Life can be hectic, and stressful. The chaos can often take over all of our time and become overwhelming. To combat this problem I needed something that I could do for enjoyment, but while attending university I didn’t want to invest my time in something that was just entertainment. If I was going to invest time in it I wanted to get something useful out of it. My goals were to stay in shape, learn something new, and have it be useful for the rest of my life.

My hobby became the pursuit of fitness.

    I was able to avoid getting burned out while working 2 jobs, starting a business, taking classes at 2 colleges, driving 300 miles per week and sleeping on average <4 hours a day all because I had something that brought me joy, kept me calm, and improved my body and mind.

   Now in my 30’s, it’s provided me a lean physique, an outlet for my stress, protection against illness, resilience in the face of life’s many struggles, and will never cease to challenge me to learn and grow.

Here’s a list of what making fitness your hobby will provide you

• Better mental and physical health
• Improved movement and resilience against injury
• An outlet for stress
• Fun and ever-evolving challenges both mental and physical
• Personal accomplishments
• Belief in your ability to improve yourself
• A social circle of driven individuals who support you
• A physique you built
• Positive habits that improve everything in your life

   I get it, sometimes it’s just nice to binge watch Office episodes (I do it too), but binging on mindless entertainment is like binge drinking or binge eating. It’s a behavior to try to bring easy happiness but it comes with a host of problems.

   I highly recommend you make fitness your hobby. Use it to develop new capabilities and build positive habits for productivity and personal growth. I encourage you to find something that can provide you evolving challenges so the hobby grows as you grow. Though fitness as a competitive sport isn’t for everyone, fitness as a hobby is.

   Making fitness my hobby has helped me make incredible friends, kept me in better shape at 32 than I was in college, challenged me to keep learning, taught me to ask better questions, kept me from wasting a bunch of time on mindless entertainment, and helped me build a lifestyle I enjoy. I can walk on my hands, lift heavy objects, climb over obstacles, and show up kids 10 years younger than me (occasionally).

All in all, I can’t think of a better use of my time to enjoy my life.