Do you read?  Write?  Play Sudoku?  Assemble jigsaw puzzles?  Do you have a hobby that brings you joy or peace?  

Having a hobby is a huge stress relief activity.  Some hobbies are multi-taskers.  They benefit the person actually participating in whatever hobby it is, plus other people in proximity.   For example, playing the piano.  If you are half-way decent, you will bring a sense of pleasure and peace to listeners.  The act of playing the piano can be relaxing and, in addition, you get to listen to beautiful music.  (Now, if you don’t play well – maybe choose another hobby – like putting together a scrapbook).

I have played the piano since I was in Third Grade.  I love playing the piano.  It has always been relaxing for me, and takes my mind off whatever is stressing me at the moment.  When I lived in an apartment, the little boy that lived upstairs from me told his mother that I was making “perfume music.”  He’d lay on the floor so he could hear me better.  And a next-door neighbor girl always came over while I was playing so she could “play with me” too.

Mechanic Man loves working on old cars, which is why I call him Mechanic Man (just in case you missed that part).  When he is working on cars, he goes into another world and any problems that are bothering him are nonexistent for the time he is working on the car.  He comes out of his self-imposed solitude feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, if not a little stiff and sore from using muscles he’s ignored for a while.

What is your hobby?  How do you feel it affects your long term health and stress level?

~Jeanie~

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