#273 Hobbymaxxing

We explore hobbymaxxing as a practical way to reduce stress, build joy, and make life feel like it has real chapters again. We define what a hobby is, why it works on the brain and body, and how to start even if time and money feel tight. 

• Hobbies as privilege of time and energy 
• Separating hobby from job or passing interest 
• Journaling prompt to name what feels stressful 
• Intentional hobbies vs passive leisure like scrolling 
• Permission to be bad and still benefit 
• Research links to happiness and lower depression symptoms 
• Cortisol reduction through art-making and leisure 
• Nature time and micro breaks for mood and focus 
• Hobbies as a complement to therapy and professional care 
• Flow state as a mental reset and creativity boost 
• Social hobbies to reduce loneliness and build community 
• Long-term brain health through neuroplasticity and consistency 
• Starting with curiosity and making small time blocks 

Tune in weekly to Wellbeing Wednesday with Gurjeet Gill on The Universal Radio Network, 97.9 FM in Edmonton, or globally at www.theuniversalradio.com

IG: @theuniversalradio

Transcript

Welcome And Why Hobbies Matter

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to the Universal Radio Networks podcast. My name is Grigit, and in today's episode, we are discussing hobbies. Hobbies are something that comes to people with the privilege of time and sometimes excess money. So let's look at what hobbies are, why do they work for us? Why do we feel attracted to them? And how do we find hobbies that make us feel good? So all of this we're gonna discuss today. So today's episode is all about hobby maxing. Because if there's one thing I realized since I've graduated university, which was five years ago now, okay, not to age myself or anything. But five years ago, I graduated university, and one of my favorite things that I loved about university was just the random things that I got to do. Just the cool events, the wide breadth of people I would meet, just so many people with different interests, different hobbies, and just the energy and kind of that general tone of including everyone you possibly can to pursue the things that you find that are fun and interesting. So when I graduated university, I decided I kind of wanted to keep this whole side quest life of mine and just pursue variable interests. Every year it's felt like I've had a new career, a new interest, a new theme for that year. And it makes time feel like it's not just flying by me and I have no control over my life. It makes me feel like I have a say in what I get done in a month, what I get done in a week, what I get done in a year. And my life has these kind of defined chapters where I had my dragon boat racing chapter, my wheel throne pottery chapter, my reading chapter. All of these different hobbies that have marked different interests and life stages of mine have really stuck with me. And what's really cool about hobbies is that they're good for your mental health. They make you a more interesting, well-rounded person. They make you someone fun to speak with, they make you someone who can share information, and it just makes you a cooler person, let's be honest. So today we're talking all about hobbies. We're gonna talk about what makes something a hobby versus a passing interest versus an occupation. Can you get paid to do a hobby? Can your job be considered a hobby? We're gonna look at how hobbies affect stress relief, depression, anxiety, what makes them so attractive, why people are more drawn to different kinds of hobbies. A lot of stuff, really. And hopefully by the end of this, you've either defined that something in your life that you do already is a hobby or it motivates you to find one because the research backs it up, all right? Having a hobby is a wonderful, brilliant thing for your mental health, and I believe that you deserve it. So, one thing we also gotta do is start off with our journaling prompt. I want you to think about what is the most stressful thing for you right now. Something that's been on your mind lately, something that's been weighing you down, something that has just come up for you over and over again recently. It could be an off comment made by a friend, it could be a deadline that's got you more stressed than others, it could be an event coming up. And I just want you to sit and think about what makes that thing in your life so stressful. So now you might be thinking, Kerjit, this is a well-being Wednesday. Why are you forcing me to think about something that's sad and stressful in my life? And well, that's because all feelings deserve to be validated. Even the unkind ones, even the ones that we don't like that we think are a little bit ugly and undesirable, all those feelings deserve to be acknowledged. Have you ever procrastinated something and had this stress and anxiety of that daunting task just grow and grow and grow? And now suddenly it's not even the task that's so stressful, but it's the negative feelings associated with it that have just become so big, you're avoiding those instead. So we procrastinate. So I want you to think about that stressful thing, and I want you to think about what really makes it all that bad. Is it a deadline that requires you to speak publicly that you're not comfortable