Why Everyone Should Have Some Physical Pastimes

What kinds of pastimes do you have when you’re not working?

Not too long ago, more or less everyone had a range of physical pastimes that they would engage in on a routine basis, ranging from amateur sports to DIY projects, hiking, and even things like birdwatching.

By contrast, more and more people today fill their free time up with pastimes that involve staring at one form screen or another, while remaining sedentary.

While many of the best pastimes out there are non-physical, there are some very real benefits to ensuring that you always have some physical pastimes at hand, as well, when you’re not working.

Here are a few reasons why everyone should have some physical pastimes.

In order to help you get out of your own head on a regular basis

Physical pastimes – even those that don’t require a lot of physical exertion – are often very good at managing to get you out of your own head, and away from the often endless and habitual cycles of rumination that so many of us struggle with from time to time.

Whenever you are drawn to focus on the external world in this way, and end up centering your awareness more in your body than in your mind, you allow yourself a chance to catch your breath, recharge your batteries, and get into something like a meditative state.

Many people find, for example, that physical exercise or walks in nature can really help them to stop overthinking and obsessing about a particular issue.

To reconnect you with a sense of your own autonomy

In today’s world, more and more people are struggling to maintain – and regain – a sense of agency and autonomy, in light of the fact that so much of the world is now outsourced, automated, and handled by third-party professionals.

While it’s great that you can call up a professional tradesman to deal with a problem around your home quickly and easily, there’s something about brushing up your own DIY skills and maybe even owning your own pipe cutting tools that can really help to give you an added sense of confidence and capability.

Many physically active pastimes, in general, can help you to develop, regain, and safeguard a sense of autonomy.

To help you to see things from different angles

Many physical pastimes will, more or less automatically, put you in a position where you will naturally be drawn to view things from different angles and to see nuances that you might otherwise have missed.

When it comes to dealing with perceived issues and limitations in life, looking for solutions to problems, and trying to break out of negative and self-limiting frames of reference, any pastime that can disrupt your normal consciousness and perspective on things can allow you room for transformation, in one sense or another.

When people travel, a big part of the psychological benefit they obtain is often precisely the fact that going to a new location helps them to perceive and think about their lives in new ways.

Physical pastimes can often do something quite similar.

Isa Lillo

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