I am currently 38 years old, married with 2 young kids. I am also very busy with my home-based work so I barely have time to do anything for myself. When people ask me what are my hobbies, I simply say, “Sleep. I love sleeping.” Of course, it’s a joke, but at the same time, there is seriousness that follows it because I am deprived of sleep and I believe a lot of people can relate to this. But kidding aside, is it that important to have a hobby in your life even with middle aged women like me?
Why is a Hobby Important?
According to an article from C & T Publishing,
having a hobby is a remedy that help improve one’s mental health. Hobbies can
get your mind active, and get you social—but the real benefit to most people is
the boost to overall mental wellness. No matter what sort of mental issue
you’re struggling with, there’s a good chance that throwing yourself into a
hobby—such as quilting—will have a positive effect. In my case, if I don't get that stress or anger out, I might take it out on my family which I really want to avoid. I might scream at my kids or scream at my husband which is the worst thing I could do actually, so having a hobby can help avoid that.
In this day of age, people are trying to boost the awareness
of the importance of mental health. Nowadays, stress is one of the leading causes
of mental health problems. According to Mayo
Clinic, stress symptoms can affect your body, your
thoughts and feelings, and your behavior. Being able to recognize common stress
symptoms can help you manage them. Stress that's left unchecked can contribute
to many health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity
and diabetes.
What Hobbies Are Available Out There
Now that we have tackled the importance of mental health and
how a hobby can help improve it, the next question is what hobbies are
available for us to do. I mean what are the choices out there? I have browsed
through the internet and here are some hobbies that I thought were very interesting:
Outdoors
-
Bowling
-
Camping
-
Photography
Indoors
-
Blogging/Writing
-
Caligraphy
-
Knitting
-
Having a collection
-
Painting
The mentioned hobbies
were a bit on the lighter side because I don’t have an active lifestyle. But
for those who love it hardcore, then I found the following hobbies for you:
Outdoors
-
Fun run / marathons
-
Swimming
-
Tennis
-
Basketball/Volleyball
Indoors
-
Badminton
-
Karate-do
The list is, of course, too short
for you to explore. There are sites that you can check out so you can have a
broader idea of what hobbies are available for you such as Hobby Jam.
Blogging/Writing is My Hobby
As for me, I wasn’t aware that blogging
was considered a hobby so I guess I can safely say that whenever someone asks
me what my hobbies are, I can simply answer blogging. Blogging helps me clear
my head and helps me express myself in a positive way. Whenever I’m stressed
from work or from home, I get that eagerness to write about something.
Sometimes, when I know that what I wrote about is all negative, I simply don’t
publish it. I simply just let all my anger out, write all the things I want to
say, and then delete it afterwards. It really helps for me. I tried saving a
file or two and then I read some of them
again, and you know what? It was all meaningless. Sometimes I can’t even form a
decent sentence because I was just too angry. I would think, “Did I write this? What the
hell was wrong with me?” So that’s when I decided that after I write stuff like
those, would simply delete them so I don’t have to think about the why’s and
how’s of it.
