HOBBY: A pursuit outside one’s regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation.
PASSION: A strong desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept.
“When are you going to stop wasting your time on just a hobby?” At 12 years old, my answer was and always will be, “Absolutely never.” Period. The end. Dance wasn’t just a hobby for me, although I suppose it fits the tepid definition. Instead, it has always been my passion, my joy, my love language. I’ll even go so far as to say a craving, a need.
Passions or hobbies or anywhere in between – are they more than luxuries? Why do we crave them, even need them?
Engaging in an activity that we have passion for and that fully engages us can:
- Release dopamine and decrease cortisol, thereby reducing stress and anxiety, while enhancing an overall sense of happiness, satisfaction, and optimism
- Enhance problem-solving, mental agility, and creativity
- Improve learning, memory, motivation, and productivity
- Improve emotional and physical health
Our “passion hobbies,” as we’ll call them, can run the gamut from snowboarding, dirt biking, and working out to gardening, art, dance, and makeup design to Quidditch, soap carving, tree shaping, and ant farming.
Social or solitary, expensive or free, time-consuming or time-friendly, what matters is that you choose something (although passions seem to choose us) meaningful and enjoyable that you love; that leaves you feeling more whole, more you; and that simply makes your life plain ol’ better. You don’t have to turn passion into career. You just have to do it!
Wayne Dyer aptly put it:
“When you dance,” [insert your passion], “your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.” Sounds pretty necessary to me.
Pam Ray, BSE, CH, is the owner/director of Dallas West Dance Centre in Argyle; a certified facilitator for ACT, a parenting program by the American Psychological Association; a clinical certified hypnotherapist; and a member of the National Dance Education Organization.
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