How to find a hobby and why you need it: tips for students

Each person explains the importance of hobbies in different ways: for some, it is a way to distract themselves, for some it is a way to cope with stress, for some hobbies become the meaning of life. For the student specifically, a hobby is a way to distract from studies and make your life brighter and more interesting. And what if we consider our favorite hobby in terms of science? This is what we’re talking about in our article.

What is a hobby and why it is important to have one

Any hobby is an activity different from the daily routine that our brain is used to. Our brain loves to optimize and automate what it works with every day, any new activity affects it as an impulse to cheer up. The youthfulness and efficiency of our brain depend on neuroplasticity – its ability to make new neural connections. Building connections is helped by unfamiliar activities, as the brain is actively engaged at these times.

Hobbies help to switch and reconfigure the brain: working for a long time, we stop finding optimal solutions and start missing opportunities. For a student, this is a great way to find a solution to difficult homework assignments, and not to turn to essayassistant.net. To overcome this state, it is necessary to do something completely different – the brain, enthusiastically working on a completely new task, after a while finds a solution to a task that seemed to be a dead-end as well.

5 ways to free up time for hobbies

In terms of psychological science, one of the basic needs of an individual, without which he or she cannot be happy, is the need for recognition and self-actualization. A person who is passionate about a hobby finds a new social circle where he will be valued, and can also get recognition for his talents. The positive reinforcement of success gives us the impulse to strive for more.

How to find a hobby to your liking

To find a hobby that you like, it’s important to listen to yourself, to your desires, and to carefully observe your thoughts and actions. We all have something that brings us joy and makes us feel better.

The first thing to start with is to decide on a direction. A simplified version will determine your temperament and help you better understand what area you should move to.

If you have a weak and unbalanced psychotic nervous activity, you are best suited for creative hobbies; if you are a strong and emotional psycho type, you might want to consider the activity of social orientation (theater or dance). Sporting hobbies would suit a strongly unstable psycho type.

The test result will not give an exact answer, so it is recommended to have a notebook where you write down the entire week (here you should try to organize yourself) moments that made you happy, brought you confidence, and any other positive emotions. At the end of the week analyze your answers and divide them into groups: physical activity, creativity, and cooking, communication with people, communication with nature, communication with technology, communication with the world of words and music. Try to move into the area where you will get the most positive feedback.

Finding a hobby: resource collection

When you determine which area is preferable for you, you need to find the right hobby for you. We have gathered a few resources where you can find a hobby to your liking.

1. Search the internet

You can search the Internet for hobbies that fit your personality type and the type of your aspirations and hobbies. After the initial selection, I highly recommend finding videos on youtube for your chosen hobby – you’d be surprised how many videos have already been made by people who are interested in it. If after watching it you get a sense of elation – you should definitely try it.

2. On the official websites of the department of education or administration of your city

There you can find information about municipal institutions of additional education, and private centers can be easily found by opening the city map.

3. You can find remote classes, masterclasses, and courses

But do not rush to buy a course or a subscription of classes at once: first, take a trial class or participate in a master class, and many centers hold open days, where you can participate in various classes for free.

Tips for choosing a hobby:

All hobbies can be divided into two large groups: active and passive. Active hobbies, as a rule, include those that require us to go outdoors: these are hobbies associated with movement. They can be divided into several other groups, conventionally.

• Sports: cycling, hiking, sports team games, yoga, CrossFit – everything that is somehow related to sports. Such hobbies help our brains actively oxygenate, develop agility, coordination, and confidence in our bodies.
• Hobbies related to interaction with the environment: fishing, botany, mushroom picking, hiking, mountain climbing, traveling, archeology, gardening. Such hobbies broaden our horizons, develop attentiveness, empathy to the world around us, each such activity carries a lot of discoveries around and thus will ensure active work of the brain.
• Playful and social – hobbies related to theatrical activities can be attributed here: historical reconstruction, dancing, singing, discussion clubs, stand-up – these hobbies will help to develop self-confidence, acquire the skill of public speaking, develop emotional intelligence and empathy.

Passive hobbies are quiet activities that often do not require going outdoors and can be done at home. Several groups can also be distinguished in them:

• Handicrafts – here we will refer to all kinds of hobbies associated with manual labor, creation of household items, and household items: knitting, sewing, embroidery, carpentry, poker, cooking. Such hobbies develop fine motor skills, artistic taste, they are excellent for overcoming stress if your activity is associated with high activity.
• Technical activities – amateur radio, constructing, robotics, modeling, puzzles. These kinds of hobbies develop logical and spatial thinking, fine motor skills, give the skill of working with electrical tools of chips, give knowledge of how the electronic world around us is arranged.
• Artistic – drawing, modeling, sculpting, origami, photography. Such activities are great to help develop artistic taste, emotional intelligence, understanding of color, shape, spatial thinking.
• Computer creativity and books – this can include programming, cartooning, blogging, poetry, reading books. Such hobbies allow us to develop our communication skills, imagination.

How to find a hobby if nothing is interesting?

When choosing a hobby, you should primarily rely on your emotions. If the idea of this activity burns in your soul joyful impatience – you should try it. If you are not very emotional, try to use the opposite method – discard options that you do not like. The second important factor for choosing a hobby should be that the chosen activity should be new to you, that is to give our brain a completely unfamiliar task.

Is it possible to combine hobbies and work?

“Find a hobby you love and you won’t have to work a day in your life,” is a quote often cited when talking about a person’s success and purpose in life. It’s great when a hobby becomes an important part of life and begins to bring in income, but in any activity, there is an element of routine, and that is when your favorite thing is no longer enjoyable as it used to be.

Pros 

• Positive emotions from the working process;
• Continuous self-improvement in the chosen sphere;
• There is no need to use willpower.

Cons

• Emotional burnout – when you work with something for too long, you get tired even from positive emotions;
• Narrow brain development – the brain is improved only in this case, and with age, it is more difficult to rearrange;
• The danger of becoming addicted to what you love, which can lead to problems in other areas of life.