Seven hobbies to help you escape the mundane 

A hobby is for life! Today when our daily life schedules are jam-packed, we can cultivate a new hobby or rekindle an old one for an escape from the usual hustle-bustle.

Here are top seven picks which can be imbibed as hobbies for rejuvenation:

1.  Learn a new language

Learning a new language can give you an edge in communicating with new people and approaching them with a confident stride. Being a multi-lingual helps enhance your personality too. With a diverse populace in Singapore, it’s an effective hobby to pick-up to be on top of things in today’s challenging times. Research shows learning a new language makes you smarter, more decisive, and better at speaking your native tongue. Check out some language courses here.

Brownie points: Learning a foreign language makes you more observant and helps you ward off dementia. 

2. Tickle the ivories

Music surely is a stress-buster. Make time to take out your guitar from the closet and play your favourite tune. If you’ve always wanted to learn to play the piano…now is the time! Playing a musical instrument, such as guitar, piano, ukulele, violin or any other, can increase cognitive development in children and adults. In addition, it develops eye-hand coordination and fine-motor skills. A research by the University of Montreal shows that musicians tend to be more mentally alert and have improvised long-term memory. 

Check out the following places for music lessons:
Aureus Academy
Drumstruck
Seimpi School of Music

Did you know: Playing a musical instrument raises IQ by seven points, in both kids and adults.

3. Read to expand your horizon

Enter the realm of stories that take you afar and open your mind to a brand new world. Reading is fun and more than just a pleasant pastime. You can connect to other bibliophiles and share books, participate in book reading sessions and discussions. Reading books helps sharpen your comprehension, keeps your mind focussed, and enriches your repertoire of words. Wondering how to start reading? Begin by reading local authors or if you find reading paperback too tedious, listen to your favourite authors. 

A brain-booster: Just like exercising gives your body a workout, reading makes your brain workout.

4. Ride the waves

With water activities opening up for public, you can choose to hit the waters as a hobby. Go surfing, kayaking, wakeboarding, diving or stand up paddle boarding. Learn to play a new water-sport while spending a day out with your family and enjoying the blue waves. Take easy lessons and start riding!

Motivation enough: To burn those calories and improve your mental health through water recreational activities. 

5. Grow your own garden

Cultivating plants is considered healthy for your mind and body. Age is no bar to start developing your own garden. Not only does it let you produce veggies, fruits and herbs of your choice, it also helps you connect better with nature. You can choose from the vibrant flowers or ever-green plants or try your hands on composting.

Why gardening? Studies have proved that gardening helps you stay away from depression and helps lower blood pressure. Stay healthy as it reduces cholesterol levels in blood. Share your gardening tips in the ‘Green Living’ interest group in CapitaStar@Work and build your community.

6. Volunteer your time

Volunteering has multiple benefits. Where it facilitates utilising your time productively and giving back to society, it also helps you gain varied life experiences. You can also combine volunteering with one or two of your other favourite hobbies and create a super-hobby! For example, do you love to cook? Why not volunteer to make some delicious dishes on a weekend and share them with seniors at the old-age home? Or read aloud to the occupants of the nursing home close by? Animal lover? Try volunteering here.

What’s in it for you? Volunteering enhances your levels of happiness, contentment and brings in more emotional stability. Got a story to share? Post it in the ‘Acts of Kindness’ interest group in CapitaStar@Work and inspire someone else to pass it on! 

7. Get clicking

One of the most popular hobbies of all times is photography and it improves with time. With smartphones and Instagram accounts, photography comes easy to all. It lets you look at life from a different angle and puts your creativity to use. All it needs is an eye for capturing the right moment and the right equipment. So, grab your camera and get clicking!

What’s different? You can turn ordinary into extraordinary and present things around you as more than they appear to be.

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