20: How to Find a Hobby You Actually Love (Even If You Think You Don’t Have Time)

If you're a woman feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or simply disconnected from what brings you joy—you’re not alone. In this episode, we’re talking about how to find a hobby that fits your lifestyle, fuels your creativity, and helps you feel more like you again.

Whether you're a busy mom, a working woman, or in a season of rediscovery, I’ll walk you through:

• Why hobbies are essential for women’s mental health
• How to choose a hobby that fits your personality and time limits
• What to do if you're scared to try something new

It’s never too late to start something that lights you up. It not will only make you feel good but build your confidence too!

Get your FREE HAPPY HABITS GUIDE BOOK

 ✨ Perfect for women on a journey to feel stronger, happier, and more grounded — inside and out. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hi, I'm Laura Orlando and welcome to the Build Strong Women podcast. I believe as women that we are the role models for the next generation of girls. So how do we become the best role models for these young girls? We work hard to become the best version of ourselves, whatever that means to you. It's not easy. It takes work. It takes learning, trying new things, falling down and getting back up again. But that's what we do on the show. We dive deep into how we can grow on the inside. We will learn from women that are on the same journey as us. Just trying to become the best version of themselves. Let's learn together, build our confidence, learn to love who we are so that we can teach the next generation of girls to grow up to be strong and confident women. Hey guys, before we jump into the episode, I'm excited to share something really close to my heart, my happy habits guide. If you've been craving more clarity, more joy or happiness in your life, this is for you. This guide isn't about fixing yourself or adding more to your already full plate. It's about creating small intentional habits that gently support your mental, emotional and physical well-being. No overwhelm, no hustle, just simple shifts that help you feel more grounded and connected to who you really are. If you're ready to start showing up for yourself in ways that feel good and not forced, the Happy Habits Guide is your invitation. You're not alone in this. I'm right here with you. So make sure you head to the show notes to download this free Happy Habits Guide. Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Thank you so much for being here and tuning into this week's episode. I hope these podcast episodes are helpful for you and they really bring you joy. They teach you something new and they just help you feel better inside. All I want is for women to feel good inside themselves, to love them and to really live being the best version of themselves or on the journey to becoming the best version of themselves and to hopefully share this with the kids in your life, your daughter especially, so that she can grow up loving herself and watching her mom really have confidence and really do the work that it takes to become the best version of who you want to be. So this episode is a really special one because it all was sparked by this quote that I heard from this amazing podcaster this is probably one of the first podcasters I've ever listened to I'm obsessed with podcasts now but when I first started diving into podcasts and listening to them I was kind of on my journey of personal development and growth and just trying to figure out like what is this all about and one of the first ones that I heard was Kathy Heller and she had a podcast it was called don't keep your day job she has a different podcast now she changes the names but it is a great one she's very inspirational She just kind of, you know, speaks from her heart and it is so wonderful. And she really taught me a lot about how to just really come into who you are so that you can live with purpose. And she had this quote that she said that was the opposite of depression is not happiness. The opposite of depression is purpose. And when I started thinking about how I wanted to talk about helping women, you know, find something that gives them purpose and it kind of took me back to really trying to find a hobby in your life or something that just fills you up and makes you feel good. You have to have purpose in your life. If you don't have purpose in your life, then you're just kind of going through the motions and living a life that really doesn't have this strong connection with anything. And having a purpose really helps us connect with ourselves and it can help us reduce stress and improve our confidence and everything like that. So I really wanted to dive into finding a hobby or something that brings you purpose in your life and the powerful benefits of finding a hobby and how it has so many benefits besides the skill that you might be learning or trying or doing. It really has to do with building confidence in yourself, stepping outside of your comfort zone, and doing something for you that brings you joy and helps you feel good. So no matter what it is, it doesn't have to be like a creative and artistic thing. Sometimes people think like hobbies. Well, I don't like to paint. I don't like to draw and things like that. It absolutely does not have to be anything with a creative background. It can be things that have to do with gardening. It can just be reading. It can be immersing yourself in just into something that brings you joy and it just gives you a break from your everyday life and all the pressures that are around you. I