A hobby can be one of the most rewarding things you do for yourself. It can help you learn about yourself and create a deep connection with your surroundings. By taking part in a new activity, you’ll be forced to really look at yourself, be alone and okay with yourself. You’ll learn new skills, grow your confidence, and build new relationships.

The key is to find an activity that you really enjoy. If it feels like too much work, you’re probably going to put off finishing it. On the other hand, if it feels like a nice break from your daily routine, you’re more likely to stick with it. There’s no right or wrong way to start a hobby, but one thing is certain: it’s never too late to start!

What is a hobby?

Hobby; an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure. – Oxford Dictionary. So in other words, the thing you do to make yourself happy. If you currently don't have any hobbies, it's time to give this post a read and go find a hobby.

Why are hobbies good for you?

Hobbies bring happiness. In most people's lives, their work is where they spend most of their time awake. For many, work does not bring happiness, so it is imperative for those people that they do have a hobby, an activity that makes them happy.

Having a positive outlet can have many benefits including:

• lower stress levels
• Time to yourself
• Peace of mind whilst doing the hobby – all your focus is on the task
• Improve physical health or mental health depending on the hobby
• Improve relationships with those around you as you have an outlet for your angry moods now

Hobbies let you expand your skills outside of those you use at work. You can gain new skills with new hobbies and expand your knowledge in so many areas that you may not get in your current field.

But I suck

I'll let you in on a little secret… Everyone sucks at a new hobby. You improve overtime with anything in life and you have to start somewhere. So if this is the reason you haven't started that new hobby, you can't use that excuse anymore.

How to pick up a new hobby

The first place to start is to figure out what skill you most want to learn. Here are a few examples:

• Painting or drawing – find a painting session near you, download a course to help you learn the basic skills.
• Horse riding – search for the top-rated horse riding courses near you. They will usually have either beginner groups or explain all the basic requirements and to-dos before you saddle up.
• Archery – jump online and find a local archery club
• Chess – there are so many options here. If you know someone who knows how to play, hit them up, learn from online courses, buy a chess book or join a club
• Dance – find a local dancing group and reach out to them
• Sewing – head down to one of your local craft stores and see if they have any beginner courses

There are many hobbies you can start right at home too; gardening, cooking, video gaming, calligraphy, running, programming, etc.

There are so many ways to pick up a new hobby, once you find a place that is experienced with it, you can ask if they have beginner courses or if they know anyone in their field who runs beginner courses.

But i have no time

Here's the thing. We all have the same 24 hours a day. Even if you are working 40 hours a week in a full-time job, you still have 120 hours left over in a week. Now let's take out the standard 8 hours of sleep a night all week, that's 64 hours left. Now I'm gonna be generous and give you 2 hours a day for travel to work (plus 2 hours each day for the weekend). That's still 50 hours a week! Crazy hey? So I want no more excuses that you don't have time to start up a hobby.

Work/life balance

Now you've read why hobbies are good for you, how you can start and a breakdown of why you in fact do have time to start a new hobby. The real question I pose to you is, have you just avoided starting a new hobby out of laziness, ignorance, or nerves?

Remember that to be truly happy in life, you need a good work-life balance. Don't spend 40 hours a week at work and 50 hours resenting the next day of work. You need to give yourself some “me time”, some time to yourself to be just at peace.

I can't wait to hear from you on how your life has changed since trying a new hobby.