When I completed my high school and was leaving for undergraduate education, one of my friends gave me a scrapbook to fill. I found a question on hobbies. That was the first time I took time to list down my hobbies. I remember, I wrote "Cricket, cricket, cricket" :). As I grew up, I had the opportunity to try many new things in life. Some of them were short-term hobbies. And some kept going on. Like this one: writing.

I questioned myself. Why do we develop hobbies? There are many reasons which can be narrowed down mainly into two, in my opinion. Reason one is that we want to have a good and quality time when we are alone. Reason two is that we want to have good time with others. So simple! ha ha....So hobbies do sound like something important in our lives. Don't you agree? I think they are important (may be, not necessarily "Must") because they are nurturing, and stimulate our creative minds. They also produce some interesting memories, when we share them with people whom we like. So, if you have not developed some hobbies, I would encourage you to do so.

So, what hobbies should we explore? There are too many, from walking to sky-diving. What should we really explore? I think it depends on what type of person we are. We are all gifted with different attitudes, skills and tastes. Some people like very adventurous kind of hobbies, whereas others like sit-at-home kind of hobbies. Some people do justice to both kinds of hobbies. What type of person are you?

When I am alone, I generally listen to music and involve in writing. Sometimes I just sit quiet and feel God's presence. Other times I enjoy hiking through the woods. I also like to explore more adventurous ones like fighting with lions and bears. Just kidding! Some hobbies that are in my hit list are studying about deep oceans and astronomy. I would also like to experience living in a jungle, if that is possible :) As the famous quote from Eric Liddell of the movie Chariots of Fire goes "When I run, I feel God's pleasure", I sometimes feel such pleasure when exploring these activities. Thank God, that He did not create a limited or boring universe!

About having good and interesting memories with friends, I remember about one good trip that we had in the last year, and it lasted for three days. I went out to a small jungle retreat with a bunch of good friends of mine. The weather was just nice and little breezy in the evening. We all sat near a lake, had a campfire, grilled hamburgers, shared positive experiences in our lives, did canoeing and hiking, carved pumpkins and played jungle pong. Some of us played nice music. This was one of my many memorable experiences that I had with my friends.

I like nature. I like people. I like to spend good amount of time in nature and with people I like. This gets me energized and inspired. It gives me great joy having such fellowship with people. These people could be family members or good friends. Most of my hobbies are related to my spending time in nature or with people; writing, photography, cooking, hiking, tennis, cricket, potlucks, swimming to name a few.

So, do we need to have hobbies? We need them when we use them wisely. They should not be "the" focus of our lives. Thanks for reading this article of mine, and I wish you good luck with your hobbies.

Nuren Nuren likes writing, teaching, people, nature and many kinds of creative work such as photography, design, studying articles related to astronomy and science. He is positive, dedicated, open-minded and always looking for a way to learn something new. One of Nuren's favorite quotes is "How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints" (by C. S. Lewis). Read More >>