Sometimes, the routines and experiences in a woman’s life can leave you feeling emotionally drained with low self-esteem.
Empowering hobbies can help you release stress and improve your well-being.
If you’re feeling a little low on confidence lately, take up one of these hobbies to gain control of your life once more.
1. Fitness
Physical exercise releases’ feel-good’ hormones that minimize stress and keep you in a pleasant emotional state.
After exercising consistently for a couple of weeks, you will notice that your body is getting stronger and can go up a flight of stairs without stopping or panting. This will give you the confidence to improve other areas of your life too.
The great thing about fitness is that you don’t need a gym. You can start exercising at home with YouTube videos or workout DVDs unless you want company for extra motivation.
2. Snowboarding
Snowboarding is an excellent hobby that will help you develop decision making and self-awareness skills. It’s a terrific way to push your limits and challenge fears, let alone the fact that you have to go outside during winter.
It may look intimidating at first because you have to balance your body on the snowboard and turn it with your legs. However, once you get the hang of it, you’ll feel so empowered that you won’t want to stop.
3. Horseback Riding
Horseback riding is a therapeutic hobby for the body and mind. It improves stamina and balance.
This activity also provides huge psychological benefits by helping to improve confidence, lower stress, help with concentration, and mental focus.
Generally, horses listen to a rider’s instructions, but they also have minds of their own. Handling a big and strong animal like a horse empowers you to deal with other areas of your life.
Sign up for horseback riding lessons in your area to get started.
4. Golfing
Golf is said to be ‘the greatest game ever played’.
The reason it takes a little longer to master than other games is that it requires precision, mental, physical, and emotional commitment.
It involves walking long distances, which is good for your overall well-being.
Over time, you will start to feel empowered when you notice how much you’ve improved in the game.
You’ll become more confident to handle difficult tasks in other areas of your life. Also, you get to meet other empowered women on the course to motivate you.
5. Reading
Is there anything more empowering than reading a good book? Reading opens your mind to places and cultures that you never knew before.
It gives you new perspectives and inspires you to make positive changes in your life. Reading also enhances and increases your vocabulary, which makes you more confident.
Whether you need career advice, personal growth tips, or the solution to a broken heart, reading about how someone else turned a difficult situation around will assure you that you can do it too.
Start this hobby by taking off at least 10 minutes a day to read or join a book club nearby for inspiration and accountability.
6. Scuba Diving
This hobby allows you to adventure and explore unique destinations and learn about new cultures.
Being submerged in water keeps you focused on the here-and-now, giving you peace from noise, stress, and distractions in the top-side world.
Getting to experience the thousands of sea creatures that you’ve only seen on TV and exploring unchartered territory will build your confidence.
With each dive, you’ll get a sense of accomplishment and confidence.
This sport has been viewed as male-centric for a long time, but women are starting to do it too. So can you!
7. Learning New Languages
Being able to communicate in different languages opens the door to new cultures and experiences.
It allows you to break barriers between people. If you visited a different country and spoke the language, you’d be able to confidently hire a car and strike a conversation with the locals.
Learning a new language enhances your memory and thinking skills.
Furthermore, it improves your career prospects as the demand for bilingual professionals is on the rise.
Whether you want to learn French, Hindi, Greek, or Japanese, you can start learning online for free. Simply sign up to sites like Duolingo.
8. Chess
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be intelligent to play chess. You can become intelligent by playing chess.
Chess improves your memory and teaches you to think critically and make complex decisions under pressure.
This empowers you to solve problems in your daily life.
It’s never too late to learn, you only have to invest time, desire, and commitment to master the game.
9. Painting
With each brush-stroke you make on that canvas, your confidence will grow as your project comes together. You’ll feel a sense of achievement and develop a healthy state of mind.
It is such an engaging hobby that keeps you in the present; you won’t have time to focus on your inadequacies.
Don’t worry if you have never held a paintbrush before. You can start this amazing hobby by simply choosing one of the several free painting classes available online.
10. Play a Musical Instrument
Playing a musical instrument stimulates your brain, improving your memory function and abstract reasoning skills.
It also builds your leadership and team-building skills, especially if you’re playing in a group, orchestra, or choir.
When you finally perfect that musical passage you’ve been struggling with for days, you’ll have a huge sense of achievement and pride.
Whether you want to play the guitar, piano, or drums, find out if there’s someone offering lessons near you, or start learning online.
11. Meditating
Meditating daily builds your self-confidence by improving your self-awareness.
