Have you found yourself burdened and stressed out over events of recent days? Use these calming hobbies to wind down, relax, and recharge. Each of these hobbies is great for mental health and relieving anxiety.
What is a Calming Hobby?
Calming hobbies are activities you engage in for pleasure and relaxation. These are meant to reduce stress or anxiety. Often they involve repetitive movement that is calming to the nervous system.
Engaging in activities that keep your mind busy (without being overly taxing) reduce stress and ease tension.
Calming hobbies can be something you produce (such as a craft or work of art) or it can be something you engage in such as exercise or listening to music.
Many of us turn to watching TV or surfing through social media when we want to unwind at the end of a long day. While these aren’t bad hobbies and can be relaxing and enjoyable (check out our brand new list of shows to binge-watch here), using technology can be stimulating and gives a false sense of calm.
Instead, try one of these hobbies and see how much better you feel after a couple of hours of engaged action.
During these stressful times, it’s important to create a unique self-care routine that is right for you, and many of these hobbies can be included.
5 Hobbies for Improved Mental Health
Each of the following will keep your mind engaged and is a stress-relieving hobby. Which of these calming hobbies have you tried?
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1. Bible Journaling
Bible journaling is creative artwork along with Bible study. While Bible Journaling can be done in a separate notebook, many people create artwork right on their Bible pages. Since this calming hobby is rising in popularity, there are now specific Bibles with wider margins for Bible journaling, Bible journaling supplies, and courses on Bible journaling.
Bible journaling example: Meisha B Bible journaling page.
In addition to creative expression, Bible journaling gives you time to meditate on God’s Word as you work.
Bible journaling is especially popular with women and children although it’s appropriate for everyone. Bible journaling is for Christians or those curious about the Bible.
Get more information about Bible journaling in these links:
Bible Journaling Ideas: How to Get Started
Bible Journaling Hacks: Supplies You Have at Home
Bible Journaling Supplies Worth the Splurge
7 Bible Verses for Stress, Worry, and Anxiety
2. Adult Coloring
Coloring is a stress-relieving hobby that has grown in popularity in recent years.
Once deemed as only something done for little kids with Crayola crayons, adult coloring, and meditative coloring has taken this to a new level. 
Today you can purchase adult coloring books that have intricate designs and higher-level supplies such as Prisma colored pencils, watercolors, and markers that allow you to use deeper, brighter colors, and beautiful shading.
While you can spend quite a bit of money on these higher-level supplies, you can also pick up a package of colored pencils, crayons, or markers at the dollar store for 99 cents and find just as much relaxation.
Color is great for everyone, kids, and adults alike. Do you use coloring as a calming hobby?
Get more information about coloring:
33 Relaxing Adult Coloring Books
Top Colored Pencils, Pens, and Markers for Bible Journaling and Adult Coloring
Holy Week and Easter Kid and Adult Coloring Pages
3. Diamond Art
Diamond Art is attaching small stones to a sticky canvas to create a mosaic-type design. Diamond Art is relaxing because it keeps the mind engaged without being overly taxing, and when you are done you have a beautiful artwork to display. This is one of my newest calming hobbies!
Diamond art is attaching small stones to a canvas that is sticky. This is a fun, easy, relaxing hobby.
Sometimes called diamond painting, there is no paint or artistic skill necessary for diamond art. The kits are quite inexpensive and everything you need is included in one kit. I have loved spending time with this new hobby! This is my kind of art therapy!
Diamond Art is appropriate for elementary school-age children and adults. It does require fine motor skill because the plastic diamonds are very small and is not appropriate for toddlers due to the pieces being a choking hazard.
Get more information about Diamond Art:
What Is Diamond Art? A Beginner’s Diamond Painting Guide
4. Exercise
According to research, exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function. This is great for mental health, reduce stress and a great stress reliever!
During my 100 pound weight loss journey, I learned the benefits of exercise for physical and mental health.
