What Makes Hobbies So Cathartic?

Why is this harmony in life important?

The pressure of continuously upping the ante in performance and efficiency for the assigned tasks at workplace will keep following you. In this frenzy, it can be very easy to get so deeply immersed into work that you might get oblivious to the essence of living life. With your mind obsessed about work round the clock, it can get clouded with thoughts that prevent you from breaking free and thinking differently leading to suboptimal performance.

In order to maintain the harmony, hobbies can aid in adding some spice to your life by taking your mind off the work and easing out the stress. As a result, when you return to work, your productivity and mental horsepower is improved, thus helping you lead a happier life.

What happens when you choose a hobby?

When you take part in a hobby, which naturally interests you, chemical messengers in the brain – also known as neurotransmitters, are released. One of the chemicals known as dopamine helps us get a feeling of pleasure, which motivates us to return to that hobby every time our mind feels the need for some change. This wilful engagement could involve anything that brings joy and peace to the mind – something as simple as singing or going off to hiking for the weekend.

Practising a hobby also implies building on a skill making it important to ensure that the skill you are honing, helps you not only switch your mind off from work, but also challenges you to a certain extent. Just to state an example – A professional cricketer during his or her leisure time would not engage in playing gully cricket because it is achieving neither of the objectives mentioned earlier. There needs to be a balance of skill and challenge, while pursuing a hobby, in order to achieve a state of 'flow' as depicted below:

Source: Positive Psychology.com , https://positivepsychology.com/flow-activities/

The model above – known as 'The Flow Quadrant Model', will give you a clearer picture. The objective of this model is to engage yourself into an activity – in this case, a hobby, to a degree that helps you achieve a state of 'flow'. This state of flow is necessary because if the skill level needed and challenge posed by the skill are not optimal, there are high chances of your mind falling in either of the other zones like boredom, apathy or anxiety – all of which are suboptimal in giving your mind a break.

In conclusion, work plus hobby creates a well-rounded life. It makes you more interesting and adds a different perspective to things around you. Additionally, it helps develop new skills, increases confidence and self esteem – all of which will feed back into your work life in a positive manner, which assuming all of you are enjoying.

Soak yourself this weekend with something you love.