absolutely love listening and finding out what people find joy in. I think it's so interesting what people really want to do in their spare time or in their life even if that hobby creates a side hustle for you that can be something that is a hobby like this podcast and everything that I do here is very creative for me I love being creative and really kind of stepping outside my comfort zone and doing things like that I have wasn't always like that but I have learned to really step outside my comfort zone and things and this really brings me joy it lights me up it makes me feel good it gives me purpose in life this whole thing brings me purpose this podcast brings me purpose it makes me happy I love doing it so you really have to find something that makes you feel good and yes I starting this podcast, this business, everything that I'm doing here, I really had to develop these new skills. It really got me outside of my comfort zone. And it really helped me to build this sense of accomplishment in my life. And I really found that when I started focusing on the progression of all of this, and oh my gosh, if I think back to all the things that I've learned to do on my own by just YouTube and reading books and listening to podcasts and everything, it's amazing. And that's what personal growth is all about. It comes with trying new things and learning new things and stepping outside of your comfort zone and just being curious about what's around you. There are so many benefits of finding a hobby or a purpose in your life that you keep going to. And your purpose doesn't have to be the same thing for your entire life. It can change. You might be a little curious about something and say, hey, I want to try that. Go and try that. And what it does, it really improves your self-esteem and your confidence if you're just doing the same things over and over like you come home you just watch tv you're bored and you don't really have a purpose in your life you're going to really kind of feel down on yourself you're not going to feel like you're accomplishing anything or trying anything new or you're never stepping outside your comfort zone and when we step outside our comfort zones we grow and we never want to stop growing even when i'm 80 years old i hope that i am trying new things and growing and learning new things as well. So when I talk about finding a hobby or a purpose in your life, and I really want you to understand that this can build your confidence and it isn't about the skill that you are going to learn like, oh, I want to learn how to sew, I'm going to learn how to sew, and then I'm going to feel confidence. Absolutely not. It is a way of seeing yourself while you are doing this hobby. What are you doing? You are stepping outside of your comfort zone, you're learning something new, you're falling down in your getting back up that's what happens it has nothing to do with anyone else it will boost your self-esteem and your confidence because you are trying something new that you didn't think that you could do. You are seeing yourself in a whole new light. And when you invest in your hobbies and a purpose in your life, you will learn so much about yourself. You will start to learn to trust yourself more. You'll be a lot braver in your life. You will step outside of your comfort zone so many more times. And you have to step outside your comfort zone to build your confidence. And I want you to remember those signs of things. So I really want to talk about how you can find a hobby in your life that really fills you up on your journey of life and wherever you are in your life. I don't care if you're 22 years old or you're 63 years old. You have to have something that you love to do that makes you happy, that fills you up and makes you feel good. So I'm going to share some tips with you so you can find a hobby that you love. If you're sitting there thinking like, I don't like anything, there's nothing I want to do or try, that's okay. We all have to start somewhere. We're going to dive into some questions that I want you to ask yourself so that you can find the right hobby for you. It's all about you. I don't care if the girl on Instagram has this insane hobby and if you don't do that, you're not going to be fulfilled. Absolutely not. You have to do what's best for you. So that's what we're going to dive into first. So what I want you to do first for finding a hobby or a purpose in your life is I want you to really think about what interests you now. What kind of sparks your curiosity and gets you excited? Are there other things for you to do? from your past that you used to do. Think back to when you were younger. Think back to your younger self. What are the things that you used to do and you're like, you know what? I really liked doing that. Why don't I try that again? It could be something that you've done in the past or it could be something that you really are interested in. I've always wanted to learn how to be a better cook. Both of my sisters are amazing cooks. They're awesome at it. Maybe I took on a little bit more of baking because I love sweets, but I really want to learn to make really good healthy meals for my family so that I can have people over and cook something and not feel like oh my gosh is this totally disgusting. So that is something that interests me that I have been trying to do. So about once or twice a month I'm trying a new recipe getting outside my comfort zone that I have found on Pinterest. I absolutely love Pinterest for new ideas and I will find a recipe that's brand new that I think my family will like and I will make it. So that has become a little mini hobby