The Importance of Hobbies to Personal Growth

In today’s culture of busy-ness, it can be easy to think of hobbies as an extravagance or an indulgence.  However, hobbies are an important part of personal growth.  Learning a new skill, developing a talent you already have, and doing something simply for the pleasure of it benefits your brain, heart, and attitude.  Hobbies are good for your overall well-being.  If you’re not sure what this has to do with #familyhistoryfriday, keep reading!

The Purpose of Hobbies

My friend Lori Jackson from Choosing Wisdom wrote a wonderful article last year on hobbies.  In {“Why Should I Pick Up a New Hobby?”} Lori wrote:

"Too often we associate hobbies with people who have too much time on their hands when it should be the reverse.  Hobbies should be what we work to make time for. Anything that stretches us, gets us up and moving, and trying new things helps us mentally, physically and socially.” -Lori Jackson

She followed this up with a list of the benefits of hobbies, including:

• a mental break from stress
• a challenge to the brain as we learn something new
• greater positivity and lower depression
• connections with others, even if indirectly

Now that sounds pretty good to me!

And that's why this is true:

Did you know that {trying something new actually helps you be more creative}?  According to Fast Company, in {“7 Surprising Facts About Creativity, According to Science,”} “there’s a major neuroscientific basis for the link between openness to new experience and creative thinking.”  So if you want to be more creative, just try something new!

"You can’t use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have.”  -Maya Angelou

Your New Creative Hobby

What new hobby would you like to try?  Playing a musical instrument, gardening, and playing a sport are all great ideas.  What if, though…  

What if you could take up a new creative hobby that would serve additional purposes besides your own personal growth and satisfaction?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your hobby could strengthen family bonds, increase your kids’ self-esteem, and actually create lasting benefits for generations?  What if that same hobby increased your gratitude, reduced your stress, and increased your sense of purpose?

Here’s a hobby that {really does all that}.

Believe it or not, you already have all the components, so you just need a few tools.  Just gather together these ingredients:

• your photos
• your memories
• your computer (or tablet/phone, depending on how you do it)

Because photos can be overwhelming these days (since we take a gazillion of them), I have lots of ideas and resources to simplify things right here.  

You can take those three simple ingredients to learn a new hobby that is not only good for you but good for your family– now and for generations!  Everything you need to get started on your new AMAZING hobby is right here.  I've even got video tutorials so you can choose what fits you best, from fast & easy solutions to creative digital scrapbooking (both professionally printed at the highest quality there is)!

So are you ready?  Are you ready for a new hobby that gives you all the benefits of learning a new hobby as well as all the benefits of memory-keeping AND blesses your family for generations?

I thought you might be.

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This post was originally published at www.livegrowgive.org on July 13, 2018, by Jennifer Wise.

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