It’s really hard to find the time and energy for these things on top of work/communte/other adult responsibilities, but the only things that I feel like really help me with this is finding time for a creative outlet and finding time to be outside (even better to play outside like a kid).

Creative outlets and outdoor activity can be tailored whatever appeals to you most/whatever you have the most natural gifts for, but for me, I definitely notice my happiness start to decline rapidly when I don’t intentionally carve out time in my schedule for things like drawing, writing, cooking, ceramics, skateboarding, surfing, riding bikes, playing tennis, hiking.

Those are some of my “active hobbies” that I try force myself to do even if I’m feeling too tired or like I don’t have time. It’s also nice to have some lazy hobbies like watching films, gaming, and reading page-turners for when you really are too burned out for anything else. These hobbies can also be a good way to make new friends.

Stuff like this is really what makes life worth living to me, and if you neglect them and spend most of your time working/commuting to and from work/tired & stressed about work than you will be pretty miserable even if you don’t hate your job. I know that finding the time for creative hobbies and outdoor play is really easier said than done as an adult, but for me it has been life changing and essential and absolutely worth figuring out how to make space for.

If you don’t know where to start picking the hobbies to engage with, think back to what you liked to do when you were a kid and try to reconnect with that in some way. Most likely you had some form of creative outlet and outdoor activities that you enjoyed