Hobby for Happiness

Masterful Mindsets ~ Hobbies Make Us Happy

“Do what you love and love what you do.”

Question: 

Do you have a passionate pastime that allows you to express, enjoy or develop yourself outside of your job? Do you give enough time to the things you love doing in life?

Action Challenge:

As we come to the end of our month-long discussion on Loving Your Life, we’ve covered almost all the topics from the initial life assessment I asked you to take, on how happy and content you are in your main life arenas. (If you missed it, then be sure to watch the video explaining it and do your evaluation.)

So today we are going to wrap up this topic with a discussion on loving what you do. Now I know that most people will immediately think I’m referring to their career when asking, “Do you love what you do?” And yes, being passionate about your life’s work is extremely important. Loving what you do from a professional perspective has been the topic of many of my blog posts in the past. But there’s more to life than just work. Right? After all, if you’ve gotten anything from this month’s posts, it’s that really loving your life means thriving in all arenas, not just feeling good about a few. So doing things that make you happy outside of your job and living in alignment with your values are important to loving your life too. Which is why what I really want to focus on today is what you do… for fun.

Yep, that’s right. What you do for fun – your hobbies  – are super important to your overall happiness and love of life. But sadly, so many people get busy with work and the daily grind of life that they don’t take time to have fun. They put their hobbies last because they think that having them is a frivolous luxury and needs to be the first thing to go when life gets busy. Now I get it, when you have a deadline at work that you must meet and you have to get the kids to practice, dinner on the table, do the laundry and a million other to-dos, your hobby does seem like the logical thing to cut out. But if you aren’t doing things to relieve stress, you are missing the boat. And probably feeling frustrated and miserable. Symptoms that could be eliminated by spending a little time at your hobby. But here’s the thing, you must commit fully to that time. If you spend the entire time you’re painting, reading or playing your guitar thinking about the million other things you should be getting done, you will not enjoy that time. So commit to letting everything else go from your head when you focus in on that thing you love doing. And if you truly feel that you don’t have time right now, then incorporate some fun into what you must do. For example, if you love drawing, then be the one that volunteers to make the posters for the school fundraiser that you feel like you have to be a part of. If music makes you happy then be sure you have it cranked up while you’re sorting the mounds of laundry. Maybe you’re so exhausted at night that you rarely read anymore. So start listening to a audio book or podcast on your drive to work. Just find a way to squeeze some joy into your life. And then make a commitment to yourself that you will start planning time to do those things you love, those things that recharge you and bring you joy. Plan time to do something daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

Studies show that having a hobby or engaging in enjoyable activities can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, decrease cortisol levels and your body mass index. Engaging in these activities also correlates to higher levels of positive psychosocial states and lower levels of depression and negative affect. So in other words, hobbies are good for your mind and your body.  Hobbies are important to loving life.

So again, as we come to the end of our mini-series on loving your life I want to challenge you not to stop here… Quite the contrary, this is just the beginning.

Challenge yourself to live a life you love every single day. Take care of your physical and mental health and wellbeing. Express love to those that matter most to you – your lover, your family, friends, and fellow beings. Make your life’s passion be your life’s work but don’t forget to play. And by all means, be certain that you show up as the person you want to be proud of being in all you do. A person who lives by their values and loves life.

***Join me tomorrow, Tuesday, February 26th at 11am PT/2pm ET for Facebook Live on my Facebook Biz Page: Coach Michelle Weimer. I’ll be talking more about why having a hobby and living in alignment with your values is so important to your overall happiness and success.