At some point, many of us have been told to get a hobby. If you’ve heard this, you’re definitely not alone.
Most adults don’t have hobbies due to the pressures of daily life, financial issues or work stress. But studies show that engaging in a hobby can have huge benefits for your mental health.
Physical hobbies like playing pickleball, running or biking can help improve brain function, among other physical benefits, while more relaxing hobbies like knitting or crocheting have been shown to reduce stress, said Brigid Shulte. Shulte is the director of the Better Life Lab at the nonpartisan think tank, New America, and author of the book, “Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play when No One has the Time.”
Some hobbies can also “expose us to new things,” she said. “We try, we learn, and the brain loves novelty, so you’re kind of firing, creating new synapses, new connections in your brain. You get a dopamine hit, and that also has enormous benefits.”
4 questions with Brigid Shulte
What is a hobby?
“I think the most important thing about hobbies is just to enjoy them. That’s the whole point of a hobby. In the United States in particular, we’re in a business culture. We are in an overwork culture. We are in an achievement culture, and a lot of people think about hobbies in really the same and really wrongheaded way that you have to achieve something … but a lot of us put pressure on ourselves.
“Somebody wants to learn an instrument and then they think they need to play in a band. You really don’t. The whole point of a hobby is to find something that really draws you into the present moment, where you can lose yourself.”
How do you choose a new hobby?
“Hobbies are a part of leisure. A lot of Americans, their leisure time or their free time is taken up with screens or TV or passive leisure, and it’s important to recognize that’s not a hobby.
“For a lot of people, when they don’t really know what to do, there’s some play scientists [and] I spoke with one who said what she advises people to do is take those gigantic, thick crayons that you used in kindergarten and just start doodling and playing and trying to remember, ‘What did you really like to do at 5?’ And I think that to really figure out what you want to do as a hobby, it takes sort of a moment to just break that cycle of business and worrying about work and the bills and all the stuff you’ve got to do, and just kind of get into a space to really feel in your body. Like think, ‘What is it that would really give you a sense of joy?’ Because your body knows, you just need to create the space and time to listen to it.”
Why do so many people not have hobbies?
“The sad thing is, when you look at why people don’t have hobbies, that feeling that they haven’t experienced it, so that they won’t be good at it, is a big part of what holds people back. Of course, you don’t know, you don’t have that experience and you don’t know about it, and that’s why it’s important to try and to give yourself permission to learn. Anytime you start something new, if you want to learn a language, you’re not going to be fluent the first day. So give yourself permission to be bad at first and learn.
“And actually, that’s part of the draw of hobbies is that you’re developing skills that can lead to mastery. And so I think the most important thing that people can take away from this conversation is if you have that inkling, ‘I want to try ballroom dancing. I want to learn a language. I want to do something that seems kind of wild that you’ve never done before,’ give it a try, and be OK with not being good at it the very first day.”
When should you stop doing a hobby and try a new one?
“If you’re bored and if you don’t get anything out of it and it feels like a chore and it starts feeling like work, well, don’t do it … I think one of the interesting things about free time, leisure, hobbies, Americans have a really hard time with that. Part of it is compared internationally, we work really long hours, and part of that is because we don’t have any national policy that protects paid time off. We’re one of the few advanced economies with no paid vacation days.
“We have no paid sick days. We have no paid family and medical leave, and so we don’t have any guardrails that would protect us or protect that time for enjoyment, for leisure, for hobbies. And so we tend to be a very work-focused culture, and then we feel guilty if we have time off, and so we’re looking for ways to be productive.
“A lot of people’s hobbies are productive and they don’t have to be, but I think it’s important for people to understand if you’re having a hard time with having a hobby in the United States, it’s because our culture doesn’t make it easy for you to do that. It’s almost like it’s like an act of resistance, really, and it’s important to develop that muscle and to recognize that you need to practice it. And I think in the American context, it’s really important to understand that having leisure time, free time and a hobby is important, is valuable, and giving yourself permission to create that time.”
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Samantha Raphelson produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Catherine Welch. Raphelson also produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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