doing? Is it a conversation with a friend that made you feel unloved, uncared for, unimportant? Was it an off comment made by a friend or loved one that made you question who they are because you thought they were someone, but the comment was just really out of left field? Is it something that you thought you were good at, but now you don't feel as confident? So you're scared to even start or try? All of these things can be really, really negative. So I want you to really just focus on what's one thing that stresses you out and what makes it all that bad. Like, really, what is it at its core that feels so upsetting? And just sit with that feeling for a little bit. Think about it, embrace it, embrace all the feelings that come with it. The stress, the anxiety, the jealousy, the feelings of being unworthy, the feelings of being upset, angry. Just let them all flow. Something that doesn't or shouldn't make you feel stressed is a hobby. Hobbies are generally something that we do just for fun, not for anyone else, not because we're paid to, but just because it's something we want to do. And this is actually a question I asked a little while back as a journaling prompt. What was the last selfish thing you did? Something just for yourself, not for your work, or because anyone else needs to get it done, or anyone else asked you to do it, just something for yourself. So getting into hobbies, we're gonna talk about what they are, why they matter, why they matter more than we might think, and the science behind what the research shows about them and our the connection to our mental health. So most adults feel that they don't have time for hobbies, and that's honestly very real. Having the time and money and energy for a hobby is a privilege. It's not afforded to most. If you're not making enough money, you may need to pick up a second job. If your job is high-paying, it could be really taxing, in which case you don't have the energy for it afterwards. Or we're responsible for other people. We're caregivers to our parents, we're caregivers to children, and having the time for these extra luxuries like being able to sit and do a puzzle or spend an hour and a half driving somewhere halfway across the city, playing a sports game with their friends, and then driving half an hour back, like that's a privilege, the privilege of time. Most adults actually don't have hobbies because of this pressure of daily life, financial issues, work stress, responsibilities, and that is a very real problem worth addressing. And some people might say, Well, is it that hobbies improve your health and your mental health so much? Or is it because your life circumstances are so great that you have free time that of course you wouldn't have stress that everybody else has? Now, a question that people have asked me that I didn't even think was a question is what is a hobby? If you take your dog out for a walk because you have to, but also you kind of enjoy it, is that a hobby? If you really enjoy cooking, is that a hobby? What separates it from being something you have to do versus something you enjoy doing? And to that, I'm gonna just kind of simply define it as a hobby is any sort of activity that you do during your free time and you do it for pleasure. It's not for money and it's not for status, you don't gain anything from it. And the primary sense that you get is a sense of pleasure, and it's something you do semi-regularly. So people who say travel is their hobby. If they're traveling every three to four months, that's pretty regular. You're banking enough free time to do that. Some could argue that it is for status, you're certainly not making money while traveling, and that can be a hobby. I do kind of get a little bit judgy and kind of like draw the line when someone travels like once every two to three years and they say traveling is their hobby, because I'm I it just doesn't feel as regular as someone who says that running is their hobby and they go run several times a week. But of course, if that's the amount of time that it takes you to gain the money and the banked up work off hours, whether it be loot time or vacation days, in order to travel, then that two to three years is a regular amount. It's super variable. Hobbies can be creative, athletic, academic, or even more individualized. And what really matters most about it is that it's something that's meaningful and enjoyable. It can range from just being alone. If you do that regularly, it brings you pleasure. It can be sports, it can be travel, like I said. There is really no limit to what a hobby can be. For example, I once went on strike walking my dog because my family did not help take care of her but would love to overfeed her. So I felt really hopeless about helping my dog lose weight. And so I told my family I was going on strike, that if they refused to follow along with my rules, then I was gonna follow along with theirs, and they didn't walk her and they overfed her, so I wasn't gonna walk my dog. So my family had to start doing it. And a week went by without me walking my dog, and I was miserable. I didn't realize how much those walks became something that I needed to do. That brought me joy, it gave me, you know, at least half an hour of fresh air and sunshine and just move in my body. Even on days