Girl, Get a Hobby!

This is something that you can work on while getting to know yourself better! Remember when I told you just a minute ago to get out there, try something new and figure out what you enjoy doing... well one of those things needs to become a hobby.

A hobby is an activity done regularly in your free time to bring you safety, security and pleasure; it feeds your soul and your dreams. -Tina Dierna

Basically, go find yourself something you really enjoy doing, in your own free time and do it regularly, for FUN! I'm not saying going to the gym is an enjoyable hobby for myself... but I do it regularly to keep myself in shape so I can go play Ice hockey weekly. It's like the training to my hobby. I also garden a lot in the summer and during the warm long days, I enjoy playing in my wood crafting area in the basement. These are all things I really enjoy, most of which are seasonal, which is a great way to switch it up and keep yourself on your toes!

Helps Structure Your Time

What do you do in your free time? Do you sit in front of the TV, veg out to social media, or get sucked into a worm hole on TicTok? Seriously, we can get so lost in things we don't really enjoy that bring us nothing in return. Allowing yourself to find something you enjoy or even allowing yourself to explore something you might enjoy means you start to structure your time, create schedules and practice repetitive behaviors. You start to create the time to do something you enjoy and in turn you find less mindless activities taking up your time.

Promotes Routine

Routine is along the same side as structure. They are different in that structure means that you know what you need to accomplish and get done and being left to do it. Routine is more of that schedule you follow to get it done! It's a set list or actions that you do in steps to accomplish what needs to be done in a. sequential order! So every Friday, I go to the gym after work for a short workout, I get home and I cook my daughter dinner, we spend some time together and I send her off to my mothers so I can go play hockey. I have a whole routine to get to hockey and getting suited up to play! If something is thrown off, I may feel a bit weird that night! Getting into routine promotes flow and structure and allows us to remember and get things done! If practice changed each week, I would probably miss out on a lot of them!

New Social Connections

Since taking up hobbies like dancing, hockey and crafting I have made new friends and interacted with so many people. This allows us to build our networks and get to know the people in our community. I was offered to build a tiny home a few years back, which opened my social connections and my skill set in building. This endeavor also propelled me into a new career endeavor, which allowed me to help teens find employment! Then I started dancing and I met some management level people in my community who started working with my youth. Social connections and networking is vital to self development, career development and community organization!

Makes Ya' Sound Freakin' Cool AF

Ok, Ok! How many of you said out loud, "Shit, she plays hockey" and thought that was kinda cool. Come on. There is no one that I have met that didn't think hockey, spartan racing, growing a garden or painting wasn't cool AF! Getting involved in something really allows you to sound interesting and gives some great stories to tell others. Not to mention, if you are going for a career advancement and on an interview... these are the kind of things they want to hear. having a hobby and dedication to something tells an employer that you have the ability to be routined, structured and dedicated to something... which in turn, means you will be dedicated to them as an employee!

Assist in Coping With Stress

I learned this at an early age! My mom owned a ceramic shop in our basement and even after she closed it, I would go downstairs to work on a piece. I was a high strung kid, with little attention span for anything. I was super stressed out and anxious most of the time. However, my mother would even be surprised to find me in the basement for hours focused on my ceramic piece. It was the one thing I could enjoy and get lost in. My zen time, my me time and a time that all I had to focus on was the task at hand! This is an epic way to escape if you use it in that way and allow yourself to be removed from the stress in your life. My zen place now as an adult is outside in my garden. I used to have a BLACK THUMB. I killed everything, I just couldn't quit on wanting to get it right. So I started to grow a few plants in my house and I learned how to take care of them. After that, I was good to gold to venture out into the great outdoors!

Improves The Rest of Your Life

As I already mentioned, hobbies can help us create structure, routines, eliminate stress and promote growth in our careers. If you are participating in something that you enjoy doing, joy will come to other areas of your life as well. Hobbies allow us to open up to the world, our community or new networks. Meeting new people, being in new spaces and learning new things makes us become a bit more braver and takes us out of our comfort zone. Getting in uncomfortable situations makes us grow and morph into new people!

Builds Your Confidence

Some amazing hobbies to consider do build your confidence and cost you NOTHING may be medication, yoga, writing down what you feel, using a gratitude journal, creating a blog, gardening and positive affirmations! Doing things on a low key budget could be things like artwork, putting together puzzles, and cooking different types of food (something you may not have done before). Hobbies that may cost a bit more are sports, dancing, learning a new language, traveling alone. Any hobby you take up will only build your confidence. Doing something that takes you out of your ordinary schedule and doing something different will for sure boost your confidence when you master that hobby or even when working towards to. I remember my first salsa class. I was all over the place and super uncomfortable for the first half of the lesson. By the time we got to dance with others, I felt amazing and a bit confident in my abilities when someone came up and asked me to dance! I was like "YOU WANT ME TO DANCE WITH YOU". That allowed me to feel amazing and also taught me some new moves!

Continually Builds Upon Your Personal Development

Once You go out of your comfort zone and you try new things, the next hobby you take up won't come with so much fear and you will learn something new. As you continue to try new things and involve yourself with new people you start to shift your alignment in the world and create new paths for yourself. Your personality may shift, your dreams may change and you end up in unexpected places and predicaments that you never thought possible!