household chores, and so much more. But the bottom line is that most people have chunks of time that are wasted. You are clearly not spending all 62 or more hours per week doing chores, shopping and cleaning. My point is that you have more time than you realize – and time enough for a hobby or two if it was a priority. The second objection I have heard over the years from people who don’t have hobbies is that they don’t have the budget for hobbies, so let’s deal with that pronto. Contrary to popular belief, hobbies do not have to be expensive. Many, if not most hobby supplies can be picked up at yard sales and flea markets. If you are not a fan of garage sales then you might not realize the things that you can pick up on for next to nothing. Plus, if you receive gifts for your birthday or Christmas – you can ask for supplies, tools, or things that would support your hobby. Don’t let a limited budget stop you from getting a hobby that you LOVE. Wooden Snowmen that the kids and I painted January 2019 (wooden figures cut out of scrap wood by Noah). Note, some of the snowmen arms didn’t make it through the move and have to be replaced. The point of my blog is helping you have a LIFE that you LOVE. Hobbies are a great way to get there. They are not something that you should wait until you retire to find. They are treasures that can nurture your well-being NOW. They are things that can ramp up your happiness and level of satisfaction in life. Why would you wait for that? Why would you avoid doing something that brings happiness to your life? I have had hobbies since my early teen years starting with collecting small tea cups, collaging with words cut out of magazines, cooking, reading, embroidery and sewing, and refinishing furniture. After college I expanded my hobbies to include biking, quilting, counted cross stitch, candle making, soap making, scrapbooking, paper crafting and collecting antique children’s furniture. As a mother, I required each of my children to find hobbies that they enjoyed, which was an interesting experience since I have two sons. My daughter was on easy street when it came to hobbies. My tea cup collection displayed in a garage sale find that was repurposed by adding shelves. While I no longer collect tea cups, this makes me happy. To help my sons find more masculine hobbies, I visited YouTube.com and found a wealth of hobbies for teenage boys. One of the hobbies was metal casting, and Noah took that on and has made several items from aluminum cans like hooks to hang things from and a phone stand. He then went onto watch videos on how to make knives and has made several knives from scratch. He found videos on what is called plastic smithing, which is fascinating. As the name implies, it is making objects out of melted plastic. For plastic smithing, you melt plastic grocery store bags in a toaster oven (OUTSIDE or in a garage with the doors open) to reduce the plastic to a hard block of plastic, which will be extremely hard. Then objects can be filed or cut out of the hard-plastic block. One of the knives Noah made from scratch with only instruction from YouTube.com and the internet. I personally believe that EVERY SINGLE PERSON should have at least one hobby that they can do and enjoy. The benefits, in my humble opinion, are over-the-top amazing! While I am not sure that everyone will agree with my take on the benefits of having hobbies, it is nonetheless my view on the benefits of hobbies. As the purpose of my blog is to help you LOVE your LIFE, having one or more hobbies will help you accomplish that goal.

Top 23 Benefits to Hobbies

1. Hobbies are FUN!
2. Hobbies are relaxing.
3. Hobbies make you happy (if it doesn’t make you happy, then it’s not a hobby and stop doing it.)
4. Hobbies can reduce stress and anxiety.
5. Hobbies can help you with social connections or at least many hobbies have that potential.
6. Hobbies help build self-esteem.
7. Hobbies make you more interesting. In some cases, much more interesting.
8. Hobbies can soothe your soul.
9. Hobbies are a great way to kill time and are much better than doing nothing.
10. Hobbies provide fantastic cocktail or happy hour conversation pieces.
11. Hobbies give you something to look forward to.
12. Hobbies can be used as part of your reward system.
13. Often hobbies give you an end product that provides additional enjoyment. Food from cooking, artwork from painting, and so on.
14. Hobbies can help you stay out of trouble.
15. Hobbies are good for your brain.
16. Having hobbies will leave you much better prepared for retirement.
17. Hobbies can help you stay young.
18. Hobbies can sharpen the saw – recharge and rejuvenate you.
19. Hobbies can help you with depression by giving you something to look forward to and something that makes you happy.
20. Hobbies are great coping mechanisms for life – especially when times are tough.
21. Hobbies can be exciting and inspiring.
22. You can make money from some hobbies.
23. There is absolutely no reason not to have hobbies.

If you don’t have a hobby that makes you happy then maybe I would suggest that you consider finding some new hobbies. Back when I only had two children, I decided that I would learn 3 new hobbies a year. I started by taking the Wilton Cake Decorating class taught at a local craft store. That was very fun and allowed me to develop a very handy skill. While cake decorating is not something that I do on a regular basis any more, it is something that I can still do when needed. I took a stamping class at a local rubber stamp store, which led me into paper crafting as a hobby – a hobby that I still do now and then. Eventually I realized that I was pretty good on the hobby side of life and I ended my practice of trying three new hobbies a year. Then came my Mom encouraging me to draw with my children and start water color painting. That I finally said yes to my Mom on drawing and water color painting is and will always be one of the best decisions of my life (even though I had plenty of hobbies at the time) because I love it more than I can say. Some hobbies I have retired from. While I still have my collection of antique children’s furniture and small tea cups I am no longer collecting them, yet they still provide me with happiness and joy. This is a doll I made a long time ago. I was in a doll making craze for a while. While I don’t make dolls any more this makes me happy. And I did make her a new dress and apron because hers was sun bleached from age. The most important thing is to find one or more hobbies that you enjoy. If you are on the low end of hobbies or are looking for some hobby inspiration, I put together this list of hobby ideas. Note: In posting the list I realize that the lists are not all lined up properly, and that’s they way it goes.

Hobby Ideas

Hunting	Metal Casting	Knife Making
Fishing	Plastic Smithing	Interior Decorating
Biking	Wood Working	Repurposing Objects
Running/Races	Stain Glass Making	Ceramic Painting
Reading	Music (playing; making)	Wood Painting
Cooking	Traveling	Button Collecting
Sewing	Crafting	Model Trains
Quilting	Jewelry Making	Model Airplanes
Knitting	Beading	Kite Making/Building
Crocheting	Antique Cars	Wood Turning
Painting	Souped-Up Cars	Glass collecting
Pottery	Showing Cars	Showing Dogs
Candle Making	Antique Collecting	Scuba Diving
Soap Making	Stamp Collecting	Watching Sports
Refinishing Furniture	Coin Collecting	Playing Sports
Scrapbooking	Paper Crafting	Collaging
Photography	Braided Rug Making	Batiking
Figurine Collecting	Milk Bottle Collecting	Calligraphy
Gardening	Cultivating Plants	Drawing
Writing Novels	Witing Poetry	Making Doll Houses
Playing Cards	Playing Poker	Volunteering

Concluding Thoughts:

Assuming that you agree with the math used in this post for your free time, what are you doing with your 62 hours a week? If you don’t have any meaningful hobbies that you love and look forward to doing then I would suggest that you put that on your list of personal goals. You could make it a fun project to just simply explore what hobbies you might really love. Some hobbies you won’t know until you do them. I have tried knitting and crocheting more than once and they are just not my thing. Lots of people love knitting and crocheting, but it’s just not for me. Find what works for you. To have a powerful life and one that you LOVE, you simply have to fill it up with the things and people you love. Hobbies are a great way to put some fun and joy into your life. How can I support you in the area of hobbies? Do you have hobbies that you LOVE? What are your thoughts about hobbies? Let me know. Love, Lisa