where I just feel so tired, I know I have to do it. It would still get me outside. It became a hobby, and I didn't even know it. There are some things that bring people joy, like watching TV or scrolling on your phone that's enjoyable. We do it regularly, we do it in our free time. Certainly doesn't bring us any money or status. However, it's a very passive leisure, and it can be a form of leisure that we're almost so disengaged from that we don't even notice it's happening. So quiet time can be intentional, reading is a little bit more intentional, painting, drawing, going outside, exercising, all that is a little bit more intentional than watching TV and scrolling your phone. And sometimes that's all you have energy for. But hobbies do require a little bit of interest, a little bit of passion. And if you're just passively scrolling or watching TV, then it's not as fulfilling as a hobby really could be. There's a lot of variety, and what's beautiful is you don't have to be good at it. It's a hobby, it's the whole point. If we give ourselves permission to be bad at things and learn and start anew, oh, that's when the hobby really starts to get beneficial. It teaches you resilience, it teaches you problem solving, and it's all coming from a place of intrinsic motivation and enjoyment. Now that really is something that we should think about when it comes to hobbies, is you don't have to be good at it. All right. There's so many different places in our life where we have to be number one, where we have to be the best, where we have to put in a hundred percent. But a hobby is not one of those places, okay? I have been climbing for five years now, and let me tell you, it's not like I'm amazing at climbing. I'm just good enough at it that I can go and have a fun time and come home without injuring myself or being too tired to walk the next day. You don't have to be good at it, you just have to be willing to try. And maybe you're not gonna be great on day one, that's okay. Maybe you're not great on day 365 either. But are you having fun? Are you winning, son? Are you winning by having fun? If the answer is yes, it's a great hobby. When we look at what the science says behind hobbies, there has been a little bit of research, and the mental health improvements are honestly pretty profound. There was a study done in 2023 that looked at over 93,000 people across 16 countries, and they found that those who had hobbies reported better health, more happiness, fewer symptoms of depression, and higher life satisfaction compared to those who didn't have hobbies. Now, something should be noted here. You know, it's not just feel-good fluff, like there are large-scale multi-country peer-reviewed studies on the concept of hobbies and how they improve your well-being, but it is really important to note that this is a correlation. So it could also be that people who have the free time and money to put towards hobbies just have a general better life setup. They could be of a higher socioeconomic standard, there's enough disposable income, enough disposable time, they're not constantly worrying about bills if they're able to spend, you know, an extra 70 bucks a month at a Brazilian jujitsu gym. That's a sign of wealth and health. There was another study published in this journal called Nature Medicine that used five large longitudinal studies, and that basically means they looked at people over several years and found that hobby engagement was independently associated with ferodepressive system symptoms and better self-reported health. Better yet, there was a scoping review done in 2025 that found three consistent themes in the research. So a scoping review looks at the existing literature on a certain topic to kind of bring all the information together for people. So we're not constantly, you know, putting out research, putting out research, putting out research, and no one's taking like a bird's eye view of what all that research is saying. So this scoping review found three consistent themes. One, hobbies reduce depression, anxiety, and stress. Two, they improve quality of life and well-being. And three, they build social connection and support. So it's pretty clear that hobbies do help with people's health. You know, there are signs pointing towards the privilege that comes with being able to do hobbies, but also the interest, you know. Like if we think back to our parents' generations or even the generations before then, it was all about work and anything considered as a pastime, or as they see people like to call it, a little time pass. It was just it was frivolous, like it was pointless. If you had time to do a hobby, that was time you could have spent working. So things were really different, and the attitude towards hobbies or hobbies are different. If I'm being fully honest, I didn't quite understand just how impactful hobbies were for me until this year. This year, I have been working more hours than I've worked in a very long time. I have been more physically tired and mentally tired than I have been in probably like three, four years. So it's not an unfamiliar feeling, but it's definitely a feeling I haven't felt in a long time. And when I went to my climbing gym telling myself that even with all my work, I still have to get out to the gym at least, the