Pursuit of a Hobby, Pursuit of Happiness

Allison Anne G. Atis

In today’s complex and fast-paced society, we tend to focus on the things that we have to do and somehow forget to give ourselves a break from all those tiring and nerve-racking loads. The escalating change in technology and the information age also gives us quite a hard time coping with the demands of the society. The apparent symptom of this kind of living is stress. Stress affects us mentally, physically and emotionally. We fight stress by taking different medications to lessen its level, but they are not without their side effects. In one study, there is one thing that can help avoid one’s stressful life – get a hobby.

Hobbies can be a way to relieve ourselves from our stressful and hectic schedules. According to one of the sites that I’ve come across, “The reasons are that hobbies allow us the ability to unleash our creativity, boost our self esteem, engage in an activity we are passionate about and give us a sense of pleasure and accomplishment.”

Hobbies unleash our creativity. "Creativity is exciting, energizing, grounding, and timeless. When we create, time stops and space expands; it is then, in that place of thought and action, that we express our truest selves." This is a quote from Ilene Segalove and Paul Bob Velick's book, "List Your Creative Self”. It evidently expresses the concept of creativity and its importance.

Hobbies boost our self-esteem. Anything that boosts self esteem can help us individually and as a society. Having good self esteem allows us to try new things and enables us to make better decisions.

Hobbies engage us in an activity we are passionate about because the activity tends to divert our attention to a more productive function and reduces stress and worries.

Hobbies give us a sense of pleasure and accomplishment. As I’ve mentioned, we tend to just focus on doing the things that we have to do or we are required to do for us to be able to obtain our needs, that’s why we need to do activities that give us pleasure and a sense of accomplishment to break the ice. One can also improve his/her current skills and learn new ideas through our hobbies.

A hobby is something you enjoy and feel relaxed or happy when doing it. If a hobby becomes an obsession then you spend too much time on it to a point where you no longer can keep up with school work and your grades are slipping, you need to figure out if you are addicted or obsessed to that particular thing because that is a different scenario knowing for a fact that there is a fine line between a hobby and an obsession. But nonetheless, just keep it balanced and every thing will be A-okay!

I can say that hobbies are good for us. hobbies can do wonders for our minds, our bodies, and our souls. So why not join the fun. Dive into a hobby and have a blast! =)