10 Productive Hobbies That Will Make You Smarter and Happier
Gone are the days when ‘hobby’ was known as ‘a lack of objectivity’. These days most people engage in meaningful activities in their free time, something that is creative, productive, insightful and enlightening. Smart hobbies teach you new things through the works that you love. Idling in front of a TV or radio is no longer a great hobby to be with. Especially, as more and more people prioritize their work today, hobby is a way to relax but in a smart way. People don’t enjoy lame relaxations anymore, rather creating something new and interesting through hobby is preferred. Even for researchers and academicians who regularly publish in international journals and have aspirations to become published authors, want an escape but with something that will not decay their brain with useless infringements.
Hence here are 10 most Useful Hobbies for your Daily Life which will make you Smarter and Happier –
- Cooking– Cooking can be a great way to start your hobby list. It is a stable for your livelihood because we all need at least 3 meals a day and cooking them yourself will make your lifestyle healthier. However, you learn to identify ingredients with cooking; which are good for lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, losing fat etc.; how organic ingredients can benefit, how you can recognize freshness in food etc. are useful things you learn. The most satisfying part of cooking is that you create something with your creative combination of flavors, and there is no one fit for all; you can experiment with different combinations to develop great recipes; you won’t realize when your hobby will change into a career option. There are so many things that come with the interest of cooking these days- food blogging, cookbook writing, food photography are to name a few.
- Painting– Art can be a wonderful way to escape the reality of our everyday mundane world. For full-time artists, painting is a profession too. The colors and lines comfort your senses; they help you tab through your thoughts, desires and feelings, that are not expressed in words always. Often abstract ideas receive a physical image through painting. If you can paint, it might also help in your profession.
- Sculpture and Pottery– People think it’s extremely hard to sculpt something, but those who do it, find it easier than painting. It is peaceful and relaxing. The touch of cold mud in the hands takes you closer to the earth. The fingers which write for international journal, finds a spa treatment through sculpting with mud, clay or cement. It is an achievement if you can give a realistic form to a lump of clay. Again, this can help you give realistic presentations in your profession.
- Camping and Nature Hikes– Living outdoors is another way to get life experience through your hobby. It is very different from living indoors and surviving in the urban set up. Nature often teaches us the greatest lessons of life. Camping takes us back to the old ages of stone and fire. We should learn to chop woods, light a fire, cook in it and build our own shelter, when we are camping. Additionally, the hikes and trails are great way to exercise. We must know how to protect ourselves from wildlife, climatic dangers, weather phenomena etc. the quietness of nature can often help us think through everything deeper. If we develop this hobby, our future generation will also be benefitted by it.
- Reading– It was and will always be a good hobby for people of all ages and professions to read everyday. Especially for authors and academicians, it is a must to read through something each day. Reading develops vocabulary, fuels our knowledge base, helps us analyze things with multiple perspectives and converts our skills into writing. Reading builds our common sense and contemporary knowledge about society.
- Yoga and Meditation– Another ‘must do’ for our current life is yoga and meditation. Prioritizing health is the second most important thing today after work. People have better awareness about health benefits of yoga and meditation. Also, yoga and meditation heal the mind beyond keeping the body fit. It’s a part of good lifestyle which will keep you young and disease-free for a long time.
- Gardening– Building something from scratch always gives a sense of achievement. Gardening takes us back to nature and the soil again. From a mere seed, comes a seedling and then a huge plant. In the whole process, as we watch our planted item grow step-wise, it’s an amazement and joy to the mind. Gardening slows us down for a moment in our busy life, helps us relax and rewind from our worries and problems.
- Baking– Besides cooking, baking can also have therapeutic impact on the brain. It teaches you the chemistry of ingredients and science of how things react together. Baking is not about the oven, it is about the temperature and proportion of things. It is extremely scientific, systematic and creative. You can experiment with ingredients here, but unlike cooking, you may face failures, but these failures teach you where you went wrong in your proportions. When you observe something puff up really perfect to golden color, its sheer joy and achievement.
- Blogging– If you read, you must write to articulate your thoughts. Blogging as a hobby is a great way to build on your skills. Especially for author and academicians, writing regularly can be very helpful. If you have to publish a lot in international journal, you know how important writing is for you. If you gain happiness from expressing yourself through blogging, it is pleasure out of work. Basically, you are being smart by developing on your skill while you relax.
- YouTube– Needless to say, in today’s world, technology is the only sorted-after thing. YouTube is a great platform to articulate and express what you think through videos; you can upload almost everything that you believe to be important and you have viewers for every genre of work. You need some equipment but it is totally worth it when you have the world to listen to you. Podcasts on global apps is also an extension to this kind of hobbying. What is great about YouTube is that you can even earn with your hobby after a certain time. You can promote and preach your work through this, or anything that you find beneficial for the world. When your knowledge goes beyond yourself, you are a much happier person.
