What is a Hobby?
Hobbies can help us relax and unwind after a long day at work or to enjoy at weekends after a hard-working week. They are essential for our mental and physical well-being because they enable us to change the pace of life and allow us to “switch off” from the pressures we experience in our lives.
Good hobbies to take up can be indoor or outdoor, and the types of hobbies available can be recreational or constructive. Popular hobbies can include DIY, hobby craft and activities in the garden. They can also include things such as table-top games, board games and sporting activities.
But pursuing a hobby doesn’t always end there. Many people use their interest to change career in mid-life. For example, perhaps a person can go from being an indoor office worker to opening their own landscape gardening business.
Hobbies for both men and women can be emotionally, physically and financially rewarding. We never know where our spare time interests will take us or how they can empower us to improve our self and professional development.
Take a page from the Good Life
Perhaps the best example of turning hobbies and interests into a life-changing decision was demonstrated in the popular television program, the Good Life. Tom was fed up with his Monday to Friday 9 – 5 job in advertising and marketing and felt the need for a better quality of life. After his wife Barbara and he completed a pros and cons list, which included not liking his job and not wanting a job at all, they decided to go “off-grid” and become self-sufficient.
Who can forget the struggles, but the ultimate satisfaction of the two and the contrast between Tom and Barbara’s life of self-reliance and the more affluent lifestyle of their neighbours, Jerry and Margo.
Successful self-sufficiency requires competency in many disciplines, such as having skills in carpentry and building renovation, poultry, goat and pig husbandry, being able to grow fruit and vegetables for food and much more. These essential life skills can all be learned through distance learning which, unlike class college programs, allows you to gain the required knowledge and skills in your own time, at a pace that you are comfortable with.
How can a hobby become a career change?
A hobby skill can also be essential to put on your C.V., especially if your interest can be linked in an appropriate way to the job you are applying for. Employers like to know about an applicant’s hobbies and interests. If you can passionately discuss something that interests you at an interview, it can help interviewers gain a better insight into your personality and how you might bring that same passion to the job. For example, if you are a keen gardener and are applying for positions that relate to creating a better environment like, clean energy and sustainability, you can demonstrate that you care and have a genuine concern for nature.
So, where do your spare time interests lie? And how will you learn about them? There are three main ways to learn a new hobby.
1) You can “shadow” a friend or member of the family already involved in the activity.
2) You can read books on the subject.
Or
3) you can take an online course and acquire your learning with the help of expert tutors in your area of interest.
