Top 10 Hobbies that can help you with Depression
9 mins read

Top 10 Hobbies that can help you with Depression

Come what may do not ignore depression! I repeat, do not ignore depression.

At some point in life, all of us have looked for signs of depression. It isn’t something to be embarrassed about. I am saying this because realising your state is absolutely necessary. If we don’t realise that we are depressed, we can never get back to our former, happier lives. There has to be a moment of realisation followed by the application of a set of strategies that would reverse the depression. The World Federation for Mental Health has called it a ‘common disorder that presents with depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, decreased energy, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, and poor concentration.’ Its symptoms include anxiety. On becoming chronic or recurrent, the person’s ability to take care of his/her responsibilities becomes impaired. And, what makes it extremely alarming is that it could lead to suicide!!!

So, delve into any of the hobbies mentioned below to snap out of your depression:-

10. Run for your life
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“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

― Christopher McDougall

Running, my friend has numerous benefits and trust me when your life is in danger, you have to make a run for it. Depression is that danger. Running adds on to your life qualitatively. It not only prevents heart disease, but also helps you gain confidence. When in doubt or in stages of self-reflection, put on your headphones and go out for a run. When in a park, you could even try running with closed eyes and feel the wind banging against you. It’s like flying and closest to freedom. Running will help you take off your mind from extraneous subjects.

9. Swim and remain buoyant
Young Girl Swimming Underwater

“Water was something he loved, something he respected. He understood its beauty and its dangers. He talked about swimming as if it were a way of life.”
― Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Move that lazy body of yours and hit the pool. If there’s a shortcut to bliss, this is it. Besides making you feel upbeat at all hours during the day, you’ll also gain a beautifully sculpted body. The resistance offered to you by water enables you to work harder inside water than outside. When you’re at a pool, you are usually not alone. This way you could meet more people as well.

8. Dance to get addicted
Young women having fun dancing at nightclub

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

Don’t need a club or a fixed set of conditions to dance. You can dance at all times and everywhere. Once you begin tapping that foot of yours, you can never stop. You’ll be dancing to the beats of life and with a smiling face. When you’re home, put on some loud music and just dance. Move your body freely and let go of yourself. Dance brings in happiness into your life. You could also try learning a new dance form; this would be a big distraction. You could also join Zumba or Aerobics classes. I can’t think of anything else that is more fun to do. After all, aren’t we all dancing to the same music called life?

7. Read someone else’s life
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“Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.”
― Gustave Flaubert

Oh don’t ask me questions about this one. Reading allows one to move into another situation. You simply won’t remember your miseries any more. The idea is to keep busy and divert your thoughts and reading does exactly that. We mustn’t get too involved in our own lives because we tend to complicate it. Reading offers us another life to be read. Why not indulge into another life and get a taste of it?

6. Write to tell your story
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“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Sometimes it gets really hard, but we have to go on right? Pen down your thoughts, not necessarily in a journal format but do it. This is particularly useful when you have no one around to speak to. The diary in this situation could indeed be more useful than your friend.

5. Travel for change
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“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”
― Anita Desai

You do need change. Change from your tiresome lives especially in today’s world. In a world where every penny counts, we push ourselves toward the precipice. And, only when we are inches away from falling down, we realise that all the work is taking a toll on our body, mind and soul. But there are several occasions when we are not in such a terrible situation and still we feel so. Travelling is your escape and your realization. If on a bad ride at home, you’ll get the much needed break. Otherwise you’ll learn to appreciate all the advantages you have at home. You’ll value what you already have and you will also learn to adapt. This is not some sort of forced adaptation, you will see yourself naturally transforming.

4. Play music that calms
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“Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes. “A magic beyond all we do here!”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Music brings you tranquility. You could listen to music anywhere. Plug in those earphones while on the move, or play some soothing music after work. Music therapy has been used to counteract depression. Playing musical instruments also helps one vent out damaging emotions and thoughts.

3. Puzzle solving
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“Why should things be easy to understand?”
― Thomas Pynchon

Exactly. Life is a puzzle sometimes very easy to solve and too complex at other times. But this doesn’t imply that we stop solving it. Ask those who wrack their brains after reading the morning newspaper. Reading is not the end for them. They get down to solve the puzzles, crosswords and Sudoku present in the paper. Solving puzzle is something is a dying phenomenon today and we must re-ignite it. Puzzle solving is a brilliant way to take off your mind. It whets one’s intelligence and also makes you happier. Who doesn’t feel accomplished after solving a puzzle. We are born to feel great, and not be suppressed by our own thoughts. So, gravitate your energies toward puzzle solving and your life won’t be a labyrinth anymore.

2. Add colour to your life
Happy woman paint wall at home.

“If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.”
― Vincent Van Gogh

For me painting is no different from writing. Both are remarkable in nature. The next time you feel that you can no longer put up with the your surroundings, sit in front of a canvas and just paint. Another fun thing could be painting your room. A thing as simple as changing the colour of the walls of your room could do wonders to your life.

1. Bring in some adventure in your life
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“Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers

Nothing comes free of cost. The cost in this case would be the dangers that come along with adventure sports. However, what would the adventure be in it if it didn’t have risks. To list a few are rafting, bungee jumping, trekking, sky diving, scuba diving, and paragliding. Not all these are too perilous. Anyway, most of these perils lie in our thoughts, for they are the most dangerous. Why must we only be adventurous when young? Get out of that thought bubble. Your age depends on what you do. All you need is a little adventure to age backwards. You can undo anything, from depression to the life you didn’t want.

We have everything we need, we have ourselves and we can do anything we want with it.