climbing gym at least, once a week. And I had to do that, otherwise, I would get bad at climbing, I would lose connections with my friends there, and I would just feel a lot of FOMO because I would see people post climbs and I'd be like, oh man, I want to try that. I want to try that so bad. So I'm heading there after working like something like 12 hours the day before. I've worked another eight today and I'm exhausted. I make the half an hour drive to get some food, get some food, drive to the gym, eat my food at the gym, talk with my friends, get ready to climb. And at this point, an hour has passed by. I only really have another hour to spend at the gym because I allotted myself two hours, but it's just it's just too good. Before I know it, suddenly I'm energized again. I'm ready to climb. I'm ready to talk to my friends. I don't want to leave. I got to the gym at 6 p.m. and I'm not leaving till 10. And I gotta get up for work at 6.30 the next day. So before I knew it, I was just having too much of a good time, and it was, you know, maybe not the best because I was losing sleep, but I realized how important that was for me. My stress just melted away. So cortisol is probably something you've heard about. If you've heard about hobby maxing, you're probably not far off of the group of people who talk about low cortisol, high cortisol responses. Anyway, cortisol is your primary stress hormone. All right, it does a lot, but hobbies bring it down. One study found that approximately 75% of participants' cortisol levels were lowered after making art. And this effect showed up regardless of how artistic the person considered themselves to be, whether they thought they fully identified with the term artistic, or if they didn't find themselves to be a very artsy person overall. Research also indicates that leisure activities contribute to lower blood pressure, reduced cortisol, and overall feelings of well-being. And this is where the magic happens, okay? Because not only are you doing a hobby, but if you do a physical hobby on top of that, like pickleball, running, Pilates, biking, climbing, basketball, these can all improve your brain function. While more relaxing hobbies like knitting, crocheting have been shown to reduce stress. Physical hobbies can be a way to introduce positive stress into your life. It's called U-stress. And what it does is it basically limit tests your stress response. So that way it takes longer for your stress response to activate than if you weren't physically exercising at all. Spending as little as 10 minutes in nature can lead to improved mood, focus, and overall well-being. So find a hobby that gets you outside, find a hobby that gets you moving. Some people have picked up bird watching in my friend circles. Some people have taken their notebooks and gone around their neighborhood and just sat and drawn things. So even just a short burst of a hobby, like a micro break, can boost productivity and reduce stress. So remember that stress relief isn't just psychological, it's not always just meditation. You can do other things to reduce your stress. Reducing stress doesn't always have to be a passive experience where you just do nothing. Don't do the thing that stresses you. Now, before I get too deep into how hobbies and depression and anxiety mix, I do want to say I am by no means a mental health professional. You should speak to your family doctor, a psychologist, psychiatrist about these matters before self-diagnosing yourself with 30 minutes of art therapy a week. Right? I'm simply just providing information that I can easily find publicly available online using my past experience with mental health, psychology, and the social working fields to take that information and make it digestible and fun for y'all out there. So depression and anxiety have become a little bit more common than they used to be, and that could be for a reason of things. One, because we're getting better at diagnosing it, two, we're getting better at talking about depression and anxiety, and three, life kind of is tough on us, and having words. To put all these feelings into really helps. And hobbies aren't a substitute for professional help or medication or therapy, but they can be a meaningful way to maintain good mental health. Some research on older adults has found that those without hobbies had significantly higher depression scores, laughed significantly less frequently too, and they also tended to be less physically active, which made them prone, which can make people prone to injuries and shorter lifespans. A larger multi-country study of board game players found that a quarter of participants had been diagnosed with mental health disorder, and they reported that immersing themselves in board games actually helped reduce their levels of stress and anxiety. And when we do hobbies, sometimes we can make them social. Adults who regularly participate in some kind of team sport are less likely to experience symptoms of depression, anxiety, or stress. And that's because being a part of a group or a team makes you feel connected. It gives you a circle of people to talk about your life with and to hear from others. It can be a really valuable thing. Now, hobbies are a really great complement to mental health treatment, but if someone is really struggling, you