Creative Pastimes That You Might Want to Try
Today, there are all sorts of different avenues available for exploring a range of different interests and creative pastimes, and it’s now possible to find all sorts of pieces of equipment. Specialist information, within just a few minutes, was spent searching the web.
When more and more of the average person’s leisure time is spent consuming various forms of information, there can be something compelling about engaging in creative pastimes instead and doing something that helps you express yourself and explore different interests while simultaneously creating something.
Among other things, engaging in a creative pastime might help you to experience a deeper sense of autonomy and personal agency while at the same time helping you to bring your attention more into the present moment, and to relax and unwind, without the constant stream of information that we tend to be surrounded by over the course of everyday life, courtesy of various forms of media and entertainment. So, what sorts of creative pastimes are there that you might want to try out? Here are a few suggestions.
Podcasting or video recording
It would be difficult for almost anyone to get together the resources to create good quality videos that could be broadcast to a wide audience or create anything like a podcast in the not-too-distant-past.
Today, though, high-quality smartphones, tablets, and laptops are increasingly accessible – often with good cameras and a range of affordable apps and software programs that can help to give anyone an entry point into these pastimes.
In addition to this, specific tools such as the best lavalier microphones now tend to be far more easily obtainable. So, would podcasting or video recording be a good creative hobby for you to try out?
First and foremost, this depends on how much you like the idea of communicating with a broad range of different people at once and how much of an interest or insight you have on a particular topic.
If you are naturally quite outgoing and really like the idea of putting yourself out there, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t start recording and uploading some of your own videos or podcasts. Just keep in mind that whatever you put on the Internet is essentially going to stay there forever, and there’s a good chance it will be seen by a large number of different people.
Writing
Writing can be a great way of either working out and expressing ideas or delving into fantastic worlds of the imagination and bringing them to life in the form of short stories, novels, or even screenplays.
One of the great benefits of taking up writing is that the “start-up cost” is essentially zero – since virtually everyone will already have access to a computer with a functioning word processor program or a pen and paper.
Of course, writing can be great if you enjoy sitting down and letting the words flow – as well as editing them afterward. But if you prefer being active and don’t like the idea of working to craft your sentences carefully, it’s probably not going to be the right kind of hobby for you to get started on.
Nonetheless, writing has been used as the basis of various psychological therapy practices over time. This is large because there can be something really cathartic about just sitting down and seeing what comes out when you’ve got a blank page in front of you.
Drawing or painting
Drawing and painting can be some of the most fun and powerfully rewarding creative pastimes out there – and of the great things about these sorts of visual arts is that they can take so many different forms and can instantly and directly influence people’s emotional states whenever they look at them.
It’s also worth pointing out that drawing, at least, can be as straightforward as taking a sketch pad and pencil out with you to a beautiful scenic location, and sitting down for a while and seeing what catches your eye – and how you can represent it in a visual form.
At least at the beginner’s level, drawing and painting tend to be affordable hobbies to get involved in and can be very cathartic ways of working through different emotions or tapping into particular energies and motifs.
Drawing and painting can also be both very private and individual practices, or quite social practices – particularly if you get together with other amateur artists at workshops, life drawing classes, and other similar get-togethers.
Woodcarving
Woodcarving is a timeless activity that can be deeply visceral and rewarding and puts you in touch with a more ancient and primeval way of life. Human beings have been carving figurines, shapes, and patterns out of wood throughout recorded history, and today it’s easy to find all sorts of different guides, resources, and tools – with even just a basic pocket knife potentially being enough to get started – if you would like to explore this pastime.
Woodworking can take the form of relaxing and whittling the likeness of a bird out of a small piece of wood while sitting on your front porch, or it can take the form of working on an ambitious garden ornament. Either way, woodcarving is a creative pastime that connects you directly with your own body in a way that many other forms of creative expression don’t.
Gardening
Although gardening may not seem, at first glances, like a typical “creative pastime,” you could argue that there are few things as creative as tending to a garden, nurturing plant life, and helping things to grow over a period of time.
Gardening can be a great form of stress relief, light exercise and can help you to experience a calmer, more measured, and slower-paced approach to life. At least for time.
Gardening can also be a beneficial skill, in the sense that it can allow you to produce some of your own foodstuffs, as well as create a beautiful and serene place for yourself, your family, and your friends and acquaintances to spend some time.
