Some of us can easily name a slew of their hobbies when asked while others are stymied by the question. What’s the upside of having a hobby? Hobbies can provide us much needed pleasure, a sense of accomplishment, help to relieve our stress, boost our creativity, expand our thinking patterns (and dependent on the hobby expand our neural pathways), provide us the opportunity to delve into a subject and gain new skills and bring forth new social connections.
When psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihayi queried individuals from a variety of cultures around the world to learn more about how they felt when they did what they enjoyed most, the answer time and time again was designing or discovering something new. 
Novelty and discovery are vital to our continued well-being. Hobbies, whether it’s collecting stamps, growing a variety of plants, playing a favorite sport or dabbling in new languages brings a greater sense of contentment into our lives. Hobbies often fluctuate over one’s lifetime. Until a few years ago, I was committed to learning different ice dancing routines but in the aftermath of the recession and the fact that our local dance studio is only a mile away, I replaced my skates with a tap dancing shoes. Though the movement patterns are just as challenging, I find
myself on the ground much less frequently.
Ashley Johnson, our newest VEHI PATH team member says she loves to draw because it’s relaxing, distracts her from other things and helps to 
focus her energy on something more detail oriented. And, Amy Gilbert took up raising bees a few years ago because she wanted to increase our pollinators, help the environment and sell a bit of honey. Though it was far from easy – bears destroyed the hives, other bees robbed the hives and the remaining bees swarmed or froze, she said it brought her great joy. ” I learned so much about bees and love watching them collect pollen from my flowers, cool their hive by flapping their wings and build the most amazing honeycomb,” she said.
Hobbies nourish our soul and provide rich replenishment. We look forward to learning a bit more about some of your hobbies this week. That’s right – Flaunt Them!!
“A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe.”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
See you on the PATH Ahead.
The VEHI PATH team