I believe everyone should have three hobbies to have a happy life. Hobbies, to me are activities you engage in separate from family, or work. They are things you do because you enjoy them. Studies have shown that having a hobby increases happiness and well being. They represent sacred spaces in our lives—deliberate choices to pursue activities solely for their inherent pleasure and personal satisfaction. In a world increasingly focused on productivity and purpose, carving out time for pursuits without external justification becomes not just enjoyable but revolutionary.
They are not ways to connect with your children or provide you with companionship. Those may be by-products but they are not the intent. While shared interests can certainly strengthen relationships and create meaningful bonds with others, true hobbies emerge from personal passion rather than social obligation. The joy experienced while engaged in these activities comes from within—an intrinsic reward that exists independently of others’ approval or participation. When we choose pursuits for their own sake rather than as vehicles for connection, we honor our authentic interests and create opportunities for genuine self-discovery.
Hobbies shouldn’t be things we do in spare or leisure time either. Who do you know who has spare time these days? Between work, kids, groceries, and all of life’s other obligations, the concept of ‘spare time’ feels almost mythical. Instead, hobbies should be intentional practices we prioritize and integrate into our lives because they nourish us. They’re not extras—they’re essentials that help us maintain balance, express creativity, and preserve our sense of self amid overwhelming responsibilities. When we reframe hobbies as necessary components of wellbeing rather than optional luxuries, we give ourselves permission to make time for them, even in our busiest seasons.
They’re not intended to make money as a side hustle, or make you more attractive in the job market. If they happen to, that’s great but that’s not the intent. In our hyper-commercialized culture, there’s increasing pressure to monetize every talent and commodify every interest. The “hustle mentality” suggests that any skill worth developing should eventually generate income, transforming leisure into labor and passion into productivity. This mindset diminishes the profound value of engaging in activities purely for enjoyment, personal growth, and the richness they add to our experience of being alive. While financial benefits may occasionally arise from our hobbies, allowing market potential to dictate our interests fundamentally undermines their restorative power.
Hobbies are activities you do regardless of ability or competency simply because you enjoy them. The freedom to pursue interests without concern for mastery liberates us from the performance anxiety that characterizes so many aspects of modern life. Unlike professional endeavors where expertise determines value, hobbies invite us to embrace the joy of being a beginner, to celebrate incremental progress, and to find satisfaction in the process rather than perfection in the outcome. This approach fosters a growth mindset that values curiosity and exploration above achievement—qualities that enhance our resilience and adaptability in all areas of life.
And they fit into one or more of three categories: mental hobbies, physical hobbies and creative hobbies. This triumvirate forms a holistic framework for personal fulfillment, addressing our multidimensional nature as thinking, moving, and creating beings. By cultivating interests across these domains, we nourish different aspects of ourselves and create a balanced approach to leisure that supports overall wellbeing.
The Synergy of Diverse Interests
While categorizing hobbies as mental, physical, or creative provides a useful framework, many activities naturally integrate elements from multiple domains. Gardening, for instance, combines physical labor with botanical knowledge and aesthetic design. Martial arts merge intense physicality with philosophical traditions and mindful awareness. Musical performance requires both technical skill and emotional expression. This natural overlap reinforces the interconnectedness of our intellectual, physical, and creative dimensions.
For example, yoga can be both the physical hobby and the mental hobby. The asanas and postures build strength, flexibility, and bodily awareness, while the meditative aspects and breath control cultivate mental clarity and emotional regulation. Keeping bonsai can be meditative and creative. The patient pruning and shaping requires focused attention that quiets the mind, while the artistic decisions about form and aesthetic composition engage creative faculties. Dance can be creative and physical. It demands cardiovascular endurance and muscular control while simultaneously offering a medium for emotional expression and artistic interpretation. Hobbies do not need to be strictly one type or the other, and if they overlap categories then that is great.
By cultivating hobbies across these categories, we create a balanced portfolio of interests that can sustain us through different life stages and circumstances. When physical limitations temporarily prevent active pursuits, mental and creative hobbies provide fulfilling alternatives. During periods of intense intellectual demand at work, physical and creative activities offer necessary cognitive rest and rejuvenation. This diversity of engagement ensures that we always have meaningful options for leisure regardless of external constraints.
In fact, these multi-dimensional activities often provide the richest experiences precisely because they engage different aspects of our humanity simultaneously. Playing a musical instrument, for instance, combines the physical dexterity required to manipulate the instrument, the mental challenge of reading music and understanding theory, and the creative expression of interpretation and emotional communication. Similarly, cooking integrates sensory awareness and physical technique with both scientific understanding of ingredients and creative flavor combinations. These integrated experiences create a sense of flow—that psychological state of complete absorption where time seems to disappear and self-consciousness fades away.
The integrative nature of many hobbies reflects the fundamental interconnectedness of our mental, physical, and creative capacities. Despite our tendency to compartmentalize human experience into discrete categories, our lived reality is far more unified. The satisfaction derived from activities that bridge these artificial divisions may stem from their closer alignment with how we naturally experience the world—not as fragmented domains but as a continuous, integrated whole. Perhaps the most fulfilling hobbies are those that remind us of this essential wholeness.
The other thing to note is these are not necessarily things you are really competent at. This point cannot be overemphasized in a culture increasingly obsessed with excellence, optimization, and measurable achievement. The value of a hobby lies primarily in the experience of doing it, not in the expertise developed or results produced. When we approach leisure activities with the same performance orientation that characterizes professional pursuits, we rob ourselves of the freedom to explore, experiment, and simply enjoy the process regardless of outcome. Thinking of your own life, what hobbies do you have and are you missing any of the categories?