They say it is critically important for people to feel they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Happiness is only real when shared. Both statements apply to such seemingly simple things as hobbies and interests. When you think about it, there is no better way for a person to spend their free time than to find a noble pursuit and commit to it. Seeing somebody else do something they are passionate about for the love of it can be particularly encouraging, enlightening, and inspirational. Recreational activities can help you decompress and stay in contact with your true self. Why are healthy leisure and extracurriculars so vital to us? Let us try figuring it out together.
The benefits of free time and doing extracurricular activities
Carefully planned free time can be good for your mental health. Having a hobby can direct your energy; thus, you will be able to give vent to unwanted emotions, thoughts, and feelings, rid of all your frustrations and anxieties in an ethically acceptable way. By redirecting your energy and using it more constructively, you may acquire all the means necessary to build a well-structured environment around yourself, which will reflect positively on you, obviously, and those you hold most dear.
Knowing that there is someone out there who shares your passion is tremendously essential in that it can give you a profound sense of belonging. As you try to excel at doing the things you love, you may want to find other people who share your passion. By building a community with your associates, you will learn how to interact appropriately with one another. If you know how to co-exist harmoniously with other individuals, you will contribute to the foundation of a more inclusive, tolerant, authentic, and diverse society. Doing something together as a hobby with somebody else will help you reignite your passion for whatever it is that you do at the moment when you feel lost, useless, or exhausted.
Having a hobby also means you do something every day to be the best possible version of your personality. Extracurricular activities emphasize the importance of the all-rounded development of personality. Having a hobby may be good for you. Educational establishments these days provide a whole array of programs or activities to choose from: from sports to arts, if you approach a business of healthy leisure and extracurriculars seriously, be sure to develop a healthy sense of self and master vital skills, such as socialization, anger and aggression management, decision-making, and problem-solving. Recreation can have a therapeutic effect by enhancing respect for human dignity, participation, accountability, and conflict resolution.
How to choose leisure or extracurricular activity
To choose a suitable recreational activity, you should be aware of your strengths and limitations to be able to turn them into improvement areas and, therefore, grow as a person. The educational establishments possess all the means necessary to produce and implement effective personal development plans catered specifically to the needs of each student. Individualized educational plans safeguard the development and implementation of attainable therapeutic goals and interventions. Thus, educational establishments also ascertain they meet the learners’ needs for self-construction and self-actualization.
To pick a suitable recreational activity:
- Know your strengths and weaknesses
Find someone you can trust enough to ask for help trying to find an activity that matches your skills and talents.
- Do not be overly self-conscious
Prioritize personal and professional growth instead of seeking validation from other people.
- Have a role model
Learn from the best and find your way to stay motivated by constantly reminding yourself about what resonates with you the most.
- Know why you have started an activity
Contemplate the amounts of time and effort you can afford to invest into your leisure activities;
- Visualize where you may want your pursuits to lead you;
Proceed consistently and act accordingly to achieve the desired outcome.
Should you struggle to pick an extracurricular activity, consider reading this article to develop a better grasp of how to make smart choices and organize your spare time effectively. While studying the article, be sure to acquire the means necessary to unlock your potential and assess the program you may consider subscribing to. Please consider checking this article for more information about why recreational activities and extracurriculars matter. After all, to prevent anxiety while pursuing personal and professional growth, you may want to consider joining a club or undertaking any of the activities that follow.
Arts and crafts
Arts have proven themselves to perform a predictive function. Arts can make a difference in individuals’ lives by fulfilling their therapeutic function. Making something with your own hands can have a tremendously soothing effect. Making something with your own hands means producing something that will last. Realizing that can be motivating in itself. From embroidery, knitting and crocheting, weaving, and toy making to glassblowing, metalwork, jewelry making, and carpentry, you can find an activity that is most compatible with your aptitudes and psycho-emotional and mental preferences. Pursuing music can help students who struggle academically because of specific mental challenges, such as dyslexia.
Gardening and farming
Gardening and farming can give you an idea of a genuinely meaningful and rewarding experience. You may find peace in reconnecting with nature. The activity at hand is all about taking care of the environment, and non-human life, all in pursuit of learning how to accept and appreciate fragility and vulnerability. Sharing the love of things that grow may help you reach a place in your life where you feel serene, safe, and strong enough to withstand the world’s hostility and hardships.
Science clubs
Science is a key to unraveling the mystery of the origin of life and brings you closer to understanding the mechanics of the Universe. Maths (Algebra and Geometry), Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy, and Information Technology are all noble pursuits. They will challenge you intellectually, but they can also massively help you guide you through choosing a profession. Pursuing science may require a great deal of tenacity and no small amount of selflessness because, on the one hand, you may face peer pressure, and, on the other hand, the mysteries science and technology may reveal to you can make you feel stronger and weaker at the same time and in a major way.
