Four Relaxing Hobbies for Personal Fulfilment

When the hustle and bustle of everyday life becomes too much, it really helps to switch off by doing something completely different; it’s beneficial to give yourself time to reflect on what really matters to you. Often, we fill our off-time with mind-numbing activities like watching TV, using social media or playing video games, but if you cut down just a couple of hours per week, it’s amazing what you could produce – you might well surprise yourself. There are endless benefits to be reaped from investing in a new hobby, and you’ll end up spending more time out of the house and less time binge-watching a series that you’re not particularly enjoying.

Photo by Neslihan Gunaydin on Unsplash

Gardening

If you are instantly put off this activity, fear not! All you need to start growing plants are a few plastic containers and some seeds from the local garden centre. This hobby can be completely cost-free if you recycle containers and keep the seeds from fruit you are eating anyway. Raspberries, strawberries, cherries and even avocados can be grown from their seeds. Another nifty way to bring a little more nature to urban life is by picking up a hanging basket and putting it up either inside or outside the house. Hundreds of studies have been conducted to expose the benefits of spending more time with plants and natural life, so not having a garden is no excuse not to try out your green fingers.

Swimming

Getting up from the sofa to go down to your local pool can seem a bit daunting the first time but, once you get into the habit, it is one of the most rewarding sports to get involved with: it’s a very low impact method of exercising every muscle in your body. The social benefits can be huge if you invite friends and family to spend their weekends at the pool with you or, alternatively, it could be the perfect excuse to escape from the pressures around you: you can’t answer an email or obligatory phone call when you’re underwater. As we get older, being physically active becomes even more important, and there are many ways to do it.

Sewing

This is an excitingly varied option – it could entail anything from creating bespoke home-made garments to quilting with leftover scraps of material. A great place to start is tapestry and embroidery because you’ll find some super guides available online to help you through the process. Happily, it’s a low-cost and low-investment hobby; you can use Dimensions Needlecrafts to buy sewing supplies online to begin your creations.

Learning an Instrument

When you are learning any new skill, you are also keeping your brain active. Although this hobby requires an initial investment if you are serious, perhaps a friend or neighbour has an unused instrument around the house that you can pick up. There are hundreds of online video tutorials for you to learn from too, so lessons don’t need to cost you anything. It’s a skill you’ll cherish forever, creating music to relax you over the course of your life.

Spending a couple of hours a week trying something new will bring fabulous benefits to your mental and physical health.  A relaxing hobby won’t cost a lot, so you’ve got nothing to lose by giving one a go.

This is a collaborative post.