Photo by CC user Kevin Dooley on Flickr.
Sometimes free time is more of a burden than a blessing. Instead of going out there and doing something productive we just do something easy, which more than likely consists of sitting or lying down on a comfortable surface and browsing the internet. Well, enough of that! That’s not how you should be spending your precious free time. You should pick up a hobby and do something both fun and productive. Don’t know what sort of hobby to take up? Well, here are a few ideas:
Go outdoors
Outdoors is great. You have animals, plants, oxygen, vitamin D and all sorts of fun places and things to explore. Instead of sitting inside and ruining your spine, why not go outside? Take up cycling, hiking, camping, or simply go for a scenic walk every now and then. Research has proven that being outdoors boosts your serotonin levels – making you feel happy and reducing your stress – and the best thing is it’s free!
Photography
Lots of people have taken up photography without knowing a thing about it. If you enjoy something then you’ll be more inclined to learn about it, so don’t feel as though you need to take a college course before you buy yourself a camera. It’s just a hobby, after all. It doesn’t matter if your photos are terrible. The fun is in taking them and learning how to improve them. So, photograph your family, or your cats, or your left foot and have fun.
Play poker
You’re probably not going to be a poker legend any time soon, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play a few games with your friends. Start a weekly poker night with your buddies. Invite the guys or gals round on a Friday night, dish out the snacks and drinks, and practice your poker face. You don’t even have to gamble with money. Use cookies for casino chips and just enjoy the game and a chance to have a weekly get together with your buds. But if you become a master against your friends you could try and take on the masters online, be prepared as there are a few differences between online and offline poker.
Cooking
It’s the perfect hobby. Not only is cooking a pretty useful life skill, you also get to regularly feed yourself with delicious food. Lots of people have discovered hidden cooking and baking talents by taking it up as a hobby. Maybe it could become a career, or maybe you could just save some money by baking a birthday cake for your mom instead of buying one. It’s a great hobby with a lot of benefits. Just make sure to keep the fire extinguisher close at hand.
Learn an instrument
Do you know anyone that can play the spoons? No? Well, why not be the first? Learning an instrument is a great use of free time and can actually strengthen your brain. Your concentration, memory, coordination and comprehension skills will all improve, and it will help your relieve stress. Not to mention everyone will think you are super cool. Overall, music can make you a smarter, happier person, so there’s no downside to picking it up as a hobby.
Magic
You know what people love? Magic! There’s no one that doesn’t love magic. Magic is awesome. You could be one of those people at parties that pulls coins out of everyone’s ears and shoots multi-coloured scarves out of their nose. In all seriousness, there are a lot of benefits to learning magic. It can improve your confidence, problem solving skills, hand eye coordination and is known to be quite therapeutic. It’s a quirky hobby that will get everyone interested.