Academic peer-to-peer assistance
Academic and creative writing are an integral part of the haunting and magnificent world of academia. Writing can be difficult and exhausting. Older peers can be your go-to party to seek help from: they may empathize with what you are going through and share some insight into how to meet the educators’ expectations. Writing can help you learn to appreciate good literature and how to express yourself with words. Writing is critical for building linguistic and communicative competence. As someone helping a less experienced peer, you may feel content knowing that something you have done has changed somebody else’s life for the better.
Music and choir
They say music is a universal language, understood by people across the world without a word. Playing a musical instrument and singing can help you express yourself creatively. Aesthetics, camaraderie, and artistic prowess are the experiences you should be expecting to get should you decide to pursue music. Music can be a way for you to appreciate and comprehend harmony and beauty. Music is, perhaps, the oldest art form humankind has ever invented: it has begun as an imitation game designed to explain the terrifying and the mysterious. Playing a musical instrument or singing can help you feel connected to humanity’s artistic legacy and the consciousness of previous generations.
Sports
Sports are all about discipline and determination. It can teach you to respect your companions as well as your rivals. Sports can make you feel healthy and keep your energy levels high. Physical activity is a secret to longevity, health, and emotional stability. Sports can teach you an important lesson about teamwork. It is an epitome of restraint, nimbleness, and fortitude. Sports may instruct you to listen to your body and trust your instincts. Thus, you will be able to understand yourself better, which, in turn, may translate into open-mindedness and empathy.
Yearbook preparation
Yearbook preparation will put your organization skills to the test. Memories play an essential role in every person’s life. Recollections put into perspective the work we do on ourselves. Yearbooks are supposed to be the chronicles of the brightest, happiest, and most upbeat period of life. If you love holidays and enjoy finding the true meaning of celebrating life, benignity, and solidarity, you should consider joining a club preoccupied with preparing a yearbook. If you love photography and consider it a hobby of yours, participating in yearbook preparation can be an opportunity for you to exercise in image selection and compilation.
Student government
Participating in student government may prepare you for a career in management. Student government helps all those involved understand responsibility, accountability, and integrity. By joining a student government, you will comprehend how the systems created by humanity work, which may also include domestic and international policies and economics. Besides, student government can be a proper tool to enhance problem-solving, decision-making, and crisis-management skills, not to mention practicing and mastering the art of social interaction. Order, discipline, systematic approach to defining society and global issues — this is what you will get if you choose to participate in a student government.
Volunteering
Volunteering is an epitome of faith in the irrepressibility of the human spirit. Volunteering is a pure expression of selflessness. Helping local humanitarian initiatives, assisting at soup kitchens, retirement homes, shelters, orphan asylums, delivering products to disabled and elderly individuals, collecting previously owned items to benefit the least fortunate and facilities for people in distress, organizing charity fairs — the list of possible options for you as a volunteer goes on and on; the important thing is to learn self-control and act accordingly. Lastly, volunteering is one of the concepts through which social responsibility and cultural relevance (sensitivity) manifest themselves.
Therapeutic outdoor and adventure activities
Therapeutic outdoor and adventure activities include but are not limited to:
- Hiking;
- rafting;
- mountain and rock climbing;
- kayaking;
- canoeing;
- cycling;
- backpacking;
- camping;
- scouting.
Outdoor and adventure activities may help you reconnect with nature, which, in turn, can positively influence your physical and mental health and wellness. Cleanliness, order, discipline, endurance, and resilience are the qualities that outdoor and adventure activities can help you develop and enhance. More importantly, if you decide to pursue outdoor and adventure activities, you will learn how to maintain individual safety and how to protect those around you.
Concluding thoughts. Bringing it all together
Fitness, gradual and healthy mental, social, and physical development are the goals of virtually all extracurricular and recreational activities humanity has invented thus far. Healthy leisure and extracurriculars will help you become a harmonious, all-rounded person. Healthy leisure is about knowing your strengths and weaknesses and not merely doing something because you enjoy it. Time management is crucial for organizing your spare time constructively and productively. Finding a hobby is also about building a safe and stimulating environment, and time management may also bring more structure into it and, eventually, your life.
These days, educational establishments offer various options to choose from to make your free time enjoyable, carefully planned, and beneficial for you. To find yourself a recreational activity to pursue, you need to learn to either believe in yourself or commit to someone you can trust with such an essential thing as planning your free time. Whatever the activity you pick may be, be prepared that you may not do everything correctly right from the start: any activity requires you to learn the rules that govern it before contemplating how to do things your way. Suppose you approach the business of doing a hobby with a certain level of responsibility. In that case, you may be able to unlock the potential that lies dormant within you or even discover your future profession.
