“Make time to follow your passion and never let your hobbies and interests take a back seat.”
Having a hobby could lower your blood pressure and increase your overall energy. For a shy person with low self-esteem such as myself, there’s an extra benefit: a boost in confidence. Accomplishing tasks that we set for ourselves and that we are passionate about can increase our sense of control and mastery. It allows you to drastically change the type of work you do from time to time, helping you maintain a mental edge and develop your hidden potential in the process. It is better if your hobby is completely unrelated to your major – thus you will be able to avoid getting tired while acquiring new skills.
Hobbies can add a sense of fulfilment and joy to your life. They can bring people together, help you discover new things about yourself, develop new skills and develop as a person. When we don’t have something, we do it for pure enjoyment, daily life can become very black and white, you go to work, you sleep, and repeat. Hobbies and interests are part of a young person’s developing self-identity and can help them connect with peers. Exploring new areas of interest and discovering passions is a teenage rite of passage. Young people gain many benefits from trying out different activities and selecting hobbies that really interest them.
For many of us, carving out time and energy to engage in a hobby seems like just one more thing we do not have time to do. Work, school, family, religious, and community obligations can be overwhelming, leaving little room for doing the things we enjoy. Although, a quick Google search reveals countless articles and blogs explaining the personal and professional benefits of engaging in a hobby.
Hobbies take us out of our everyday experiences and give us a chance to do something we love and are passionate about. Engaging in a hobby can be a mental escape, help us hone a skill, or just provide an opportunity to socialize with others. Hobbies are a great way to disconnect from work and break away from the monotony of daily schedules. Also, even though it may seem daunting to add ONE MORE THING to your to-do list, having a hobby has been shown to be a stress reliever.
“Hobbies are great distractions from worries and troubles that plague daily living”.
Benefits of Hobbies
- Physical – Physical hobbies have clear physiological benefits because they increase both your heart rate and brain function. Other benefits include lower blood pressure, weight loss, building muscle, strengthening bones, and an overall increase in energy. Examples: hiking, camping, swimming, yoga, or martial arts.
- Mental and Emotional – Carving out time for activities you enjoy is an easy way to improve your mental health and overall emotional well-being. Hobbies decrease stress by relaxing you and taking your mind off the more pressing concerns of daily life like work and paying bills. Also, hobbies can give us a sense of mastery and control. Our esteem level tends to rise as we feel ever more accomplished at a particular task. The following examples have been associated with improved mental health and depression reduction. Examples: gardening, listening to music, painting or drawing, cooking, colouring, and photography
- Social and Interpersonal – Hobbies are a great way to socialize and meet new friends. Social hobbies facilitate bonds with others and add another layer of support to your life serving to reduce stress. Meet Up is a widely used platform for people to “meet new people, learn new things, find support, get out of their comfort zones, and pursue their passions, together” (Meetup, 2019, para. 1). There are dozens of groups in every city dedicated to all kinds of group activities. It is likely that you will find others interested in the same things you are, and there will be a meetup group already established. If not, you can create your own meetup group. Examples: exploring new restaurants, seeing movies, discussing philosophy, trying new technology, playing music, playing games, and investing in real estate
- Creativity – Some hobbies inspire us to tap into our creative side. This can be especially helpful for people who have no creative outlets at their work. Engaging in a creative hobby can help train your brain to be more creative in other areas of your life. Examples: writing fiction, hand lettering or calligraphy, cake or cookie decorating, soap making, quilting, crocheting or knitting, and jewellery-making
- Self-Improvement – Some people enjoy hobbies that give them the opportunity to improve their confidence level, boost their self-esteem, and improve their quality of life. If you are thinking about a hobby like this, consider whether there is something you would like to change about yourself or improve upon. For example, would you like to be a competent public speaker, lose weight, or become more heart healthy? Do you need to improve your attention to detail, or would you like to learn a new language? Examples: travelling alone, cooking, meditation, completing puzzles, journaling, or volunteering.
