On December 31, 2019, a simple manifesto from a Kashia Dunner went viral, racking up over 100,000 likes and 3,000 retweets:
I feel like my generation lost hobbies.
Everything doesn’t have to be a hustle, side hustle, or money making enterprise. sometimes it’s just fun to do something because it brings you joy, peace, relaxation, or allows you to be creative.
Let’s rediscover hobbies in 2020.
Kashia Dunner
Apparently, Kashia isn’t the only one who’s feeling the burnout of the constant pressure to perform, produce and “slay” in every moment of the day.
I, for one, agree with Kashia. It’s time to rediscover hobbies. So in case you need more convincing, here five reasons that YOU need to cultivate a hobby in 2020:
1. Hobbies create brain space.
We live in an increasingly frazzled and fragmented world, and as it turns out, that does not help human beings thrive. Having a hobby allows for the kind of focused attention that actually helps your brain relax from the demands of your to-do list. Recent studies have shown that cultivating hobbies even decreases your risk of late-age dementia.
2. Hobbies catalyze connection.
Loneliness is now considered an epidemic, with studies showing that lack of social connection is as damaging to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. We all struggle to maintain friendships–or to discover them in the first place. Hobbies create a common ground, a reason to gather, something that creates those first (or continued) conversations that are necessary for real connection. Perhaps best of all, most hobbies require using your hands–and putting down your phone, which we don’t need a study to prove to us is necessary to actually become friends with a human being, not the avatar on your screen.
3. Hobbies unlock creativity.
The link between creativity and well-being has been extensively researched, with evidence “that people report being happy and energized when they are engaged in everyday creative endeavors, and that being in a positive mood goes hand in hand with creative thinking.” (read the whole article here)
What’s even better, the positive effects were measured for everyone, regardless of whether the person considered themselves creative. That means that all of us left-brained, list-driven, “non-artsy” folks need a creative outlet as much as our clearly-artsy counterparts. And flexing our creativity muscle in a safe place like a hobby might just allow us to bring more innovation and problem-solving to our work (another benefit of hobbies)
4. Hobbies help you cope.
Because hobbies not only creative positive emotion in the moment, but actually have carry-over positivity, they support our well-being in a way that scrolling instagram simply cannot (and has actually been linked to increased levels of anxiety and depression) Cultivating hobbies build resilience and help us cope. Your ability to create a world to invest in that’s based solely on your enjoyment of the craft is a powerful inoculation against an increasingly anxious and depressed culture.
5. Hobbies don’t keep score.
In a world that literally seems to run on likes, retweets, performance reports, and metrics, hobbies simply don’t. Hobbies don’t care if you work on them for 15 minutes or an hour, if you spend time individually or with other friends, if your painting looks amazing or it looks like crap. Having a space where you are free to experiment, to fail, to erase and try again, is just essential for our souls. More than anything, it’s something to call your own regardless of the response of your real or virtual world. And that’s worth investing in.
Let’s make 2020 the year of the hobby. Are you in?
In honor of the great 2020 comeback of hobbies, I’ve joined together with a few of my most delightful & creative friends to bring you re:creation, a one-day hobby exploration on 2.22.20.
This is a safe, no-judgment, beautiful environment for trying out some new hobbies, or learning new skills in some things you already enjoy. You’ll leave with some beautiful things and a renewed sense of joy and meaning in simply allowing yourself to be you, no hustle required.
In order to allow for plenty of individual attention, we’ve limited this to a very small group so don’t wait on your ticket. Can’t wait to see you ❤️