should always, always reach out to a professional. A hobby is just one of the tools in your toolkit that you can use to improve your mental health. Just like a physiotherapist or creatine or stretching is a tool that you can use to improve your physical health. Not just one of those things is gonna be the end-all be-all game changer for your health. Now, here's where it gets really interesting because when you're in a hobby and you kind of get sucked into it. So, for example, video games or drawing or making music, if you're a music producer, there's this flow state that just pops up out of nowhere. So this flow state is this like period of like extreme concentration where you're just so engrossed in an activity that you lose track of time, you forget about other pressures, and it's very mindful in the sense that you're practicing that focus. So this concept was initially developed by a psychologist named Mikeli Shiksenmihai. The name is a little bit hard to pronounce. I really hope I did it justice, but he is the one responsible for this concept. Now, this sense of flow is increased with happiness, creativity, and satisfaction. And when people engage in hobbies or passionate about, they often experience this flow state, and that can contribute to a sense of greater emotional well-being. Now, this flow state is really cool because it's something that pro athletes talk about experiencing quite often. And in the brain, like these creative activities that we do with hobbies affect multiple brain networks. These can improve focus, they can induce a natural relaxed state, and creativity can increase your sense of pleasure by elevating dopamine levels and stimulating the brain's reward center. So being creative feels rewarding. That output, that ability to think of new things and take existing ideas in your brain and model them in new ways, all of that becomes something really pleasurable and rewarding. So hobbies, games, and leisure pursuits are considered prototypic flow activities. They provide the kind of clear goals and feedback that help people enter that deeply engaged flow state. And what's really cool is that flow is essentially a natural free mental reset button. And hobbies are a great way to access that. Now think about an activity that's made you lose track of time. That can be your flow activity and lean into that. I've lost track of time while socializing and climbing. I've lost track of time while beating, while embroidering. I've lost track of time at the gym sometimes, where just two hours will float by and I feel like I've done not even enough of what I wanted to get done. So when we think about creative hobbies, think about painting, writing, music, knitting, photography, pottery, anything where you're sort of creating something. A review of research found that creative activities, including visual arts, writing music, and DIY projects, all carry documented benefits for mental health and well-being. So there's something called the art making effect, which, you know, not at all discreet about what it's referring to. The study in 2016 had participants engage in 45 minutes of art making, and they experienced significantly lower cortisol levels afterwards, implying lowered stress. And the key factor wasn't the quality of their art, but the act of the expression itself. Remember earlier I shared that people who didn't really rate themselves as being artistic were still able to see the benefits of art. And the truth is, like, remove this value of having to be good at something to do something. We don't have to be NBA All-Stars to play a game of pickup basketball. We don't all have to be Alyssa Liu in order to learn how to figure skate or even just skate. All right. Not all of us have to be what's his name? The guy who does the crazy like ultra marathons, David, David Goggins. We don't have to be David Goggins to go for a run in the river valley, all right? We don't have to be the best at something to enjoy it and get the benefits out of it. In 2024, there was this review that found music therapy is increasingly recognized as an effective intervention for managing things like anxiety, reducing PTSD symptoms, and supporting recovery from mental illness. There's also this added bonus of added neuroplasticity in your brain, where essentially by being creative, you're creating extra neuron connections, which can be really protective while we age. So nurturing creativity enhances that neuroplasticity, meaning the more you engage in creative hobbies, the more you benefit with just a straight up stronger brain. Alright, I can't make that up. You don't need to be an artist to do art, you don't need to be a musician to do music, you don't need to be an athlete to play sports or be physically active. Skill level doesn't matter, just your level of engagement does. So participate meaningfully. So we've talked a little bit about the loneliness epidemic and how, you know, things are kind of rough sometimes with people. You know, we've been heading towards a lonelier life and it's just been expedited by COVID. And hobbies is actually like a great tool to fight that epidemic. Research consistently shows us that hobbies help connect people, it helps build relationships and promote a sense of community. Taking part in different hobby groups can also