New Year, New You: 5 New Hobby Ideas

The year’s closing signals the end of another chapter in life and allows us to discard all worries that the previous year brought in favour of looking forward to new beginnings. Sadly, the promise of a new year also brings out all the ‘do-gooders’ on our social media, re-posting inspirational quote after quote and spouting the iconic ‘new year, new you’ mantra. However, this New Year, instead of endeavouring to make new life aspirations and goals, set yourself apart from the typical New Year’s crowd and challenge yourself to something more enjoyable and fulfilling, such as taking up a hobby.

Hobbies are small pleasures in life that allow you to escape the monotony of day-to-day existence and help you discover life outside of work and your family. As well as being fun, hobbies can also do wonders for your mental health and have been proven to reduce stress and symptoms of depression or anxiety. Hobbies can also introduce you to a new social circle, in which you can make friends and help you discover skills that you previously may not have known you had. So in preparation for the New Year, we’ve created this list of exciting new hobbies that you should consider taking up to see the New Year in the right way.  

Aerial Fitness

Particularly beneficial if you’ve come from a gymnast background, you could consider taking up aerial fitness as your New Year hobby. So long as you’re not afraid of heights, aerial fitness is a wonderful hobby for those looking to improve their strength and active flexibility.

As an umbrella term, aerial fitness encompasses many different apparatuses and classes, so you don’t have to commit yourself to just one style or instrument if you don’t want to. You could choose from aerial hammock/sling, aerial silks, aerial yoga, pole fitness, aerial hoop/lyra, and many more, a perfect newfound hobby if you’re the type of person who’d like a break from the average gym workout.

Golfing

If you’re someone who enjoys being outside, then golfing would be the perfect hobby for you to take up in the New Year. As well as being therapeutic, golf is a predominantly social sport, so you can expect to make a variety of new friends at your newfound hobby. Or, if the idea of joining a club by yourself intimidates you, you could try and convince some of your friendship circle to participate alongside you.

Golf is also wonderful for aerobic exercise and improving fitness, another standard New Year’s resolution, as the courses can be vast. Plus, you’ll have the added weight of pushing around a golf cart to consider, so make sure to have your pedometer handy! Help yourself get into the spirit of your new hobby by treating yourself to some golf wear from J.Lindeberg Golf, a leading brand in golf wear that is functional and keeps you looking stylish as well.  

Online Gaming

Arguably one of the nation’s most popular hobbies, gaming is an incredibly favoured pastime for people of all ages and has been scientifically noted to increase our reaction reflexes. On the market today, you can find hundreds of various consoles and games for purchase, ranging from retro to handheld to computer or television-based consoles.

Gaming is also an extremely social pastime, as most games enable you to play single-player or multiplayer. So it allows you to invite friends and family around to join you, or you could join in-person and online communities to share tips, skills, and opinions. Plus, with the advancement in online gaming, you’ll never be without a companion, as you can find players from all around the world at any point of the day. 

Writing or Blogging

Have you always enjoyed reading books or online blogs? Why not consider taking up writing or blogging in the New Year? As well as being a wonderful outlet for expressing thoughts and feelings or sharing life experiences, writing or blogging is beneficial for maintaining stress levels and coping with mental illnesses. Not to mention that creating your own content or writing platform enables you to create a community where you can share ideas, interact with like-minded individuals and receive feedback on your content.

Building an online community will allow you to see which elements of your writing readers enjoy and where you can improve parts, boosting your confidence and growing the popularity of your work. In order to get started, use website building platforms such as Wix, Medium, or Squarespace, some of which allow you to get up and running for free or by paying a small, monthly subscription. If you require more tips and advice to get your blog/writing space started, you could look at internet, start-up guides for inspiration, and tech advice, with the help of which we’re sure you’ll have your new hobby set up in no time.

Candle or Wax-Melt Making

A rapidly growing hobby as of late is making your own candles or wax melts, the latter of which are straightforward to make at home with ingredients that you can source readily at your local craft store or online. Plus, due to the diversity of the hobby, you will more than likely never make the same product more than once due to the range of candle and wax-melt-making products you can purchase, such as different moulds, scents, colours, shimmers, and glitters.

Albeit, this hobby will take some trial and error before you start making good-quality products, but so long as you have the patience, you’ll soon pick up the skills needed to succeed within this pastime. Once you’re satisfied with the products you’re making, you could even take your newfound hobby one step further and turn it into a small business. Sell your creations to your family and friends and at local craft or community events or retail them on online shop platforms such as Etsy, which will generate a generous amount of money for you on the side.