The Importance of Hobbies: Adults Need Fun Too!

Often, I feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to do the things I need to do, let alone the things I want to do. Last year, I read the book “4000 weeks : Time

Management for Mortals” by Oliver Burkeman. And I learned, that there literally is not enough time to do everything – so we need to prioritize what we do with our time. That may mean, making choices to prioritize your happiness above other items on your to do list. This is a bit of a paradigm shift: because it’s easy to feel like downtime is wasted time.

But here’s the truth: hobbies aren’t a luxury. They’re an essential part of a healthy,

balanced life. Hobbies are an important part of life, and provide richness that we can’t get from work or family time alone. Research consistently shows that engaging in enjoyable activities can support your mental, emotional, and physical health. Hobbies can offer us so many benefits: stress relief, improve cognition, and connection to other people community. Hobbies contribute to your self-identity, and your joy : and I’ve found through my patients that the average adult doesn’t engage in them.

I put together a list of hobbies for adults and some questions for you to ponder . I hope to inspire you to try a hobby, (or 5!), to see what resonates with you. That last part is key : if you try something and don’t love it, you totally have permission to stop. I’ll tell you a little about my hobbies too. Let me know if we do the same things!

Getting Started: Finding the Right Hobby for You

If it’s been a while since you’ve had a hobby, start small. Ask yourself:

- What did I enjoy doing as a child?

- Do I prefer quiet, creative outlets or active, social ones?

- What activity makes me lose track of time in a good way?

Here is a list of the Most popular hobbies for Canadians in 2023*:

 Cooking/baking — 42%

 Reading — 41%

 Traveling — 36%

 Outdoor activities — 35%

 Caring for pets — 33%

 Video gaming — 33%

Socializing — 29%

 Board games/card games — 25%

 DIY & arts & crafts — 25%

 Gardening & plants — 24%

My hobbies made a list! Here are two of mine:

1. Gardening:

As a lot of you know, I love to garden. I love being outside in nature, and watching

things grow. I like to do both flowers, and edible produce in my garden. This is

something I do out at the farm, but you could easily do on the deck or patio. Some of my favourite things to grow:

- Scarlett Runner Beans

- Nasturtiums (they are edible and taste spicy like a radish)

- Tomatoes

- Lettuces / Arugula

- Pumpkins

2. Reading:

I stopped reading during school aside from assigned texts. When I was finished with school, I felt like I didn’t ever want to read again as I was a little burnt out from hours of reading and studying. Then, as a new doctor, I started reading books that were non-fiction – as I was trying to provide value and resources to my patients. This was fine, but I wasn’t inspired or particularly having fun.

However, my husband and I visited Chapters on a date, and we decided to read a book together and talk about it a few years ago: I think mid 2023. He actually chose ACOTAR, as he enjoys fantasy books and has for years and thought this would be a fun read for us together. This was a little before the Book-tok craze. However, it took me awhile to pick up the book – I think I didn’t start reading it until early 2024. It was a super easy read, and kind of re-ignited my love of reading. I read throne of glass next, and before I knew it, I had read over 50 books in 2024 and now I’ve read just as many in 2025.

I thought it would be fun for me to share my most recent read as a “book club” pick. I really enjoyed the 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. It is a murder mystery with a twist: you have to figure out who murders Eveyn, but you read a different perspective each day and you have 7 days to crack the case!

Best of luck in finding a hobby in 2025!