I am an eternal 80’s baby and I grew up watching The Simpsons. It’s one of my favorite shows. As a kid, my favorite character was Bart but as I aged and continued to watch, I began an affinity towards Homer. Who doesn’t like Homer? Though Homer has many flaws he has shown great caring, love, and even bravery to those he cares about. Although Homer works as a low-level safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, he mostly sleeps on duty and eats the donuts a lot. His hobbies includes spending a lot of his time at Moe’s Tavern with his lifelong friends Barney, Carl, Lenny, and bartender Moe. While at his home, he can often be found sitting on the couch mindlessly watching TV while snacking on food and drinking Duff. His hobbies are typical of many Americans… so what can we learn from Homer Simpson?
One, Homer does live in a productivity-driven culture but doesn’t feel phased by it. He has found a way to stay authentic to himself and find enjoyment in the activities he find enjoyable- even though they probably aren’t the best choices. haha It is no doubt that when stress and tension levels are very high it literally ruins our happiness and personal lives.
If you are facing a similar problem, then you will want to take up creative hobbies (aside from watching hours of mindless TV and eating delicious donuts) that can have a soothing and relaxing effect on your professional as well personal lives. Below are a list of 5 hobbies that can improve your mind, body and skill set and allow you to enjoy more of your life and be there for your family and friends, like Homer is there for his (even though he is the initial
cause most of the time).
Photography is the best way of improving your imagination. Perhaps, you can consider going on a small weekend drive or trip and click a few wonderful photos.
You would be surprised at your skill. All you require is a decent camera with a few features. Apart from that, you need some natural scenery or some creative ideas. This is a great beginner starter kit, low cost for entry, lots of tools and if great for fun personal and professional use.
Gardening….being in nature and the color green has a very soothing effect on the mind, body and spirit- ideal to bust stress. It stimulates the production of serotonin. That helps in relaxing your mind and body.
Whether you are living in a independent home or apartment, consider having a few plants, and spend time with them regularly. This is a great super-affordable beginner starter kit with both vegetables and flowers with a booklet to get you started on the right path. If you do decide to begin, think about an affordable green house.
I’ve been gardening for about 5 years now and I have many little critter invaders like groundhogs who seem to really enjoy my garden. But I have since found this really affordable stand up green house that helps a lot with this problem. Check it out here.
Writing and blogging are almost the same, the only difference being, you blog using your own personal website. Writing is considered as one of the most basic methods of writing down our thoughts. It is also a good mental activity as it keeps the brain active. Talking to yourself in your mind and writing down your thoughts is one of the best activities you can think of doing.
Blogging is a great way of making money and develop your writing skills. There are many freelancers who are earning decent incomes, working from the comfort of their homes. If you think that your writing skills are decent, then you will give it a try. Websites and bloggers will love to pay you reasonable amounts for your articles. Start your own blog free on many websites like blogger or wordpress.com, write articles for pay with fiverr or elance (or any other freelance site)or write lists for listverse which pays $100 per list. If you want info on various ways to earn money, this list I found is extensive and can be found here.
Drawing and Painting is considered as a massive stress buster. It is not surprising to note that in several prisons, drawing and painting is encouraged.
You draw what is in your mind. The feelings and emotions, everything comes out. No two pictures drawn by two individuals will be the same. You can either use the traditional method, using a paper and pencil or make use of technology and come out with masterpieces.
Amazon has tons of painting and drawing starter kits with helpful accessories and everything you need to get started in many price points. You can see more of them here.
Cooking and Baking… A few decades ago, only women would have taken this point seriously. However, today men too like to cook and contribute in the kitchen. It is not surprising to note that many people take to cooking to combat stress and tension. It is an activity that you can do as you please and come up with dishes of your own liking.
The same can be said about baking. These days, you will notice several chefs using the oven and microwave to cook food. That is because, it is healthy to cook that way, rather than use the pans full of oils. The whole concept here is to have the right appliances and equipment installed in your kitchen, which can make it a great place to not only cook, but relax with the family.
Perhaps, you can consider remodeling it, to suit your needs and get couple of dining chairs and a table. There are so 
many exciting dishes you can try out from online tutorials and forums. Make sure to do your purchasing from online stores as they provide genuine products with excellent discounts. With baking and cooking, the best thing to do is to get a cookbook or check online for recies and begin to keep a long of what turned out well, what did not and practice. Magazines and books are great. Amazon has many beginner cookbooks and aids from crockpot cooking to 5 ingredients or less to fancy h’dourves and full holiday meals.
I think Pinterest in the best when it comes to this. Pinterest makes it easy to find recipes and save them for later use. I typically will print out a recipe and try it. I keep notes on it and save in a recipe folder in my file cabinet. That way I can always go back to it without having to search the web for it. If you want to follow me Pinterest, and I hope you do. Click here!
Conclusion
As you can see, the choices are endless. It is not necessary that you have to choose from the above mentioned hobbies only. There are so many hobbies which you can come up with, that can really have a good effect on you. The whole idea of taking up a hobby is to reduce your stress and tension, which are in plenty.
