Demanding work schedules and family commitments make it difficult to find time for a hobby. After a long day, you might use your evenings to relax and a new hobby doesn’t necessarily sound relaxing.

Think about a hobby you would love to start but don’t have time. You probably already have the necessary materials but you have stored them away and forgotten all about them. I know before I started using watercolours I had a new variety of colours and sketch pad unopened collecting dust.

Once you have decided on a hobby you can begin to make time for it by using the following tips:

• Limit social media

The easiest way to do this is by limiting social media to an hour a day. Do not turn your mobile internet/wifi on at all during the day. Only check social media on your laptop/computer. If you absolutely need to use your mobile for the internet then turn off all notifications on your phone. If you don’t think you spend much time on social media then download an app that shows exactly how much time you spend on your phone. If you don’t use your phone to access the internet you won’t need to use your phone much at all.

If you find this too difficult either get a super old phone that doesn’t have internet capabilities or stop buying data. I also find this great for mental health.

• Use a schedule

Bullet journalling is great for scheduling. If you have your day planned out then you;ll be able to see your free time clearly. Here’s an idea of what my average day looks like:

7:45: Morning shower then walk dog
8:30: Leave for work
17:30: Start and have dinner
19:00: Computer time
20:00: Yoga
21:00: Read/paint
22:00: Watch something on Netflix
23:00: Got to bed

I could have easily spent 3 hours on my computer before I started scheduling and limiting my social media use. I would be checking my twitter all day and then continue on it all evening. For what… an extra 10 followers?

• Don’t procrastinate

Procrastinating was one of my hobbies. I would leave the pile of washing that needed folding for days on end. Of course I would then have to search through this mountain every night for something to wear. This would lead to having to iron everything before wearing it. If I would’ve spent half an hour on the Sunday putting away my clothes I would have save hours of wasted time during the week.

Get all the boring jobs out of the way and done. If you can delegate them to somebody else then even better. All you have to do is ask and the worst thing that can happen is that they say no.

• Stop thinking and start doing

Before I started yoga I would waste hours looking for classes in my local area. I didn’t want to waste money on it in case I didn’t like it. Instead of taking action I would just torture myself and look at classes that I couldn’t afford. I already had a yoga mat which I had had for years and never used.

One day, I put my leggings on, put youtube on on my amazon fire stick and searched for yoga. This was the first video I clicked and I followed along and LOVED IT:

You can do this with anything you want to do. There is a youtube video for everything. After my yoga I tried a beginner’s guitar tutorial and that was great too. It became obvious that yoga was perfect for me and I am now on the 8th video in the series.

• Get up earlier to make time for your hobby

Confession: I suck at getting up early. From my schedule above, you can see I definitely don’t get up earlier than necessary. If you have no other time then this is the perfect time. Even if you get up half an hour earlier to lie in bed and read that book you’ve been dying to read. You are still taking time out for yourself which is our ultimate goal. 

Self love is important for general happiness and mental health. If you make time for a hobby that you enjoy then you will start to feel happier. I hope this helps you to find a hobby.

Check out my instagram where I repost other people’s hobbies.