Hobbies are great for unwinding from your daily routine, and can take almost any form, as long as you’re doing something you enjoy!
You could learn a new skill, play online Bingo games for money, spend time in the great outdoors, or flex your creative muscles by doing something musical or artistic. Hobbies can vastly improve your mental health and overall wellbeing, with studies showing that those who pursue them are less likely to suffer from depression and stress.
Calm Yourself With Crafts
This category is broad and covers everything from making jewellery to constructing furniture. Making something with your bare hands can be a wonderful motivator when you are feeling down, and studies have proven that this kind of activity helps hugely in dealing with stress, managing depression, and increasing your self-confidence.
This can be something you pursue socially, as in a pottery class, or a passion you pursue alone, like painting, and reaching out to find classes or a tutor could see you creating new relationships with people who share your interests.
Forget Your Worries With Photography
This hobby could serve multiple purposes as it could teach you new skills while enabling you to document the positive aspects of your life.
Photography has been proven to increase feelings of well-being while reducing depression and anxiety, and these days you don’t need a whole lot of expensive equipment. You can cultivate the same sense of satisfaction from a more mindful use of your smartphone!
Get Gardening
Most of us spent ages outdoors when we were younger, picking flowers, collecting interesting rocks, finding fossils, and simply getting our hands dirty. Gardening is the grown-up version of this pastime, and you may well be introduced to specific microbes that inhabit soil that can boost your mood while you’re at it.
Mycobacterium vaccae can mimic the effects of antidepressants like Prozac and has undergone extensive research in quality-of-life tests for people suffering from cancer.
Make Some Music
Music is a hobby that can double your pleasure thanks to it being possible to have fun playing instruments or singing or simply listening to wonderful melodies and uplifting words.
It is classified as a sort of self-therapy and has been shown to reduce tension in our muscles, increase motivation, and provide a safe and effective method to release painful, difficult emotions.
Respected institutions like the American Music Therapy Association offers numerous white papers and reports that outline the benefits of music for people dealing with chronic pain, cognitive and mental health disorders, and even special education needs.
It Is Time to Take Some Time Out
After everything you have been through, and things you are still struggling with, you know you deserve to get some enjoyment out of life. These hobbies will benefit you while you are actually practising them and beyond, helping you to centre your emotions and reclaim parts of yourself that may have been lost due to abuse, addiction, or trauma.
It’s very empowering to have such a huge impact on your own healing, and there are activities suited to every possible preference and budget.