Guest post by Katie Conroy

Are you looking for a hobby to take your mind off your day-to-day grind? A pastime that will not only help you escape, but also sharpen your mind, keep your body in shape, unleash your creativity, and let you find people to connect with? Here are six hobbies that provide great benefits to their devotees, courtesy of Mage Music Studio.

Discover the Perks of Playing an Instrument

First, playing music benefits your mind and body. Learning how to play an instrument will boost your creativity, your mental performance, and your mood. And while you try to achieve good posture, you’re working on your core muscles, too. So if you’ve always wanted to play your favorite tunes on the guitar, find a teacher near you and start learning. You’ll develop muscle memory and concentration, and you’ll be able to transfer those skills to other areas in your life. 

Find Joy in Learning to Paint or Draw

If you’re looking for a relaxing pastime that allows you to get creative and where you can let your imagination run wild, consider taking an art class and learning to draw or paint. Attending a group class can be a great way to make new friends as you explore different techniques with the teacher in a non-competitive setting. And creating something with your own hands is a wonderful way to build self-esteem.

Improve Your Health With Gardening

Working out in the fresh air and enjoying the sunshine has both mental and physical health benefits: you’ll get a much-needed boost of vitamin D while exercising major muscle groups, strengthening your core, and getting some cardio to boot. Growing your own plants and vegetables is also very rewarding as you’ll get to enjoy the fruits of your labor: you’ll improve the appearance of your yard, and you’ll be able to harvest and consume what you’ve grown. You can even go one step further and tackle your entire yard, from adding outdoor furniture you can use when the weather is perfect to adding a quick and easy DIY fire pit. You’ll be surprised how easy it can be to build a beautiful and safe in-ground or above-ground fire pit (be it a stone pit or a tin container) – and it’s usually a lot cheaper than buying one from the store.

Overcome Your Shyness With Acting Classes 

Taking theater classes can not only help you develop your acting chops, they can also help you overcome your natural shyness and make you a more effective public speaker. Performing in front of an audience will boost your confidence, and those oratory skills will greatly help you in your professional life. You’ll be able to communicate more effectively with your managers and coworkers, conveying your message through your tone and posture as well as your voice.

Take up Dancing and Make New Friends

If you’re trying to stay in shape but aren’t fond of treadmills, stationary bikes, and exercise classes offered at your local gym, signing up for dancing lessons is the ideal way to keep your body moving, work all your major muscle groups, and improve your balance and posture. Dancing is a great stress reliever, and by joining a class, you’ll get to meet new people and widen your social circle. 

Turn Your Skills Into a New Career Path

If you’re passionate about something and like to spend your free time doing it, you can turn your hobby into a lucrative career by starting your own business. While this may sound like a good idea from the get-go, spend some time thinking it over before diving in. Since starting a business requires a lot of work and dedication, make sure this is something you want to associate with your hobby, because your hobby will essentially become your job. You may want to start a blog first to see if people are interested in what you are promoting. Tchlete offers tips for how to write an effective blog post and provides resources for marketing your new business.  

There are many tasks to juggle when you decide to be an entrepreneur. If you find them too overwhelming, you can search for offerings specializing in BPO. The best part is that business process outsourcing, or BPO, has become increasingly popular and you can often hire the people you need as contractors, which is significantly less expensive than hiring full time people into these roles. 

Take some time out of your busy life and get yourself a hobby. Spending time pursuing your passions and interests will lead to a more fulfilling life, and you’ll improve your mental and physical health as well as your self-esteem.  

Mage Music Studio provides the best quality music education to young children by blending the joy of music-making with sound instruction. Questions? We’d love to hear from you!

Katie Conroy is the creator of Advice Mine. She enjoys writing about lifestyle topics and created the website to share advice she has learned through experience, education and research.