When we were growing up, we may or may not have had hobbies. Neither our mothers nor our fathers had hobbies. Maybe life was harder or hobbies were already defined for everyone: Mothers knitted lace and sweaters, fathers did crossword puzzles, and some fathers went to coffee houses. On game shows, when the announcer asked the contestants what they did in their free time, the answer was almost always the same: travel, read books and spend time with friends. The funny thing is that at that time, a family was considered lucky if they traveled once a year. And reading was an activity that most people did only a few times a year.

Hobby is a funny word. It means an activity or activities that one likes to do other than earning and maintaining a living. What do you like to do, what are you excited to learn and develop in? It is known that doing activities that make you happy has positive effects on physical and mental health. For people suffering from trauma, depression, and serious illness, having something to hold on to sometimes helps a lot.

Music, painting, and dance therapies have become areas that support medicine. YouTube is full of people who, when they were depressed, took up a pastime, got better with it, and then shared videos about it with others.

The COVID times brought another dimension to this. Whenever I go to a group exhibition in Toronto, there is always an artist who started painting during COVID. In Canada, many people who focused on their favorite hobby during COVID and turned it into a livelihood and became successful made the news.

I am always happily surprised that people in England, a tiny island, have countless hobbies. There are competitions for all kinds of hobbies on British television. My favorite programs are the painter of the year, ceramics, and cooking competitions. These programs show what people of all income levels can do in a small room in their house, in the basement, or a shed in the garden and put them in a very positive and respectful competition environment.

It's not about winning the competition, but about celebrating the love of hobbies among people who share a common interest.

I have met and worked with many people in my professional life. Over the years, it has become more important for me to understand what people do not only in their work but also outside of work. People who have hobbies and enjoy them live life from a richer place.

The stresses and struggles of life affect them less. They do not define themselves only by their work. They have somewhere to escape to when life gets difficult. They have a positive impact on their surroundings. And as they get older and even closer to retirement, these pursuits provide a new identity.

You've heard many people say, "I can't do without work, I can't sit still. I always find this sentence a bit sad. Of course, it's good to work, but is there nothing else other than work that interests us, that we want to do? In such cases, I think of examples like Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and the Canadian scientist Fred Banting. Einstein played the violin all his life.

Winston Churchill took up painting after the defeat at Gallipoli and painted all his life. British royals are known to be fond of art. Queen Victoria painted and her daughter was a very good sculptor. The watercolors of the current King Charles of England are advanced. The Canadian scientist Fred Banting won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the role of insulin, and in 2018, a painting of his laboratory in 1930 was sold for a very high price. I couldn't believe it when I heard that: How can one be a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and at the same time such a good painter?

Over the years, I have taken up many pursuits. Some have ended (sailing), some are still with me but on a smaller level (gardening - I have about 40 potted plants in the house, but not much in my garden), and some I return to when I feel like it (quilting, reiki), and some are growing day by day (painting). As the years go by, my interest and love for painting grow deeper and deeper. The pure, sincere attention of a human being when creating is miraculous to me.

I love to look at paintings at all levels. The intention of the person who made it, their love, they're trying to do the best, it seems so pure and so high to me. When I paint myself, working on a painting for a few hours creates a feeling close to getting high. It's hard to explain this, it may even sound absurd to many people, but I think certain hormones are secreted in the brain during creation. Whatever one concentrates on with love, I think this effect manifests itself to some extent.

Recently, I opened an Instagram page to motivate myself to paint more. Every day I follow the works of amateurs like me and painters living in the same city, state, and country and post my own works. When I gain a follower who is a painter, I am the happiest. Because it makes me very happy when they like a picture I made. Of course, Instagram also has its negative sides. For example, it creates a sense of urgency. Sometimes I do less than I would normally work on a picture just to post it as soon as possible. Still, it's nice to know that there are pictures I've made somewhere on the internet and to share them with other people who love art.

It's definitely a richer and more exciting life if you have a vocation. We need to find that little spark, make it grow, and add it to our daily lives in order to enjoy life more. To find this occupation, looking back at our past can help. When we were children when we were young, what were the activities we most enjoyed doing, the activities we most dreamed of doing? If that doesn't provide an answer, it's worth looking around at courses, our friends, or even youtube, and Instagram.

Everybody has that one occupation lurking somewhere inside of them. We have to find it, dig it out and not let it go.