As we head into a much needed break, some might be looking for a new way to relax and enjoy the time. A way to relax is finding a hobby. Hobbies can consist of something creative, athletic, academic, or even reading, cooking, and painting. Finding time for something you love can help eliminate factors that may cause a decline in mental health. 

Connect Health & Community, an organization committed to the safety and well-being of children and adults, says that pursuing and engaging in a hobby can exponentially improve a person’s mental health. 

According to Connect Health, “people with hobbies are less likely to suffer from low moods, stress, and depression.” 

They can be a good way to unwind from a person’s daily routine that can be stressful. Going to school or work for eight hours or more every day, or doing loads of homework, even studying for long hours, and possibly going to practice every day for two hours, are stressful and overwhelming for a person so having a hobby that helps unwind will help. 

Junior Leslie Gonzales has been crocheting as a hobby for about a year. 

“Crocheting really does help my stress and can always be soothing and relaxing,” said Gonzales.

For her, crocheting has been something she realized has helped her mental health because she is able to relax from her stress. She considers it a good hobby to get into because of how calming it can be and can free her mind from stress. Stress can come from anything like work, or homework, and even sports. 

While people might give up on hobbies that take up too much time, Gonzalez finds time to incorporate her hobby throughout the day.

“I used to bring my crocheting things in class and would work on it during any free time I had in class,” said Gonzales.

Gonzales found time in her daily life to do her hobby. To find time to do hobbies in one’s daily life can be hard but one can schedule a time or make a planner, and even find a friend with the same hobby to do together. 

English teacher and Insight adviser Phoebe Chao has been cooking for a while and now loves to invest in the hobby of cooking. 

“I got into cooking because I’m a wife and a mother… Cooking does take up a lot of my time, but…When I start cooking I get into a zone and I zone out for a while,” said Chao.

Being a wife and mother can be stressful, but having the hobby of cooking has helped that stress, not to forget being a teacher. Having a hobby to spend a long period of time on can help ease the mind because it will be taking your mind off overwhelming thoughts. 

As someone who took a while to develop a hobby or even get bored of hobbies rather quickly, I think hobbies are a good way to zone out and relieve stress. Overall when people dedicate time to voluntarily engage in pleasurable activities, research shows our mental health can flourish.