Turning a hobby into a true leisure activity hinges on one critical feature: freedom of choice. When we get to choose how we engage with a hobby, it can become more than just another pastime or pursuit that can still elevate stress and muddle enjoyment. When we get to choose, it can become a source of joy and well-being, with a host of both emotional and physical benefits.. 

“Ideally a hobby allows you to explore—new people, new skills, new ways to think—and also allows you to escape the stressfulness of your thoughts,” Matthew Zawadzki, associate professor of health psychology at University of California, Merced, tells InHabit. “If we felt we had to live up to a norm on how to do a hobby, this would put us right back in school or in the workplace where we find ourselves doing things we don’t like and may doubt ourselves.” That’s not freedom. 

More than just a pastime

In the world of hobbies—or as Zawadzki once called them, self-selected leisure activities—it’s the freedom to find rest and pleasure that really brings benefits. Paul Hanel, senior lecturer in the department of psychology at University of Essex, tells InHabit it’s exercising this freedom that can lead to everything from a higher rate of happiness and sense of control to fewer depressive symptoms.

When exploring a self-selected leisure activity (okay, let’s just call them hobbies), it’s important to find something to give a sense of meaning and purpose, whether that’s through social interaction with others in a volunteer organization or community group, or an activity that brings enjoyment, spurs creativity or encourages physical activity. 

The science behind the joy

“When we take part in a hobby that we enjoy, chemical messengers in the brain, known as neurotransmitters, are released—such as dopamine, a chemical which helps us feel pleasure,” Ciara McCabe, professor of neuroscience, psychopharmacology and mental health at the University of Reading, wrote in a paper she shared with InHabit. “These feel-good chemicals can then make us want to do the hobby again and feel more motivated to do so.” 

Hobbies are about more than feel-good chemicals in the brain. Zawadzki notes that hobbies can help us manage stress levels, create social connections, develop new skills, cultivate a sense of creativity and allow our body to physically decompress and relax. “Even when we think of the ability of hobbies to reduce stress, that can mean a lot of things,” he says. “One of the findings from my research has been that they help get us out of our heads and stop all the thinking about stress, like worry and rumination, that actually seems to be what makes us sick.”

“Hobbies also give us a chance to create new social bonds and avoid isolation and loneliness that can be so dangerous as we get older.”

This research is further supported by the fact that hobbies have proven to be important at any age, especially during transitions through different roles, like becoming a parent or primary caretaker, or after moving or retirement. “In all of these situations these hobbies allow us to keep understanding and exploring who we are,” Zawadzki says. “Hobbies also give us a chance to create new social bonds and avoid isolation and loneliness that can be so dangerous as we get older.” 

The balance between structure and freedom

For all that good to come, though, we need to understand the value of choice. “Hobbies should be about personal enjoyment and preference,” Hanel says. “Autonomy is very important. When people feel pressured to conform, they are less likely to find their hobby fulfilling.” 

Every hobby has its own world, with people passionate about the activity. Some of those people may try to impose rules or guidelines to tell others what a hobby should look like. For those looking to start a new hobby—or a first hobby—it can be a bit daunting. We may worry about failing or wasting time and money on something we end up not enjoying. Having rules at the beginning may provide benefits in allowing us to dip our toes in the world of a hobby to see how we feel, and it can also give us a “sense of control in a moment of uncertainty,” Zawadzki says. But once through the initiation period, that hobby needs to be open enough to allow personal desires to lead the direction of our pursuit. 

“In general, it would be good to pursue hobbies that we enjoy and to pursue them in a way that fits with our lives—our availability, our skill and engagement levels, our ability to financially commit,” Zawadzki says. “But sometimes we don’t know what will make us happy, or maybe we don’t know how to start a new hobby we are intrigued about. The people we are close with sometimes know us better than we know ourselves and can be our guide. They can give us encouragement and the needed boost to try something new. It is about the balance between being challenged to try something versus feeling forced to do something we might not want to do.” 

we need to treat our hobbies as a path to well-being the same as if we were given a prescription to take

Feeling guilty and “wasting time” 

There can be an element of guilt that some may feel when engaging in hobbies, whether pressure placed from family or friends who think you’re wasting time, or from within yourself a feeling of not being productive enough. In a recent study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Zawadzki says he’s finding that in some cases the guilt puts so much stress on people it is almost better not to do leisure activities at all than to do them and feel guilty about it. “We feel stress from the guilt and feel depressed on the days we don’t feel we have been productive enough with our time,” he says. “So, we need to treat our hobbies as a path to well-being the same as if we were given a prescription to take.” 

We unlock the true benefits of hobbies when we have — and exercise — the freedom to engage, explore, and pursue leisure the way we define it,

Zawadzki believes that for a hobby to truly bring a sense of release from the stressful world, it should be systematically different from a workday task, chore or the other things we are required to do regularly. “In fact, when I define leisure for participants, I ask them to think of activities that are non-work and non-chore activities that they freely choose to do,” he says. “This separation from work is needed, as work and chores are often a source of stress in our lives. We need ways to disconnect and to explore other aspects of who we are, which hobbies let us do.” 

We unlock the true benefits of hobbies when we have — and exercise — the freedom to engage, explore, and pursue leisure the way we define it, enjoying ourselves and improving our emotional and physical well-being along the way.