Hobbies Connect Us With Our Inner Child
When we were young, our hobbies were structured—our parents provided us with all of the necessary tools to keep us busy for hours on end. Maybe we simply colored in a coloring book, played with puff paint, or helped our dad build a birdhouse. No matter the activity, small hobbies that encouraged creativity were a big part of our little lives.
As we get older, however, we don’t often make the time and space to simply create and lose ourselves in activities outside of our normal hustles. But hobbies allow for peace in our minds and allow us to release limiting beliefs about what we are capable of, so it’s essential to reconnect with our favorite creative pastimes. The key with starting a hobby is finding something that encourages attention and concentration and can be done daily, weekly, or monthly consistently.
Creativity comes in lots of different forms, and there are many activities that help us tap into the feeling that our younger selves knew so well. Below are a few hobby ideas that can help us disconnect from our screen-filled routines—and reconnect with our inner child.
1. Scrapbook your memories
As an early 90s baby, printed images were the only way to view pictures. As a child, I would collect my disposable camera prints and spend hours gluing them into a binder with stickers, sparkles, and cute titles that offered a glimpse into the memories that the images captured. Now that we have Facebook and Instagram, we have a digital scrapbook for the whole world to view. While that is wonderful in many ways, scrapbooking offers a way to intimately honor our memories outside of the noise of the internet.
Take some time to either print your favorite images from your phone or invest in an instant pic camera. You can get essentials like paint pens, stickers, and scrapbooking glue from your local crafts shop and have fun documenting your memories.
If scrapbooking is a new concept for you and feels intimidating, there are tons of resources and inspiration on Pinterest and YouTube. Allocate a Sunday afternoon, sprawl out on your living room floor and have fun creating a book that you’ll treasure for years to come.
2. Create your own flower arrangement
It’s easy to go to your local market and grab an already-made bouquet to display in your home. However, touching, feeling, and learning about plants while you put together your own bouquet is not only creative, but also a soothing way to connect with nature.
Start by deciding the color scheme and style you are going for with your arrangement. From there, research which flowers are in season. Many cities have wholesale flower markets that house in-season florals and a nice range of imported flowers as well. Going to the flower market is a great way to see a large variety of flowers—plus, they can be less expensive than retail.
Another option is to go to your local farmer’s market and purchase individual flowers from nearby sustainable farms that sell in-season florals. Before you go, check and see what vessels you have for the flower arrangements and how many bouquets you want to make. You can plan out your flower arrangements based off of the vases you already have in your home. This DIY wildflower arrangement tutorial is a great beginner guide to creating simple and stunning bouquets.
3. Tie dye everything
Circling back to my childhood in the 90s again, tie dye was everywhere. When I got a little older, I loved tie dyeing with friends in the summer and even into early adulthood I would tie dye my favorite cropped tees and shorts. I loved making a simple white piece of clothing into a work of art.
Seeing how tie dye is always a good spring and summer trend, I am thinking about getting back into this nostalgic hobby. However, I am using natural dyes and fabrics like linen, silk, and cotton to create more adult versions of my childhood wardrobe. If you are not so much into dyeing your clothing, consider dyeing towels, blankets, or tablecloths for colorful DIY home essentials.
4. Start a bullet journal
Bullet journaling means logging your life in categories like tasks, events, notes, months, days, and years. Essentially, you put all of life's details into a beautifully personalized journal. The original method was developed by Ryder Carrol, whose process is quite mathematical and logical, but his approach is a simple place to start when beginning to bullet journal.
Those who use bullet journaling creatively make it into an art that honors life in all of its tiny details. When made into a creative outlet, bullet journaling is a lot like scrapbooking, but more systematic and is used for daily, weekly, and monthly planing.
When I first discovered bullet journaling I was intimidated, but then I discovered how creative it can be. There are a ton of resources online that teach you how to get started in creating your own personalized journal.
5. Build and nurture an herb garden
As we continue to move into a technology-driven society we are becoming less and less connected with nature. Gardening is an incredible way to touch and feel the earth, along with offering a continuous reminder to nurture this planet. It is also an activity that literally grounds the soul and offers peace for our minds.
Start by designating a space for your garden that can be as tiny or as large as you want it to be, depending on what your space allows for. Plant only a few herbs to start with—this is important because it takes time to learn the right care for each individual herb. It’s also important to research which seasons are best for certain herbs and plan your garden accordingly.
Creating an herb garden is a wonderful way to step away from the distractions of life and truly connect with nature by touching and feeling the earth.
6. DIY Your Own Care Products
Making your own skin and beauty products is a great way to go zero waste, and it’s also an opportunity to minimize the ingredients that you put on your skin. There are so many different things you can create for your skin, it just takes research, time, and vessels to put your homemade products in.
In this TED Talk, zero-waste maven Lauren Singer discusses that one of the first things she did when she chose to go zero waste was to learn to make her own products. She made essentials like deodorant and toothpaste as a starting point, and when she ran out of a different product, she would learn to make it herself.
Start by considering what products you wish you had in your bathroom or products that seem too expensive to purchase, and instead of buying it, make your own! Maybe you want to have a night in and give yourself a face mask; create one made from honey like this one or a peppermint body scrub.
7. Customize Your Clothing
Customizing your clothing can be as small as adding a pin or patch to your favorite denim jacket, or as big as making your own dress. This hobby can also be as creative or practical as you want it to be, such as tailoring a pair of thrifted jeans or putting pom-poms all over a beret like this one from Oh Joy!
Elevating your personal style through adding customized details can expand how you use fashion as a form of creative expression. Maybe you have a cute dress that you wish fit your body a little more snug—add a belt or take some silk ribbon and tie it around your waist. Maybe you have a pair of jeans that you wish were a little shorter or a little more fringed—cut them!
When starting a hobby, make sure it doesn’t feel like a chore and instead something that offers the chance to expand your unique abilities and skills in a fun and creative way.
What are your favorite offline hobbies? Share in the comments below!
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Courtney Jay Higgins is the Associate Editor at The Good Trade. She is also a Yoga Instructor, vegetarian, wellness and fashion enthusiast. Originally from Colorado, her soul found California when she came to get her degree in Visual Communications at the Fashion Institute Of Design & Merchandising. She has a background in telling a story through writing, creative direction and content creation. Check out her blog and Instagram for her unique perspective on the mergence of fashion and spirituality.