provide social support and reduce loneliness and isolation. And there's actually several countries, including the UK, Japan, and the USA, who have been actually promoting hobbies as a part of mental health and well-being policies and public health campaigns. So when we think about hobbies, I always think about how beautiful it is to live in a place where even if you're making minimum wage, you can still live somewhat close to the downtown core with a roommate and be able to afford having a hobby. You know, it may not be the most luxurious of lives, it may not be the most income, but at least you don't have to pick up two to three jobs like you would have to in bigger cities like Vancouver or Toronto. And I think about this all the time, especially when I see what a brilliant, vibrant community. And we have so many artists who create graphic art, who create pottery, who do these beautiful murals. And we have so many people who are interested in different niche sports and hobbies all the time, and I think that's so unique. Social hobbies can include sport leagues, book clubs, knitting circles, community gardens, gaming groups, choirs or volunteering agencies. Social hobbies encourage communication and bonding, and this can all alleviate feelings of loneliness and depression. Even solo hobbies like being really into trading card games or video games or classes where you just show up, you do your thing and you leave. For example, if you're taking a piano class, it's just you and the instructor, but that is still a social connection. And you'll find other people also interested in trading cards. You'll you can go to events, you can go to tournaments. If you're really into video games, you'll find people online, or you'll be really interested in going to Comic-Cons or Expo, and you'll find friends to do that with, or you'll find friends there when you do go. So engaging in your hobbies is a great way to make friends. Mentioning like a board game night to coworkers and seeing if that's something that they'd like to do. I started with a multi-sport league, and we've gone on to do karaoke nights, we've gone on to do potlucks and Halloween parties and things like that. And it started off as something super low pressure, and it's become a great social outlet. And we have a built-in shared common factor, which is the fact that we're all part of this team. So if you're interested, you can join run clubs and you can join sports leagues, you could join Facebook community groups. If you're feeling isolated, joining a hobby-based group might be one of the most natural and sustainable ways to build social connection for longer-term connection. So as we shift our mood and stress by using hobbies, these actually have a long-term impact. It's not just a short term where maybe that day or that week we feel a little bit stressed. There's long-term impact on how our brains age. Going back to that neuroplasticity piece that we talked about, when you have creative hobbies, you're constantly creating new neural connections. And those serve as protective factors as we age. There's this super large cross-cultural study that found that hobby participation was associated with better global and domain-specific cognitive function. Not to mention, it also was associated with better self-rated memory. And these benefits were consistent across cultures. So even when we're looking at Western cultures where individualism and having independent free time is super important, we can also look at collectivist cultures where seeing hobbies as frivolous things or like time pass activities doesn't matter. It's still beneficial for our health, for our health. More stable, consistent patterns of hobby participation predicted better cognitive outcomes. Meaning it's not just about starting a hobby, but about sticking with it over time as well. So, for example, I don't know how healthy it is that I jump from hobby to hobby to hobby. Is this a consumerist action of my own? Is this me hitting a wall, not being able to push through? Who knows? I just don't have fun with it and I hope it shows me benefits when I'm older. There was also this meta-analysis done across 16 countries that found people with hobbies had significantly better self-reported health, greater happiness, and greater life satisfaction compared to those without. So, this is something that we talked about earlier on in the episode. There's also available research that demonstrates that older people who engage in creative pursuits are less likely to suffer from conditions like dementia than those who don't pursue creative hobbies. And it's never too early to start building the habit. Because remember, earlier we talked about it's not just about the level of skill, it's about being engaged, it's about doing the hobby, not how well you do the hobby. The payout is still there, the benefit is still there, whether or not we're world-class Picasso artists or if we're just getting started. Researchers encourage middle-aged and older adults to participate in activities that excite and bring them joy because the cognitive benefits are well supported and consistent across cultures. Hobbies aren't just good for your mood right now, they're an investment into your long-term health and brain health. I find that having a place to do hobbies also