It is winter, and we are officially in the midst of the weeks before break, which are crammed with tests, and will soon be approaching the weeks after break, which are spent stressing about finals. I am racked with stress and piles upon piles of work and often find myself going to my bedroom immediately after school to lay down and doom scroll on TikTok. After a long and strenuous day, I thought it was the perfect release to recharge myself to begin on homework. I noticed that my eyesight was getting worse. I wouldn’t start my homework until the late hours of the night, and I felt lazy, almost as if I was paralyzed in front of my screen. The longer the break I took on my phone, the harder I would work later, right? News flash! That was actually just called procrastination, and I was spending hours on my phone contemplating starting my work with my face glued to my screen. 

As the temperature outside changes with the different seasons, my mood changes along with it, and I feel slower and lazier with the cold weather. However, one day after school, rather than immediately going on my phone, I listened to music and decided to start a puzzle. I spent hours working on this puzzle; I didn’t have to use my brain one bit, my eyes didn’t hurt and I wasn’t as tired. The puzzle wasn’t as addicting as scrolling on my phone for hours at a time, so I naturally got bored of it, and that made it easier for me to start my work. I don’t know what urged me to start the puzzle because I am not usually a fan, but it reminded me of all the joy my hobbies bring. Having a hobby is important for all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons. Now, after school instead of scrolling on my phone for hours on end, I work on one of my many hobbies: crocheting, doing my nails, art, drawing, sewing, softball, cutting my hair, making jewelry, journaling, film photography and piercing my ears.

I’ve had these hobbies for a while, but I thought I could only work on them during the weekend because I had to focus on school work during the week. I soon realized that was not the case. I strongly recommend taking up a hobby because the benefits are amazing. Having a hobby is proven to improve mental health and, in my opinion, is one of the best ways to relieve stress. Don’t get me wrong, I still love going on my phone and scrolling from time to time, but when I put the device down, I feel like I have more hours in a day and am also less tired, less stressed and more social. Having a hobby can create personal connections. At first I thought this was ridiculous, but I have since realized that I have started so many conversations over hobbies like crocheting, and even strengthened existing friendships.

Finding the perfect hobby is hard, but don’t be afraid to experiment. For outdoorsy people, there is hiking, running or rock stacking, and for people who would rather be cozy, there is baking, reading and movie watching. Hobbies don’t have to perfectly align with a person’s lifestyle or aspirations; it can simply be anything that sparks passion or relieves stress. So I suggest taking up a new hobby and finding out the benefits!