Having a Hobby, especially in this digital age, is veryimportant to your creativity.Hobbies are creative, refreshing and switch your brain off of work and into the endless possibilities of life.

So what are hobbies anyway?

So Wikipedia gives us this declaration: 

A hobby is an activity, interest, enthusiasm, or pastime that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation, typically done during one's own time.

So it would seem so easy right?  Just do it! Right?  Well I have found that picking a hobby, especially for a man--and especially for a person who has a family and is living in a city--it can be really hard to just pick a hobby let alone execute one.

Years ago I made soap. Yep, Fight Club innuendos aside, I got really good at and had a whole studio in the basement.  The house stunk to high heaven. Now though, I live in a townhouse in the city and don't have the space for a full on craft hobby.

I will tell you that all that pop psychology stuff you read about the benefits of a hobby are absolutely true.  When I was making soap, I felt creative, I was lost in the moment but still could think reflect on the issues I was facing in real life. It was an exhilarating feeling really, and one that keeps you in check.

So now I'm searching for the next big hobby.  My little or Passive hobby is raising orchids. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of seeing the blooms but it's not an active, get out there and go hobby.

Here's what I'll tell you works for me in choosing one.

First, it has to be something that makes you learn as you go along.  Even photography, really all the fine arts, make you 'learn as you go.'  Good hobbies for me are something you never really master no matter how much time you devote to it.  That's stimulating to me.

Second, it has be something you do in solitude. Not alone per se, but something that even if you're doing it in a group, you're focused on you.  So that leaves out team sports and other social oriented activities.

Third, it's something that makes you proud of yourself.  That's a pretty rare thing in this digital world. Somehow, whatever you do digitally has a lower sense of pride than something you can hold.  Maybe it's the fleeting nature of on-line.  Even You Tube stars are fleeting and their work gets buried farther and farther down the digital pile.  A tangible hobby doesn't really fall down that path. Painting, photography, knitting, etc all stay with you as move through out your home or when you visit folks whom you've given the fruits of your hobby to for their, hopefully, enjoyment.