Choosing a Hobby
If you are interested in devoting some time and energy to a hobby but do not yet have one, consider the things you enjoy, things that interest you, and perhaps things you would like to improve upon. If you have never had a hobby, it can be overwhelming to choose one. Considering the following questions might be helpful in narrowing your choices for a hobby:
- Do you enjoy competition?
- Do you prefer to enjoy doing things alone or with others?
- Is there a particular skill you would like to develop?
- Are you getting enough physical activity in your daily life?
- Are there things you enjoyed doing in your childhood that you would like to revisit?
- In what ways do you want your hobby to challenge or change you?
- How much time can you devote to your new hobby?
- How much money can you invest in your new hobby?
- What types of people would you like to interact with?
- What kinds of benefits would you like your hobby to provide?
Some hobbies can provide a way to save or make money. For example, to save money you can refurbish items you find at a garage sale or grow your own vegetables. To make money, you can sell the photographs you take or the cakes you bake. Exercise caution though if you are planning to save or make money with your hobbies as it can easily sap the joy out of doing it and create more stress especially if you have to make business decisions about your hobby.
Why Hobbies at College Are No Less Important Than Classes
To be successful at college one does have to put a lot of time and effort into one’s studies and steadfastly go ahead towards a definitely set goal. It is also important to alternate periods of hard work with periods of rest and relaxation – although you can achieve significant results by working non-stop, they tend to be rather short-lived, for burnout usually follows not far behind. However, there is relaxation and relaxation. A much better use of your time would be adopting a hobby and keeping up with it in your free time. Why? Let’s see.
It Helps You Develop Diverse Skills
It is often said that the best rest is a change of activity, and a hobby can easily serve you in this capacity. It allows you to drastically change the type of work you do from time to time, helping you maintain a mental edge and develop your hidden potential in process. It is better if your hobby is completely unrelated to your major – thus you will be able to avoid getting tired while acquiring new skills. For example, a computer science student can benefit from studying a foreign language, and vice versa.
It Can Bring You Money
Hobbies shouldn’t necessarily be expensive and highly time-consuming activities. A hobby can just as well bring in money as it can spend it – if you make your hobby into a business or a business into your hobby. Make crafts for sale, find and resell rare stuff on the Internet, or simply make and sell cheap business cards to both train your creativity and make a quick buck.
It Clears Your Mind
When you are completely preoccupied with the technical side of your hobby, whatever that is, you don’t think about anything else. You get rid of all the fears, concerns and worries about exams and grades, at least temporarily. And chances are, after you get a feel of what a wonderful feeling it is, you will try to transfer this attitude to the rest of your life. We achieve the best results when we whole-heartedly concentrate on the task at hand – and a hobby can help you achieve the necessary clarity of mind.
You Meet New People and Explore New Social Circumstances
Any hobby has a community concentrated around it. When you take it up you get a legitimate reason to get in touch with its members – and thus you can meet people you won’t otherwise meet, which is always a good thing. In addition to that, a hobby circle is a completely controlled environment – you don’t owe anything to anyone, which means that you can contribute and participate exactly to the degree you want. College is a good place to meet new people to begin with, and taking up a hobby brings it to a whole new level. For example, if you take up creative writing and join your college’s writing club you are free to choose whether you are going to limit your communication with other members to your creative endeavours or allows yourself to get closer to them.
It Improves Your Creativity
People tend to be much more creative when they are completely focused on an activity they enjoy. And the good thing is, this creativity can overflow and seep into other activities – which means that you can sometimes suddenly get an inspiration concerning your other tasks when doing something completely unrelated but, well, inspiring and exciting. Many people claim to get excellent ideas for their creative work when participating in physical activities: sports or hiking, for example.
To conclude – All in all, taking up a creative and constructive hobby is both an excellent way to relieve extra stress and improve your results as a student. When you are fresh, calm and full of creative energy you are much more likely to succeed than when you are tired, distracted and worried.
