5 Hobbies to Revitalize Your Self-Care Routine
Updated by Cratejoy Editor
"Why am I burned out? Because I’ve internalized the idea that I should be working all the time."
Writer Anne Helen Peterson went viral this January with her longform exploration of generational burnout in Buzzfeed, "How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation." But burnout – a feeling of overwhelm from endless to-do lists with seemingly little reward -- isn’t limited to Millennials.
Constant connectivity, and the subsequent exhaustion, affects all of us in 2019. According to Wired , Gen Xers spend more time on their phones than 18-34 year-olds, and Medium reports that Baby Boomers spend 27 hours per week online, most on social media. The same technology that helps us stay connected with the people and ideas we love makes it hard to disconnect.
And as our workplace model shifts from the traditional 9-5, leave-work-at-work office job to something more fluid, featuring remote work, constant connectivity (and the expectation that employees will answer emails and texts even on nights and weekends) and the relentless hustle of the gig economy, the work-life balance is a struggle we’re all dealing with, whether we like it or not.
Enter the solace of the hobby.
"No matter how good you are, no matter how intense you are and no matter how much you enjoy your job, stepping away relaxes the mind and gives you a new perspective," Jim Bird, CEO of worklifebalance.com said to the Miami Herald.
In a world that emphasizes keeping busy, it can be hard to give yourself permission to hold still. When you engage in a hobby that’s clearly not related to your work, you can scratch that gotta-be-doing-something itch, but still feel like you’re stepping away from the daily grind and giving yourself some much-needed stress relief.