for me and it's been really fun and I'm starting to learn more and more about how to cook. And I'm finding these recipes that everyone likes, that my family really loves, and I'm kind of creating this stockpile of dinners that I can go to over and over again. So you really have to find something that interests you and kind of just sparks that curiosity. Maybe you're curious about something that you saw on Instagram. Maybe that's what you need to try. So start taking inventory of the things that really spark your curiosity. Okay, the next thing I want you to do is I really want you to explore some new things that you have never done before yes I talked about things that you used to love in the past or what are some things that are really new for you back when my daughter was younger in middle school and I really wanted to find a way to connect with her we started doing these adventures together that's what I like to call them and that's kind of how I got my name for my business was gracious adventures because my daughter's name is grace we started doing these adventures where we would sign up for like a class online and we took a painting class we took a hand letter hand lettering class we went and did like clay things she's very creative so I wanted to find some creative outlets for us that we could do together and learn we never did hand lettering before we never did chalk art before but we took a class together it was a great bonding experience and we both learned something new it got us both outside of our comfort zones and we were trying new things together we were exploring we were messing up we were falling down and getting back up again it was really great when we were trying these new things. We were tourists in our own hometown. We just did so many things. We baked these different things. It was just really fun to come together and explore new activities. And I was hoping that maybe she could find something that lit her up and made her feel good inside. And now I have to say, we took these hand lettering classes. She has beautiful hand lettering. I always tell her she should do something with her lettering because now she doodles and practices and she has this great skill that It was all formed from us trying these different activities together. It's really, really cool. So finding something new that kind of gets you outside of your comfort zone and even if you wanted to do it with a friend, that's really cool too because it builds that connection together. So the next thing I want you to do is I want you to start really small and I want you to remember that. I know that you might find something like, yes, I'm going to do pickleball and I'm going to do it five days a week. Okay, absolutely not. You have to just... Find something that you like to do or you are curious about and just kind of dip your toe into it. Watch some YouTube videos. Read a blog post on it. And that's kind of what I did back then in the day. I don't even know what year this was. I was really interested in learning how to decorate flowers. cookies with royal icing. I was so interested in it. It really sparked my curiosity. I loved watching videos of people doing it. I'm like, I want to try to learn how to do that. So I kind of just dipped my toe into it and I started watching videos. I started reading blog posts and things like that. And it was really cool how I started from just watching some videos to actually buying the supplies and creating these cookies. And I actually started creating cookies for other people. And it was really fun. And I wouldn't have ever done it if I wasn't brave enough to just, you know, okay, I'm going to start really small. I'm going to watch these videos, read some blog posts, learn what I can. I love learning new things. And I started doing it. And now I know how to decorate cookies with royal icing. And it's very time consuming. And it wasn't a hobby that I absolutely loved. So I really didn't continue to do it. And I have to be honest, my kids don't even like cookies like that, which makes me want to cry, but that's okay. And, um, but it wasn't that enjoyable for me but I did learn something new I stepped outside of my comfort zone I messed up a million times and I learned so much from that so what I want you to understand is that when you find a hobby I really want you to try to find something that's really fun and really lights you up and it's not about being so perfect and what is cool is that if you find a hobby that you try and you don't like it guess what you don't have to do it anymore if you absolutely hate it it's just like the whole thing with my cookies I didn't love doing it the whole process and no one in my family really wanted to eat them so it was like okay I'm not really gonna do this anymore it didn't bring me joy so I didn't want to do anymore I moved on to try to learn something else so you really have to figure out okay what brings you joy and you have to enjoy that process because anything you try that's new especially it's going to be a journey you're going to have to learn new things you're going to have to really Let go of any expectation of being perfect because you're not going to be perfect. You're going to have to improve. And remember that this is a journey about... Figuring out what brings you joy, what lights you up, and it's really going to grow your confidence and who you are as a person because you know what? You're stepping outside your comfort zone and trying something new. And yes, it might be uncomfortable a little bit. That's okay. I want us to understand that stepping outside of our comfort zone is normal. That little feeling that we get in