In order to give our bodies and minds time to relax and recuperate we need to spend time doing activities which we choose to do willingly – activities which help us learn new skills; help us create bonds and make friends with different people; help us gain confidence and self -esteem and relieve stress. Hobbies can be anything we want them to be from watching certain TV programmes to skydiving, baking or sailing. The likelihood is that choosing to participate in activities other than work will help us to find balance in our lives. Through hobbies we find joy and relaxation in our lives. The new skills which we learn might even be transferrable skills which we then use in the rest of our lives – such as patience and understanding.

A friend of mine advocates for hobbies – he calls them side projects – as a strong way of finding an alternative career path if you are not enjoying the path which you are currently on. He coaches people to fully develop their side project until their experience and knowledge in that field becomes a viable option for changing careers. I can certainly name a few friends who have chosen this route – a local mum who we all poked fun at for her 5am runs has become a coach at the local gym; a lover of dogs who once worked in law is now running a successful business as a dog walker and trainer and then there’s the 16 year old musician earning a bit of money from teaching violin to younger beginners.