How hobbies contribute to our personal health

The question "What are your hobbies?" can come up in many places, from job interviews to conversations with friends, from a new environment to dating apps. So, what comes to your mind when you face this question? Can you give your answer directly or do you have some difficulty? Hobbies are actually all the activities we prefer to spend our free time in a pleasant way, to relax our minds, to stay in the flow and most importantly to spend time with anything that makes us feel good and that we enjoy.

However, as time passes, different tasks and missions can be assigned to the concept of hobbies, and this can be especially challenging for people with different hobbies. For example, hobbies such as fishing, painting wood, crocheting, etc., which can be considered as traditional hobbies, as well as activities that bring pleasure to the individual, such as traveling, may not be classified as hobbies. So, according to whom and according to what?

Psychotherapist Bari Schwars approaches hobbies from a different perspective in a speech on HuffPost and says, "The word hobby can have a tendency to evoke anxiety. When asked what are your hobbies, instead of confidently answering with an activity we enjoy, we may panic, wonder 'do my hobbies count as hobbies' and search for acceptable answers. In other words, he draws attention to the fact that people get worried and stressed when asked what their hobbies are.

According to experts, it is completely normal to feel as if you do not have a real or true hobby, or to think that the things you enjoy do not count as hobbies. Because in this age of burnout and stress, the idea of having something that brings pleasure can seem so distant that there is a need to turn it into something more challenging, more complex. For example, just walking outdoors is an enjoyable activity that makes you happy and makes your time more meaningful, but the fact that it is not challenging enough or too easy to do may prevent you from expressing it as a hobby.

However, a hobby is essentially 'an activity that one enjoys in one's free time'. So, instead of feeling the pressure to list hobbies, simply answering the question 'What do I enjoy doing? If you feel that an activity that brings you pleasure is too easy or accessible to be a hobby, or if you are worried that it will not be recognized as a hobby by others, Sue Varma's words are worth listening to:

In an interview with HuffPost, the associate professor of clinical psychiatry shares a very meaningful memory about hobbies: "Someone asked me what my hobby was and I said traveling. They said, 'Well, that's not really a hobby'. But for me it is. I love learning, I love exploring, I love having fun and I feel rewarded. I get immersed in traveling and I grow from traveling. For me, traveling is a hobby and I am conscious about it. I do it and I put thought and effort into it. Do I get better? Maybe not. But there is nothing that requires me to be better anyway."

So, it doesn't really matter that an activity that brings joy to one person may not be considered 'not a hobby' by another. If it gives you pleasure, if you enjoy what you are doing, if you are happy, the rest is nothing.