our stomach where it's like, oh, I don't want to do this. because it's hard or I'm scared, that's an okay feeling. If it's a feeling of, oh, I don't want to do this hobby anymore. It's so boring. I can't stand it. That's okay. Bag it. Find something else that you like to do. You don't, you aren't going to love everything that you try. And that was what was so cool about the adventures that my daughter and I did together. We didn't love everything that we did and that was okay. It was just about discovering and trying new things and getting her to step outside of her comfort zone because there were many times where we were doing the that hand lettering granted she was in middle school but she would break down a little bit because she felt like she wasn't doing it as well as the person that was teaching she was judging herself she was trying to be so perfect and one of the times we really had to stop and then come back to it at another time or another day because she was trying to be so perfect and it's not really about the end result it's really about prioritizing feeling good does this make me feel good does this bring me joy that's what I want you to focus on when you're trying to find a hobby. And the last thing I want you to remember when we're trying to find a hobby or a purpose in our life is that we have to make time for it. I'm a full-time teacher. I have this podcast and all this other stuff that I do with my kids. And if I'm not intentional about making time for the things that bring me joy and light me up, I'm never going to do them. Life is too crazy. So you have to really prioritize your interest in your hobbies and your purpose in your life so that you can have this creative outlet so that you can reduce your stress and you deserve this time for yourself. You need to make time for yourself and the things that you enjoy and the interests and the curiosities that you have because finding a hobby isn't about just, oh, I need to find things to do because I'm so bored. No, it's about helping yourself grow as a person and helping yourself feel better. It's about being creative. It's about stepping outside your comfort zone and finding things that help you feel good, that help you with your mindset and that can help you grow your confidence and your well-being and just about it's about being happy you need to find things that bring you joy and it's not just about everyone else in your life it's about something for yourself and even if that's just one hour a week that's okay you have to know what season of life you're in but also you have to prioritize your well-being your mental health your mindset and finding that joy in your life and And remember, I don't care how old you are or what you have going on in your life. You deserve this time. You deserve this purpose and this hobby in your life. And I think it's the coolest thing that we can learn something new, no matter how old or young we are. We can grow no matter what. And I hope for the rest of my life that I'm always continuing to grow and to learn new things and exploring and being adventurous because that's what life is all about. And I want the same for you too. So I hope this episode was helpful. I hope that you can find something that lights you up, that makes you feel good. I hope that you step outside your comfort zone and try something new. And if you do, I want you to message me on Instagram and tell me something that you are going to try. Step outside your comfort zone, try something new. What sparks your curiosity? What are you going to go try and do? Maybe you're going to love it. Maybe you're going to hate it. Okay, that's all right. That's all part of the journey. You're going to learn what you love. You're going to learn what you hate. You're going to fall down and you're going to get back up again and that's what growth is all about and that's what i want you to do i want you to find something that brings you joy because remember as kathy heller said the opposite of depression is not happiness it is purpose and having something that you enjoy doing maybe it's not every day, but a couple times a week or even a couple times a month, you need to find something that brings you joy and lifts you up and makes you feel good. And just being curious about it and telling yourself, hey, I'm going to find something that I really like to do. I'm going to find a hobby that I like. I'm going to find some kind of purpose in my life. And it doesn't have to be this groundbreaking thing. It can be very simple and easy. It doesn't have to be this creative adventure. It can be just like going on a hike. It can be anything. I like to hike that's what you can do and that can be your hobby whatever it is I want you to go and find it and I want you to have fun with it and don't put so much pressure on yourself it doesn't have to be perfect you're not going to be perfect the first time you try something and that's okay I want you to remember that it doesn't mean it's not for you it just means that it is new so I hope you have a wonderful day and if you loved this episode please share it with someone that you know share it on your social media share this podcast with someone so that I can continue to grow this podcast and help as many women as I can because that is my mission. And with every episode, I want to end it with an affirmation to help you with your day and to hopefully help you with your week. And that affirmation is, I am open to exploring new passions that bring me joy. I hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you so much for being here and tuning into this week's episode. And I will see you on next week's episode.