Why you need a hobby now more than ever (and 6 suggestions to help you unwind away from the lab)

As the world begins to return to a pre-lockdown state and everyone rushers out to socially distance from friends and family the last thing people are thinking about is starting a new hobby. You have just spent the last 5 months locked at home making sourdough bread, writing the next great fantasy novel and weeping (or cheering) at your country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But a hobby isn’t just something you do to fill spare time, even though some of us have had a lot of spare time over the last few months. Hobbies can be outlets for stress; a chance to unwind and decompress after a long day in or, more recently, out of the lab.
Throughout history popular figures have used hobbies as a way to relax and settle their minds so when they return to work they are refreshed and ready to tackle the challenges that inevitably arise. Winston Churchill was a qualified bricklayer. Marie Curie was a fan of cycling; at one point she did a cycling tour of the French countryside. Barrack Obama grew up as a comic book fan and he still collects Spider-Man comics. Whether you’re a politician or a scientist - everyone could use a hobby that has nothing to do with their work.
As we all get ready for the return to work we need to decide which of our lockdown habits and hobbies we want to hold on to; which will be the best for helping us unwind when we’re out of the lab. Since lockdown is coming to an end you might think now is a bad time to start a new hobby, but in fact it might be the best time. We need to pick hobbies that are going to help us switch off when we’re away from work; otherwise we’re going to risk burning out as we try to make up for the time that we have lost over the last few months. Here are some of that I’ve found help me:

Crafts
Twitter. Instagram. Pinterest. If you have used any of these platforms recently you have no doubt been bombarded with images of people’s latest arts and crafts projects. In this case I’m using the term “crafts” in the broadest sense; it covers knitting, jewellery making, painting, origami - almost anything. This type of crafting is a great hobby because it’s so varied and, not to sound cliché, but you are only limited by your imagination. Even prior to lockdown I enjoyed making candles (they make great Christmas and birthday presents) and during lockdown I’ve used recycled materials from around the house to design and create my own board game. While the overall cost of arts and craft supplies varies depending on the project a lot can be achieved using things around the house or if you buy in bulk.

Project recommendations:
- Candle making
- Mask making
- Drawing

Reading
Writing “reading” as a hobby on my CV always feels like I’m just adding filler; but I’ve come to realise that isn’t the case. Reading is an essential part of learning, and we should take every opportunity to learn. As researchers we have to spend a lot of time reading scientific publications but that can’t be all we read; our view of what is good writing will get distorted. A lot of scientific publications are written in scientific language that feels long winded and difficult to get through. A good book on the other hand will keep you gripped from the first to the last page. Reading is an opportunity to switch your brain off from scientific publications; read anything you can get your hands on - fiction, non-fiction, a magazine in the dentists waiting room.

Book recommendations:
Non-fiction: Don’t be such a scientist (Randy Olson), Meditations (Marcus Aurelius), The Black Swan (Nassim Nicholas Taleb).
Fiction: Kingkiller Chronicle (Patrick Rothfuss), Discworld Series (Terry Pratchett), How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (Charles Yu)
If you want regular reading suggestions why not subscribe to my monthly reading list where I recommend books, articles and scientific publications.

Board Games
In my house growing up we had the classic board games: Monopoly, Risk and Snakes and Ladders. As a child these were enough to keep me entertained, and for a long time I thought they were the epitome of board games. In recent years I’ve realised that they weren’t even close to the best (other than maybe Monopoly). There are more board games than you can imagine; if you have a favourite genre then a game exists for you. Just before lockdown I bought 3 new games and they have significantly helped fill my down time. Obviously board games require more than one person so you might want to wait to start your own board game collection till life returns to normal and it’s safe to start entertaining guests. The cost of board games can vary wildly depending on the game and collecting board games as a hobby can get expensive. Small to medium games can be between £20 – 30 while larger games can easily be upwards of £40.

Game recommendations:
New to board games: Codenames, Splendor, Carcassonne
Experienced players: Galaxy Trucker, Century: New world, Pandemic

Hiking (learning outdoor skills)
One of the hardest parts during the peak of lockdown was feeling like you couldn’t go to any public space, even outdoors. If you were lucky you had a garden to stretch your legs or if you were unlucky the best you had was a house plant to stare at. Now that it’s safer to spend time outdoors why not get away from the busyness of life and head for a hike. The best thing about walking is that once it’s done you have an excuse to eat; finish a walk - well you’ve earned a pastry. As well as using walking to feed my glutinous habits, being in nature is a chance to learn more about the world; I suggest that if you do get into hiking you pick up The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs.

Activity recommendations:
Favourite UK walks: Dovedale Stepping stones (Peak District), Hadrian’s Wall Trail (runs east to west across the width of the North of England), any of the Yorkshire peaks.

Woodwork
This could technically go under the crafting section but woodworking comes in lots forms so I decided to let it have its own section. Woodworking involves a range of projects from the small, like whittling or making a chopping board, to huge projects, such as building a whole desk or an entire house. The benefit of woodwork is that it often relies on some of the attributes that scientists already have; the most important being careful planning and the need for accuracy (there’s nothing more frustrating than wasting wood because you measured incorrectly). If you want to get involved in woodworking I suggest picking up any book by Nick Offerman.

Project recommendations:
- Bird house
- Bee hotel
- Chopping board

Cooking/baking
The other hobby which has seen a huge uptake recently is baking; it’s been impossible to avoid the pictures of amazing soughdough bread, carrot cakes and chocolate slabs that have flooded social media over the last few months. Early in lockdown it was almost impossible to get baking ingredients; I had to go all Last of Us on an old woman just to get the last bag of gluten free flour. Now that things have calmed down it is a lot easier to get ingredients. Sometimes baking can be a little stressful, particularly when things go wrong. But I know that when I’m kneading bread dough it can be a great outlet for my frustrations, just imagine it’s your supervisors head you’re squishing over and over again (if my supervisor is reading this - I swear, I have never done that).

Recipe recommendations:
- Cookies (try not to eat a whole batch of raw cookie dough, it’s not worth the stomach ache - trust me)
- Homemade pizza

This is not a complete list of hobbies, there are literally hundreds of hobbies out there: beer brewing, photography, bird watching, axe throwing. Go and find one that works for you - anything to help you
de-stress away from work. If you can think of any other hobby suggestions then let me know on twitter.