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Hobbies are wonderful. Not only can they help to energise our systems and bring more joy into our lives, but they can also serve to boost our creativity.

Engaging in hobbies, however frequently, can really help to broaden our minds and shift our focus in different directions. They challenge our minds (and sometimes our bodies too) and force us to think and act outside of our habitual patterns. But aside from that, they’re fun!

Learning and developing new skills is a great way to spend our time, and hobbies really can help us to build more fulfilling lives.

So, in the hope of sparking some new passions, we wanted to share 7 hobbies that could not only bring more joy into your life but may boost your creativity too!

Learning an instrument 

Learning an instrument, whether it’s guitar, piano, drums, or trombone, is an excellent way to diversify your interests, cultivate patience, have fun, and develop a fantastic hands-on skill. 

Instruments may also be particularly beneficial for people who work in front of a computer all day, as they place more emphasis on hearing and touch, and give our eyes a much needed screen break.  

Gardening 

It might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but gardening offers endless opportunities for creative thinking. From building your own vegetable patches to designing your own flowerbeds, it’s a wonderfully expressive and rewarding hobby to take up. 

Nurturing plants from seeds and watching them grow is an extremely satisfying experience. And for those who spend most of their time living and working indoors, gardening can be an excellent release and change of scenery.

It’s also a fantastic way to slow down and cultivate mindfulness. Gardening takes a lot of time and patience, as it operates on a different timescale to our daily lives. But this is partly what makes it such a rewarding pursuit, especially for anyone who’s become accustomed to living a high-paced, high-stress lifestyle. 

Photography 

Another very popular hobby, photography is a wonderfully expressive art form that’s accessible to anyone who has a smartphone. 

The beauty of photography is that it’s so easy to take up. If you own a decent-enough phone then you don’t really need any equipment to get going with the basics. It’s just a case of getting to grips with beginner’s photography principles.

Another great reason to try photography is that it motives you to get outside and explore. Maybe it’ll push you to discover some interesting sights in your local area, or just head out into the woods or countryside a little more often than you normally would. Either way, photography will get you out into the fresh air (unless of course your passion is food photography — which is great too!). 

As a professional designer or creative, adding photography to your repertoire could also improve your working skillset. It will broaden your creative mind, allowing you to see things from different perspectives.

Hand lettering

If you’re a designer, hand lettering can be a fantastic way to take your digital skills and turn them into something tangible. The advantage is that you’ll already be familiar with fonts and lettering, so it’s not a huge leap in terms of understanding.

But whether you’re a designer or not, hand lettering is a very rewarding hobby. It’s relaxing, artistic, and can be incredibly satisfying. 

It doesn’t have to be expensive either. You can start with whatever stationary you have lying around the house or office. It’s all about getting back to basics and making art with your hands. 

Engaging in forms of drawing and painting is also thought to have multiple health benefits, including improved memory, better communication skills, and increased problem-solving abilities. 

Origami 

Take your relaxation to the next level with origami, the beautiful Japanese art of paper-folding. If you’re looking for a hobby that’s simple to start but endlessly complex (and gets you away from digital devices) then origami really could be the thing for you.

Creating something out of a single sheet of paper, with nothing but your hands, provides such simple yet deep pleasure. It’s fun, quiet, engaging, and with all the countless models to create it will keep you going for a long time.

Interested? Get started with these easy origami instructions. 

Writing

Creative writing is one of the simplest and (potentially) most rewarding hobbies around. It costs basically nothing to get started, and it can be an incredibly powerful tool for expanding your creativity.

The beauty of writing is that it offers so many different approaches. Whether you want to write novels, short poems, plays, or simply keep a journal, you’ll find something that suits you.

Even if you think that you “can’t write”, it’s worth a try. Expressing yourself through words may prove to be a life-enhancing and deeply rewarding exercise.

Working out

Really, any exercise will do. Whether it’s running, swimming, tennis, or yoga. Just getting up, getting out, and moving your body can work wonders.

Not only is exercise good for our physical health, but it can also be a wonderful tool for deepening our creative lives.

As the Japanese writer (and long-time runner) Haruki Murakami said, “Being active every day makes it easier to hear that inner voice. “

So whatever your inner voice is, and whatever creative things it’s trying to say, working out and keeping active can help!

Get creative

For more on creativity in general, take a look at these 7 tricks for cultivating creativity and generating ideas!