Hobbies are essential to having a well-rounded life. Saving some time for yourself to enjoy a hobby can provide the physical, mental, emotional, and creative benefits that make life more meaningful, relaxing, and fun! Regardless of which hobby you choose, the benefits of engaging in that hobby will likely surprise you.
RESOURCES:
- Article on Importance of Hobbies
- Article on Unique Hobbies that Students can take up to Relax
- Article on Advantages and Disadvantages of Having a Hobby
- Ted Talk on The Value of Keeping Your Passions as Hobbies
- Video on Hobbies Are Important
“The greatness happiness comes from being vitally interested in something that excites all your energies.” – Walter Annenberg
Update on Skill Development & Training
In the new cohort, currently, in the 2nd year (1438), 350 scholars started the Aptitude program in Feb, 150 mapped to Ethnus and 150 mapped to FACE.
The Campus to Corporate “Skills Training Program” supported by Capgemini (1460 scholars) 484 students are in the Hi-touch English program by eAge Tutors, 713 in the Coursera program, and 30 in the Skill Lync program. 336 scholars have started the Mock Interview program from Jan end
A batch of 67 students from 2nd and 3rd-year Computer Science & IT streams completed camp 1 on Front End Development in the IBM Skill Build program on December 21st. The 2nd batch with 89 scholars completed camp 2 on “Artificial Intelligence” on Feb 23rd.
The Pharma scholars are in the Coursera program
FLY (Finding the Leader in You) Program in partnership with CMI and IIT-Gandhinagar
The 12-days workshop was conducted in Jan with a batch of 34 students. This comprises 2nd year Engineering scholars. This workshop is conducted by CMI – Competitive Mindset Institute Inc and is designed to teach noncognitive skills for the personality and character development of students. Currently, the 16th batch is being planned and will be starting from 16th March.
Soft Skill Training programs and webinars for Medical FFE scholars
Qmed – Medical Literature searching course for research and study is going on for 66 Medical scholars.
English Training for Medical scholars
A pilot batch of 134 Medical scholars mostly from the 2nd year is currently enrolled in the Enguru App-based English program.
Medical Webinar – A panel discussion is being planned for March-end on the topic Employability for Doctors in Rural space.
Oracle Technical sessions – Oracle sessions on technical courses for CS scholars of 2nd and 3rd years of engineering on topics like Augmented Reality – today and tomorrow, Real-time applications of Machine Learning Algorithms, Free IT certifications for a better Career Launch, Search Engine Optimization & Agile Project Management were conducted from Jan 28th – Feb 23rd 2022.
ANANYA Sessions – ANANYA has been conducting sessions for Civil Electrical Mechanical, Electronics, and also Computer Science sessions for 3rd and 4th years scholars on various technical topics.
Placement Update
- From the 2020-21 graduating batch of 889 Engineering students, 95.5% (847) are placed; 621 have secured jobs and 226 have opted for higher studies while 4.5% of students (42) are seeking employment.
- From the 2021-22 graduating batch of 1256 Engineering students (current final year), 81% (1018) are placed; 809 have secured jobs and 209 have opted for higher studies. The remaining 238 students are attending campus interviews
FFE is thankful to its corporate partners Geberit Plumbing Technology India Private Limited, O9 Solutions, Altimetrik India Pvt. Capgemini TechnologyServices India Limited, KPMG Assurance, and Consulting Services LLP, TraneTechnologies, Ingersoll Rand, Thomson Reuters, Thoughtworks for offering Placement opportunities to FFE’s batch of 2019-20, 2020-21 & 2021-22.
Below are toppers in the Coursera training program. They have been issued gift vouchers, based on their performance. Congratulations to all of you!
| Coursera Program Topper for the month of February 2021-22 | |
| Anuroop Kumar Bandarupalli | Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat |
| Aquib Nawaz | Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai, Bombay |
| Atul Umak | Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, |
| Chowtakuri Harish Reddy | University College of Engineering, Osmania University, Hyderabad |
| Divya Sri Darimisetti | National Institute of Technology Rourkela |
Send us your feedback and suggestion at studentrelations@ffe.org
