Title: Six Reasons to Get a Hobby | Psychology Today
Headings: Six Reasons to Get a Hobby
Jaime L. Kurtz Ph.D.
Six Reasons to Get a Hobby
You're really not too busy.

Content: And, sure, we all need to veg out from time to time. But we are so much more invigorated by active leisure, the sort of thing psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls flow activities. If you’ve ever lost yourself in a sport, art project, or other challenging, absorbing activity, you’ve experienced flow. Time flies, self-consciousness disappears, and you are fully immersed in the activity at hand. Hobbies, especially those that stretch our skills, foster this desirable and increasingly elusive state. Hobbies can foster new social connections. While some hobbies are solitary endeavors, many get us out in our communities, meeting people we otherwise wouldn’t, sharing our passions, and forming new bonds. Countless studies have found that social connection is a key component of happiness and a meaningful life, and hobbies have the potential to create precious new ties. Hobbies make you interesting. Hobbies give you something to talk about at parties and around the water cooler.