Although some say work is life and life is work, the truth is that balancing your professional and personal life can be challenging, but it’s essential. A good work-life balance, said Chris Chancey, career expert and CEO of Amplio Recruiting, has numerous positive effects, including less stress, a lower risk of burnout, and a greater sense of well-being, which benefits both employees and employers. Carving out time and energy to engage in a hobby can be beneficial for our mental health and offer an excellent opportunity to open up your world. Hobbies have great benefits for your mind, body, social life, and career. We have asked our team for their hobbies and thoughts on a good work-life balance.
Our Hobbies
In our team we have true sports fans. Guillermo and Matías share a passion for football and can spend hours and hours kicking the ball with a group of friends. Guillermo also loves coaching football teams and helping them achieve their full potential. Juan Diego can spend hours dribbling on the basketball court and Belén, a fantastic hockey player, loves to gather with her female team and catch a game. Who said sports are just for exercising? Effective teamwork is extremely beneficial for getting for developing a better understanding of individual strengths, weaknesses, and personal traits, and who knows what strong relationships you may forge along the way!
Our people at ThinkUp like to be creative when it comes to their hobbies and activities. Not a day goes by that our music star Nicolás doesn’t play an instrument and listen to music. He has been in several bands throughout his life and can’t simply live without music. Matias also shares Nicolás’s passion and enjoys strumming away on his six-string in his free time. Roselyn exudes art from any angle. She sings like the angels and dances her stress away. Ana is a true master in sewing art — nothing gets her mind away like designing her clothes. Let’s hope she makes a new uniform for the team! Guillermo and Cecilia find their creative side in the kitchen. Cooking can be meditative and relaxing when we take our time and get into it, and it also brings people together. Guillermo, for example, enjoys entertaining guests and always invites a few friends over to enjoy an evening together around food. Hungry already, aren’t you?
Gabriel and Mauro need to feel the earth beneath their feet and surrounded by nature, especially when gardening. Mauro states that growing a garden has taught him to be more patient — a state of mind difficult to attain in these modern times and our fast-paced lives have caused our patience to dwindle. Cultivating is a mood booster and requires your love, your perseverance. Show your plants love, care for them. It will show off eventually. Mauro started this adventure two years ago out of an urge to grow at least some of his food, and since then, he has harvested spinach, chard, radish, parsley, arugula, potatoes, purple broccoli… Vegetables Made in Mauro. He is living proof: it is never late for hobbies and learning!
Importance of Hobbies
According to one study published in March 2020, hobbies are linked with decreased symptoms of depression and 30% lower odds of experiencing depression. The more we practice them, the more we can take away the stress and strain from the working hours. Our team dedicates at least 2 hours a day to their hobbies, and wish for more hours a day to finally learn those long-wished interests —cooking, learning to play another instrument, reconnecting with reading… While it is crucial to use our free time doing what we love, dreaming of starting other hobbies and developing new-found skills can offer a new challenge for the future and keep our minds open to upcoming opportunities!
Rediscovering Childhood Hobbies Can Make You Happier Today
It’s amazing to think about all the things we were obsessed with as kids, only to wake up one day and realize how long it’s been since they were a part of our lives. Instruments we once practiced for countless hours and now haven’t touched in years. Stuffed animal, action figures or card collections filled spaces in our rooms until one day we decided they weren’t cool anymore. Crafts, sports and other passions were pushed to the wayside by growing up, adulthood, busy schedules, tight budgets and other facts of life. Returning to childhood hobbies can be challenging but helps bring some of that happiness back.
Cecilia, Guillermo and Nicolás agree. Take Cecilia — she remembers the moments shared with her sister when they used to collect and sort papers. They set up a workshop at home to draw, paint and collage. “I wish I return to that hobby again. We felt so happy.”
Guillermo and Nicolás spend hours and hours at the soccer field, but due to several reasons, eventually they stopped playing. However, the passion they have for this game has not disappeared. For these two, watching football feels like reconnecting with old friends. Nicolás is grateful for his cheery childhood hobbies. “Most of all, I am grateful to hobbies for introducing me to the friends I have today, friends that I met more than 20 years ago and with whom I share tastes, ideas and trips and much more”.
Make More Time for Hobbies
Having a hobby that we enjoy brings us joy and enriches our lives. It gives us something fun to do during our leisure time and allows us to learn new skills. We do love our job, that is for sure, but we must find some passion out there that connects us to our inner nature and help us disconnect from work and break away from the monotony of daily schedules.
If you want to learn more about our team, check out this blogs entries and get ready to cook while you learn about the benefits of a pet-friendly work place
