8 Creative Hobbies to Help You Relax and Feel Inspired

How often do you take time out to do something new and creative? Whether you find yourself holding onto stress from work or life, or you’re simply looking for a new hobby or creative outlet, spending time doing something relaxing or something you enjoy is a great way to let your brain unwind and find inspiration. So, to help you find the perfect hobby, we’ve put together a list of some of our favourite activities for destressing and finding inspiration.

The Importance of Creative Hobbies

Having a creative outlet or hobby that helps you relax and unwind is essential as it’s so easy to get lost in the day-to-day stresses of life. Taking some time out each day or week to do something you enjoy is a great way to counter this, keeping you feeling happy, inspired and motivated.

For example, if you’re the type of person who feels like you need to be productive all the time and struggle to take time out for yourself, try and pick up a hobby where you’re creating something practical through a relaxing means. You could set yourself the goal of knitting a new jumper or blanket, painting a piece of art to hang on the wall, or building something practical with wood or clay. This way, you get the best of both worlds, as you can learn a new skill and make something functional while inspiring creativity and unwinding from the day-to-day.

 

Relaxing and Inspiring Hobbies to Try Yourself

1. Gardening

You don’t need a big garden or allotment to take up gardening; you can build your unique garden area on a windowsill or anywhere that gets some sun. So, no matter where you are, you can create an inspiring garden area filled with plants and greenery to destress and get the creativity flowing.

From a small collection of succulents and houseplants to a huge landscaped garden, spending time tending to plants and creating your own green space is a great hobby to get into to relax and feel inspired, and studies have shown that it can even have positive impacts on your mental and physical health.

2. Candle or Soap Making

Surround yourself with beautiful scents and enjoy creating something unique with this relaxing and surprisingly easy-to-get-into hobby. Whether you can’t get enough scented candles or love creative soaps, making your own is easier than you might think. Relax and get inspired as you try out new combinations, scents and colours. Plus, you get the bonus of having a beautiful candle or bar of soap at the end of the process. You can fill your home with beautiful scents or even gift them to friends or family! Pick up a soap or candle-making kit and try out your hand at something new – it’s also a great excuse to buy some fancy soaps or candles to discover ideas for you to try recreating!

3. Painting

Painting is an incredibly creative and personal hobby, as you can channel your feelings into a piece of art that means something to you. You don’t need to be Van Gogh to take up painting, either! Even if you’re not an artistic person, you can have great fun painting. You don’t need to paint perfectly life-like portraits or landscapes, you can simply try creating different shapes and colours to make interesting patterns or experiment with different textures using brushes or everyday items to see how it looks. So, even if you aren’t sure what you want to paint or haven’t got much experience with painting, you can have fun trying weird ideas and before you know it you’ve created something unique and personal to you.

4. Hiking

While hiking can definitely be relaxing, it might not be an activity that immediately comes to mind when you think of creative hobbies, as it can sometimes be quite a commitment. If you’re an outdoorsy type who loves to explore nature, hiking is great as you can discover so many beautiful new locations around where you live. Plus, spending time in nature is proven to support good mental health and help with problems like anxiety and depression.

If hiking seems like too much of an effort, you can always start small with something like a walk around the local park or visit a local National Trust area. This is a great way to get out in nature and let your brain relax, opening you up to new inspiration.

5. Photography

One of the best ways to discover new creativity and get inspired is by drawing from the world around you. Photography is a brilliant creative hobby as it encourages you to stop and look at life in a new light, searching for beauty in the things you see every day. Photographers have to see everything through fresh eyes, and when you start to look for beauty in the world around you, you can find inspiration everywhere. So, whether you’re capturing spectacular sunsets or taking snaps of beautiful areas in nature or architecture, before you know it, you’ll find yourself discovering inspiration everywhere, which can then translate into other areas of your life. Plus, you can show off your artsy new pictures in your home with a photo canvas print or personalised photo gift like an acrylic photo block. You could even compile your favourite images into a bound photo book, showing off the artistic output of your new hobby.

6. Baking

There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked pastries or bread to melt away your stress. Baking is a fantastic and fun way to distract yourself from life, with the added bonus of some delicious baked goods to enjoy at the end! So even if you’ve not got any previous baking experience, put on the apron, grab the rolling pin and give it a go! If you’re looking for something simple, why not try this easy-bake bread or white chocolate chip cookies? Or, for more advanced bakers, challenge yourself with this chocolate and caramel ombre cake, French macarons or baked Alaska. The perfect way to spend a morning on the weekend or an evening after work, knead the stress away and enjoy some delicious treats afterwards to get the creativity flowing.

7. Woodworking

Whatever scale you’re working on, creating something with your hands is a really creative and rewarding process. If you find it difficult to switch off from work or stress, getting lost in building something new and creating a new project from wood is a great way to relax and forget about work or other stresses. While woodworking may seem a bit intimidating, you don’t need an expensive lathe or workshop to get started; you can create something with just some basic tools you might already have, like a saw and screwdriver. You could create a bowl for the kitchen, a shelf for the bedroom, or just a box or crate to keep trinkets in! Whatever you choose, putting your hands to work creating something is a great way to learn a practical skill and take your mind off work to discover new inspirations.

8. Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is more than just a chance to revisit and reminisce about some of your favourite memories; it’s also a brilliant creative outlet. Go ahead and dive into some old photos of you and your loved ones or pull together your favourite pictures of activities you’ve done over the past year and create a scrapbook as a uniquely personal and meaningful gift for a birthday, anniversary, wedding or any other milestone occasion.

If you’re not sure where to start, you could go through all the photos you can find from your memories with someone and pull together a timeline of photos, creating a wholesome book recollecting your journey together. You’re sure to discover some beautiful moments and find inspiration for a range of ideas.

However you find inspiration, it’s great to have a creative outlet and spend time doing something you love. So, why not give one of these creative hobbies a go? You might discover a new activity that you love, and most of them have a practical benefit as well, whether it’s improved health or a new creation to enjoy or show off. And, of course, if you’re looking for inspiration on a great gift for an upcoming birthday or special occasion, you can always explore our range of personalised gifts for a unique present that’s sure to stand out. Explore creative gift ideas, from t-shirts to candles, cushions, mugs and more, today!