You don’t have to do a crazy amount of exercise to receive these benefits, either. Gentle walking, swimming or moving in the water and stretching all promote health and reduce stress.
As someone who is maintaining a significant weight loss, I understand the value of exercise and get it in some form almost every single day. I didn’t start out loving or even liking exercise. To be honest, I hated it with a passion. But during my 100 pound weight loss, I learned to like and even eventually love exercise.
Exercise is a hobby for everyone! Whether you are fit or someone with health challenges, all of us can find ways to be more active. Exercise is one of the best calming hobbies out there!
Get more information about exercise here:
How to Run a 5k When You Are Not Athletic
5 Day Faith + Fitness Jumpstart: Free Christian Weight Loss Challenge
7 Christian Fitness Affirmations
How to Exercise When You Don’t Feel Like It: 10 Workout Motivation Tips
5. Writing
Writing has been proven to be a therapeutic way to express your thoughts and relieve emotion. For most of my life, I’ve been keeping a journal and writing for both enjoyment and work.
I start my mornings with journaling, reflection, and writing a short daily gratitude list. As part of my weight loss strategy, I keep a food log and write about how my weight loss process is going.
I write daily weight loss affirmations, too.
Writing has also been an incredibly important part of my life since I started this blog which has grown into a full-time career. If you are interested in starting a blog for pleasure or as a way to bring in extra income, let me assure it you it can be done. Writing is one of my favorite calming hobbies!
Get more information about writing here:
How to Write a Blog About Your Life that a Lot of People Will Actually Read
15 Steps to Take to Start a Blog
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Blog?
If You Write, Please Read This.
Elite Blog Academy
What relaxing hobby do you enjoy? Let us know in the comments below!
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Thank you so much! This is all so helpful!
My daughter started me into adult sticker books. She got me four the first time. One was very simple with animal heads or poses and very cute. Then the others were called Brain Games, I believe she ordered them from Amazon, and they were a variety of subjects. One was a Bible one and I absolutely loved all the pictures I did with the stickers. Anything from stained glass windows to pictures of churches, angels and winter scenes. Then there was one with all floral pictures. Another one that I loved. A very interesting one was of sea life….from fish I had never seen before to sharks, to beautiful sea creatures. I have gone a little more daring by doing Bob Ross pictures with stickers, famous people or places and one recently from Barnes and Nobles that have very small but colorful stickers to do florals. This is also good for our brains as well as being relaxing and very rewarding when done. You can even frame them if you wish or give them away.
I paint rocks, with positive messages, and place them in areas they might be found. Walking path, outside of stores, and even had them placed in other countries. It’s called a random act of kindness with a message on the back to keep the rock or rehide it. So I hunt for interesting rocks, prepare them, paint them, then place them on my everyday journeys. For calming to my heart and knowing I am sending a little note of encouragement to someone who might need it
I’m a writer, so I’m always writing, at least in a journal if nowhere else. I also do Bible doodling and scrapbooking. I dabble in watercolors and coloring every once in a while, too. Creativity really helps relieve stress, as long as you’re not trying too hard to make a perfect piece of art. 😉
I have the supplies and have already tried 4 out of the 5, I do Bible Journaling, I have about 3 different Bibles and I like to use Composition books for my journaling right now I am using Robin Sampson’s Beta Bible Eras class to start journaling through the Bible so to speak starting with Genesis I am 1/2 way through.
I do a lot of Adult Coloring,I have some nice Bible based coloring books and some of nature, I have some regular coloring supplies and some expensive ones, that I indulged in;
I have 2 Diamond Art sets, that I have not tried yet, but will now certainly do so,
Exercises I do not like, but am well aware of the health benefits,
Writing, I do write I have a couple of workbooks one is for short stories and the other poems, the workbooks start out with a little paragraph or verse and then there is space to finish writing to my way of telling the story or poem
Nice! You have some great calming hobbies that you do. I love it.