With the new year coming in, you may want to start up a new hobby or learn a skill. Adding various hobbies and activities to your life is enriching. Not to mention, having a pleasurable hobby is a positive way to relieve stress. One study even shows that engaging in a hobby lowered up to 75 percent of the varied subjects’ cortisol levels, which are directly connected to stress.
With these benefits in mind, it makes sense that you may feel even more compelled to choose a new hobby that works for you. Continue reading for a few fun hobby ideas and skills you can bring forward into the new year.
Engage in some outdoor activities.
The correlation is clear that being in nature is good for your health, especially for your mental well-being and cognitive health. For this reason, you should consider starting a habit of getting outside in some capacity every day. The good news is that there are a variety of activities available no matter what your preferences are.
For example, if you live near a beach, then you could enroll in surfing lessons. Surfing is a fantastic way to get outside in the natural elements and learn a skill that’s both challenging and rewarding. However, not everyone lives near an ocean. If this is the case, you could try trail bike riding or go rollerblading in a nearby park if you’re up for more of a challenge. With a little bit of practice, you’ll have expanded your surfing, bike riding, or rollerblading skills in no time.
Consider starting an exercise routine.
In addition to the previously mentioned outdoor activities, you could also start a new hobby of working out. Try your luck at weight lifting or cardio classes for an incredible physical and mental challenge. If these exercises are too strenuous for your liking, then something more relaxing like yoga might be a better fit.
Whichever physical activity you prefer to take on is up to you. What’s important is that you attempt something you never thought you’d try. In turn, you’ll surely impress yourself and create a habit that your body will thank you for.
Enhance your beauty skills.
Maybe you want to expand your horizons by enhancing your beauty skills. This might mean that you’d learn to cut, color, and style hair. A great place to start when wanting to expand your knowledge in this area is to look at beauty school programs that will help you learn, develop, and master cutting and styling hair.
More often than not, these beauty programs also offer the option to teach you other skills in addition to hairstyling like cosmetology. By engaging in the different programs that beauty school has to offer, you’re guaranteed to pick up new skills that will take your styling and makeup application talents to the next level.
Try your hand at something artsy.
Finally, an easy hobby to indulge in is some kind of artsy activity. One place to start is with painting. Order yourself some acrylic, oil, or watercolor paints and the necessary equipment. Some of this equipment includes paintbrushes, paint pad paper, or canvases.
Remember that starting a new hobby like painting isn’t always easy. Keep in mind it’s not always natural to be a painting wiz after your first piece of work. Plus, just because you don’t know exactly how to paint, doesn’t mean you can’t create some incredible art.
When in doubt of where to begin, simply look up easy paintings for beginners on Youtube. Many videos offer step-by-step walk-throughs that will guide you through start to finish so you can show off your desired painting. In no time, you’ll be proud of the painting skills you’ve discovered.
