Purposeful Paths: Hobbies to Extend Your Life Journey📚🌱📸
Discover how hobbies can bring balance, joy, and fulfillment throughout your life.
Hello explorers, hobbyists, and wellness warriors,
As a child, my days were filled with hobbies like collecting baseball cards, reading books, playing sports, and riding my bike. These activities filled my days with adventure and creativity.
As I grew older, life became busier with work and family, and my interests shifted. I spent precious moments with my children reading Harry Potter books, taking photos at their sports and school events, and cycling together through our neighborhood. These shared hobbies helped us bond and create lasting memories.
Now, with more time, my hobbies are central to my life journey.
Why Hobbies Are Necessary for Your Journey
Life isn’t just about getting through the day—it’s about growth, connection, and adventure.
Making time for hobbies is important at every stage of life with many benefits.1
Active hobbies like biking, hiking, and paddling have helped me stay physically healthy and mentally relaxed. They've helped lower my blood pressure and improved my mood.
Creative hobbies like writing and photography inspire me and help me relax.
Shared hobbies are a great way to connect, make new friends, and build lasting relationships.
My Favorite Hobbies
After six decades, I have so many hobbies and purposeful activities that bring me joy.
Reading and Writing: I've always loved to read, but a few years ago, I lost the focus and joy of reading, perhaps due to the stress during the pandemic and spending too much time on social media. I'm grateful to have rediscovered my love for reading and am now focused on writing too. From Life is a Journey to non-fiction and mystery thrillers set in National Parks, writing helps me to escape and provides a platform to share my thoughts, stories, and experiences.
Hiking and Paddling Outdoors: There's nothing like exploring hikes and trails, paddling on the water, or camping in a forest. Living in the Pacific Northwest, I have the perfect backdrop of lakes, rivers, mountains, and coastlines to explore. The fresh air and physical activity invigorate me, while the beauty of nature never ceases to amaze me.
Traveling: Discovering new places around Oregon, visiting family in Maine, California, Texas, and Mexico, and learning about new cultures, food, languages, and history in Mexico, New Mexico and Washington has broadened my horizons. Each trip is an adventure, filled with new experiences, flavors, and friendships. Traveling reminds me of the vastness and diversity of the world, offering endless opportunities to learn and grow.
Gardening: Growing up in Denver, I loved all the plants in Grandma Minnie’s garden not to mention on every shelf and in every nook and cranny in her home. I didn't inherit her green thumb, but I did learn to love plants, flowers, and gardens. I enjoy the hard work and satisfaction of digging out weeds, planting tomatoes, and tending to roses and other beautiful plants in my Oregon garden. There's something incredibly soothing about tending to plants and watching them grow.
Serving Others: Each week, I volunteer with my friend Dell to pick up healthy food from the Gleaners of Clackamas, and with Kathy from the Portland Fruit Tree Project, to bring to the people at the Bethlehem House of Bread food panty. I also serve with the Oregon Chapter of the National Writers Union and on the Grateful Giving Product Advisory Council. Sharing my time and resources with others is really special and like a hobby enriches my own understanding and appreciation of those causes.
America’s Top 10 Favorites
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans spend about five hours a day on hobbies and leisure activities. Here are some of the top favorites:
Cooking and baking - 41% spend their free time in the kitchen
Reading - 37% love relaxing with a good book
Pets - 35% say spending time with their pet is their favorite hobby
Video games - 33% escape and unwind by gaming
Outdoor activities - 30% enjoy being outside grilling, swimming, hiking and more
Shopping - nearly 30% like to spend their leisure time on retail therapy
Traveling - 29% say this is their favorite hobby
Arts/crafts/DIY - 25% prefer activities like sewing, woodworking, drawing, painting and other hands-on tasks
Socializing - 26% consider this their favorite leisure activity
Board games - 26% also enjoy playing board games in their free time
The only thing we spend more time on daily is sleep.2
Call to Action
Hobbies have enriched my life in incredible ways—and they can do the same for you! Ready to try something new? What are your favorite hobbies? Drop your favorite hobbies in the comments below!
https://www.webmd.com/balance/health-benefits-of-hobbies
https://news.iheart.com/featured/amy-james/content/2024-08-14-ranked-americas-favorite-hobbies/