As quarantine in the U.S. continues to drag on, you may be looking for a new hobby to add something new to your days. Whether you love art, fitness, or just learning new things, these ideas can help you find something fun and new to start today.
1. Journaling
Journalling is a great hobby and habit to start, especially when you’re stuck at home. The best part of journaling is that it’s meant for you and only you to enjoy, which means that it can look however you want it to and be formatted in whatever way you want it to be. Some people like to free-write for 10 minutes straight and just let all of their thoughts pour onto the page, while others like to be more creative and add in a scrapbook element to their journals.
Whatever it is that you’re interested in, journaling can be a good way to healthily express and work through your emotions. Plus, in a few years, you can look back and reflect on how you used to feel versus how you currently feel, which can be a very interesting experience.
2. Painting
If you’ve always wanted to pick up a brush and try your hand at painting, now is a great time to start. A great way to start if you’re unsure about what to paint is with an online tutorial, like a Bob Ross video. The goal of making paintings as a hobby isn’t necessarily to sell your art and become part of the American artists in 40% of collections worldwide, instead, it’s to enjoy the time you spend painting and maybe see personal improvement.
3. Knitting
Knitting is another fun way to let your creative side out. There are a lot of online tutorials for learning how to knit, and you can start with less expensive materials until you’re sure that you definitely are interested in knitting. You can start simple with things like potholders and progress to more complex things like sweaters as you start improving.
4. Photography
Photography is a great hobby — you can use it to have a fun Instagram feed, take great pictures to capture memories with friends and families, or just record your favorite images in nature or throughout your day. If you’re interested in learning more about shooting with a DSLR camera or another non-phone camera, quarantine is a great time to learn about different settings and forms of photography. By the time that quarantine is over, you’ll be able to take some amazing photos of all your favorite people, places, and things that you’ve missed while you were at home.
5. Fun Makeup
If you’ve been trying to perfect your eyeliner wing or that new brow trend, the time when you’re not going out in public is the best time to learn how to do it. When you won’t be going anywhere or seeing anyone, you can really take advantage of this time to try out new fun makeup trends. Find a tutorial that you want to follow on YouTube or Instagram or just try out some new things without finding out how you “should” be doing it.
6. Guitar or Another Instrument
When you start playing guitar, you really won’t sound very good for at least a few months. During that time, you’ll develop calluses and muscle memory that will make playing guitar much easier. When the world reopens, you’ll be able to show off your new talent at open mics or any other place where you can play guitar. If you really want to, learn Wonderwall for a fun joke at parties.
7. Learn About Cars and Basic Repairs
If you’ve been interested in cars but never really had time to learn any of the basics of how they work or how to fix them, quarantine is a great time to do this. If you’re able to do basic things like changing a tire or changing your own oil, you can save a lot of money over time in service costs.
You can also just learn about the history and background of cars to have some fun facts to pull out once parties are safe again. For example, when the 300 SL was created in 1954, it was the fastest car in production, with speeds getting up to 146 miles per hour.
8. Blogging or Vlogging
Starting a blog can take a little time and effort, from choosing a topic to starting your posts and figuring out what kind of branding you want for it. You can choose any topic that interests you, and there’s an audience for blogs about everything from fitness to video games out there. Think about what really interests you and look into building a website and getting a domain to start.
You can also try out vlogging, or video blogging, which is when you record your daily life in videos and post them on video platforms like YouTube or TikTok. Vlogging is very popular, especially if you find your “niche” in the same way you would with a traditional blog. For vlogging, you’ll also need to learn a little bit about video editing, but there are some great tutorials out there to help you as well as free video editing software to get started on.
9. Join a Virtual Workout Class
If you’re usually part of the 58 million people that go to a gym or health club every year, you can start getting back into the routine of attending workout classes. Your local gym may even have some classes available online with the instructors whose classes you always attended. If that’s not the case, you can still feel like you’re in a workout class by following a real-time workout video with an instructor. There are many free classes on YouTube that cater to every skill level and exercise type, so start trying out different classes to find the right combination for you.
No matter what you’re interested in, there’s a hobby out there that can enrich your daily life during the quarantine.
What hobbies have you picked up during the quarantine? What hobbies do you want to try? Let us know in the comments below!