Amber Hill
Finishing university brings a whole host of emotions. Elation, that all your hard work has paid off and you have finally finished. Relief, that you can move out of your less-than-pristine shared house and, for a lot of people, back into your family home. Fear, over what comes next.
But mixed in with all of this is the sudden realization that your free time is now just that: free time. There are no exams – no tedious assignments to do. You no longer have to chisel out the time to do your course readings in between lectures or on your lunch break. You no longer have that niggling feeling of guilt that gnaws away at the back of your mind when you are getting ready for a night out drinking with friends.
You have become so used to balancing a seemingly impossible workload with a part-time job and a social life and downtime, always moving at a million miles per hour, that you graduate as an expert in a rather bizarre and everlasting juggling act. This isn’t exclusive to students, of course – this is a universal truth amongst all working adults.
But all of a sudden you and your university friends have moved back home, often to different sides of the country. You keep in touch the best you can, but it isn’t the same. You don’t go for walks around your interesting city, surrounded by interesting people, and walking around your hometown with a coffee in hand just isn’t the same. You try to exercise – you used to love to exercise – but the gyms are full of people you grew up with, which makes for an ever-so-slightly uncomfortable workout. You used to love to bake, but now you just don’t have the inspiration to pick up a mixing bowl.
What’s more, the frantic rush to get a job and earn some money means that a lot of us end up in roles that we don’t have any real passion for. It is difficult to break out into the industries that we want, whether it be engineering, journalism, finance, or politics.
You may do a degree in psychology, graduating at the top of your class, but it is often the case that young people have to take lower-skilled, more casual work immediately after graduating. With Statistica concluding that 2.4 million people work in the accommodation and hospitality sector, it isn’t surprising that most of these are younger people just trying to save some money. Getting up, working, driving home, eating dinner: a continuous monotony that lacks any real tonic.
What About Picking Up A Hobby?
Speaking as a recent graduate who has felt all of these feelings, I know how tough it is to find a hobby, something to break up the work week and make life just that little bit easier. Here is my advice on how to build (or rebuild) a hobby.
Get back to your roots
How did you pass the time before you graduated? Did you go out running? Play video games? Knit? Whatever it was, re-discovering your skill in something can be so rewarding, and will give you something to look forward to when you get home from work. The germ of an idea is the first step in finding an activity you are passionate about.
Try to be consistent
The key to building a hobby is to keep at it. Keep going for runs, if that’s your thing. Buy more books and carve out dedicated times to read them, especially if it is something that is new. Doing activities with friends could help with this – it is much harder to not do something when you have promised someone else you would.
Invest
Sometimes having the right equipment or outfit can make all the difference, be it a good pair of running trainers or a hand-held electric whisk for baking. It can help you take pride in what you are doing and feel excited to be doing it in the first place
Most of all, don’t worry
Remember you can’t force it. Just because your friend enjoys horse riding, that doesn’t mean you should. And, if you are just too tired after a particularly grueling 10-hour shift, then it is fine to just crawl into bed, put on your favourite Netflix show, and shut off your mind. If napping is the only hobby you can muster right now, make sure you honour the rest your body needs.
A study by Ladders found that people are happiest when they get four to five hours a day to do exactly what they wanted, and, sometimes, binge-watching is the best thing.
Whatever hobby you have, keeping at it can help with the transition from University into this strange world that we call adulthood. Taking time for yourself will help you avoid the dreaded burnout.
Featured image courtesy of Stanley Morales on Pexels. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
