We have a wellness program at my office. I logged in this morning to find out what the challenge is, and I found this:
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About This Challenge
Why it matters
Hobbies allow you to work on an activity or project that you enjoy — and create some “me time” in the process. You might choose an outdoor activity like rock climbing, mountain biking, or orienteering — or something low-key like knitting, painting, or building miniature models.
The simple act of focusing on a hobby helps you to switch off your everyday thoughts and do something purely for the joy of it. There are also health benefits related to having hobbies, including:
Lower blood pressure
Positive state of mind and “eustress” (positive stress)
I have found that sitting in a comfortable chair and lifting a 10 pound potato sack with each arm is very good. In a couple weeks I’ll start adding potatoes to the sacks…[8-|]
I’m confused - how does intermitten solder joint connections, blobby air brush patterns, dropping rolling stock on the floor, cement oozing out where you don’t want it, snapped off #78 drill bits, or small detail parts springing out into the nether fit in with this?
During my 35 years as an aircraft inspector for a major airline I discovered that ANY TIME spent away from that mess was relaxing and eased my tensions…going into the train room was always better no matter what problems developed there.
Now having retired to a 20 acre farm with all the many issues that pop up daily I still find that being away from those people and nasty machines is a joy and pleasure to my mind.
I believe my modeling time is very relaxing and my blood pressure is back to normal now. I’m sure that’s due to lack of time clocks, Stupidvisors and aluminum beasts.
With my office at home (and if I’m working at home, I go to my clients, my clients don’t come to me), I just go into the ‘ol train room, switch the layout on and run trains for a little while. That gets me away from it and clears my mind. I spend 2 to 3 nights a week workin’ on the railroad too. Also, on my office days, I’ll occasionally go into the train room and get something done on a project at my work bench on my lunch break.
Nothing Orwellian to me. Not all stress is negative and you’ve got to have a term to set it apart. Like when they had to coin “good cholesterol” because they figured out there was more than one kind.
True according to psychology classes I have taken. While sometimes trying to flawlessly glue miniature parts together can be frustrating in general it is a nice distraction from your normal job stress. Doing these type activities are very beneficial because when they are completed they give you a sense of accomplishment. Think about a post office employee and how frustration that job is to someone who is goal oriented. The mail never stops coming. Hence employees go postal.
I used to do construction and you can always see the progress of the work you are doing and you get a big sense of accomplishment when you are finished. Then I had a temporary job in a factory that made plastic lids used for soft drinks at fast food restaurants, and food trays for frozen foods. Those machines ran 24/7 and constantly spit out product to be bagged and boxed just like a crazy episode of Lucy. You never got a sense of accomplishment. You job was never done, just someone else stepped in to give you a break for 16 hours. I only lasted 2 weeks before I quit.
In the early days of NASA, management made the employees paint their houses every few months so that they could feel like they got something accomplished because the early days of the space program were very frustrating.