just makes us an easier, more well-rounded person to speak with and deal with. Oftentimes I see people putting all their eggs in one basket, whether that basket is their work or their family or their friends. It can be really challenging when things then don't go well for that one part of your life. If your whole life is about your family and then there is a death in the family or there's a disagreement, suddenly it feels like a large part of your life is falling away. If your work is your entire life and it's everything that you put your time and energy towards, there is no guarantee that your work will be around. You might be fired, laid off, your business could go under. There's just no guarantees. And now suddenly this thing that you've sunk 99% of your effort and time into isn't there anymore, and it can be quite devastating. So hobbies also protect in that way of providing you multiple things to be invested in. If everything is going wrong at the same time, then you got bigger problems in whether or not you have the time to paint. Right? Now, some people might feel, okay, you've talked so much about how great hobbies are. How do I start one? I don't have time, I don't have an idea what to start, so let's just think about it. So I would recommend starting with just curiosity. Don't go into it with the intention of, I'm gonna pick up this hobby and I'm gonna be great at it. Just go into it with what do I want to learn more about? Do I want to learn how to rollerblade? Do I want to learn how to ski? Do I want to learn how to swim? Do I want to learn how to use oil paints? Just try things without pressure. And think back to maybe what you enjoyed as a kid and see if there's something that you can pick up. If you took piano lessons as a kid and you like them, but you dropped them for some reason, maybe pick them back up again. The most important thing about hobbies is enjoying them. Find something that draws you into the present moment and find something that you can lose yourself in. For example, there's a pretty solid dodgeball scene in Edmonton. That's not something I would have ever thought about before, but hey, there's entire World Cups and nationals and provincials, and it's a whole thing. If you really like soccer, but you're not a competitive soccer player, then join a for fun league and find teammates that you really enjoy playing with and make you want to show up time after time. In the US, especially, there's like a big work and achievement culture, and I think that bleeds over to Canada as well, where people feel like they have to justify their leisure time and earn it. But making space for hobbies is almost like an act of resistance against this world's like hustle culture and just like go, go, go nature of always be working, always be making money, always be bettering yourself. If you're gonna do something, be the best at it, and just like run, run, run. It's this frat race. And being able to kind of pause and sit back and just be like, you know what? I'm gonna spend the next half hour reminding myself how to play guitar chords that I knew how to play as a teenager. And even just 20 to 30 minutes a few times a week can make a difference. So it could be something that you do during your lunch break at work, and you can use like some autopilot moments, like mornings where maybe you're sipping your coffee and just kind of watching TV. Maybe it's a half hour of phone time that you do when you get home from work before moving on to making dinner. Maybe it's the half hour before bed where you're scrolling on your phone or watching Netflix. Like there's plenty of points in our day where there is downtime, but it doesn't feel like downtime because we're choosing to occupy our time with something else. So always, always, always just begin with curiosity. Give yourself permission to be new at something, be a beginner, ask questions, don't feel embarrassed. You can try and find classes, groups, or online communities to make it social and to add an element of um what's that word, accountability there. And just remember that mental health professionals are mental professionals, and people who are like me who talk about niche topics within well-being are just that. We're trying to provide information, but we're not necessarily equipped to diagnose or provide you treatment plans. Like a hobby won't be able to fix everything, but it's a great way to maintain good mental health and use it as a buffer against some of those life stressors that come along the way. Hobbies also aren't frivolous, like time pass things. They're some of the most evidence-backed, accessible, and enjoyable mental health tools we have. So I just want to say, what's a hobby that you've been picking up? What's something that you've been putting off? And think about it and pursue it, and maybe let this be the motivation you need to keep rolling with that hobby. This has been Well Being Wednesday, and I have been your host, Scruji, and I'm just so excited because I get to go paint watercolors now. Thank you for everyone who has tuned in, and thank you for those of you who tune in regularly. You can stay up to date with our podcasts on our socials at the Universal Radio and stream us wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Grijet, and keep turning it up with us.