Self-awareness helps you come face-to-face with your strengths and weaknesses on a deep and intimate level.
Harness your inner strength with guided meditations online.
Find a quiet spot in your home, then sit on the floor or chair or lie down and ‘get in the zone.’
12. Organic Gardening
Planting a seed, watching it grow into a seedling, then planting it in the main garden is a fulfilling experience, even before the harvest.
Even better is knowing that your food is safe from harmful pesticides and chemicals.
Organic gardening allows you to take control of the food you eat and, consequently, your health and that of your family.
It’s empowering to know that you can trust the source of your food (your backyard) because you know what stages it has gone through until harvest.
13. Photography
Photography gives you the ability to capture and create your visual reality.
You have the power to catch a moment and keep it alive as a memory for a long time.
You can control what is inside the frame by deciding which parts to keep, which ones to chisel away, and how to frame your reality.
Your photographs are evidence of the beauty and joy of life.
They empower you to help other people see the world in a more meaningful way.
The great news is that you don’t need an expensive camera to start this hobby, and you can learn from sites like Skillshare.
14. Martial Arts
Martial arts is no longer a male-dominated hobby because girls and women are capable of thriving in it.
It empowers you by training you to build your self-confidence and get stronger, physically, and emotionally.
Knowing that you have the skills to defend yourself against an attacker gives you the confidence to interact with people without fear.
Martial arts push you to focus and perform at your best under pressure.
Exposure to these challenging situations will make you feel like you can handle any difficult situation in life that comes your way.
15. Volunteering
Empowering other people empowers you. When you sacrifice your time and skills to make your community a better place, it gives you the sense that you can make a difference.
Don’t feel burdened, thinking that if you start, you must stay on for life.
Whatever project you’re volunteering for does not have to be a long-term commitment.
For example, you could volunteer at a women’s mentorship program and choose to mentor young women for six months or a year.
No amount of time or task you can perform is too small. Every little bit makes a difference.
Find out what projects you can volunteer for in your community.
16. Camping
You can start camping as a hobby, whether you’re adventurous or not.
Camping allows you to learn new things and build new skills that you wouldn’t have otherwise known about.
For example, starting a cooking fire, setting up a tent, cooking with firewood, fishing, hiking, and so on.
These challenging activities improve your problem-solving skills and subsequently enhance your confidence.
You’ll feel empowered when you realize that sleeping in a tent in the middle of nowhere is not so scary after all.
If you live in a highly urbanized area, start with a quick Google search for local, state, and national parks in your area.
17. Coding
Coding will empower you by enabling you to create and not just consume today and tomorrow’s technologies.
It improves your problem-solving and critical thinking. Women who code take complex problems and break them down into smaller chunks.
You learn to approach problems with logical thinking.
Coders become confident and articulate individuals who can talk about technology and its potential.
Learning how to code will only cost you your time. There are several free online coding courses.
18. Public Speaking
Are you looking to empower yourself in the area of communication?
Making public speaking your hobby will improve your communication skills and give you the confidence to network with people from all walks of life.
Even the most eloquent speakers had stage fright.
Start your journey to empowerment by visiting a Toastmasters club near you.
The club provides a supportive and safe environment to develop your leadership and communication skills.
19. Solo Travel
Travel is one of the most empowering hobbies a woman can have. More so, if you are traveling solo.
Leaving the comfort of your town or city, challenges you to trust your instincts.
You develop confidence in your decisions and embrace opportunities that will push personal boundaries.
Traveling will build your resilience because your usual coping mechanisms may be unavailable.
You’ll surprise yourself when you realize that the fears and anxieties you had weren’t so intimidating after all.
If you’ve never traveled alone, start planning your maiden solo trip and have fun.
20. Interior design
Interior design allows you to express your love of color and design.
It enables you to turn an empty or dull space into a comfortable and livable space.
Redecorating the different rooms in your own home gives you the power to control how your space looks and change it on your terms.
To kick start your interior design hobby, get lots of inspiration.
Start by looking at design magazines, observe the trends, and visit interior design expos in your area for new ideas.
You can then offer to design a friend’s nursery or living room.
21. Cooking
Didn’t expect this hobby on the list? Well, if you’re wondering how cooking can empower you as a woman, it’s simple.
By learning the fundamentals of cooking and mastering a few dishes in each meal category (breakfast, appetizer, lunch, dessert, and dinner).
Cooking delicious food that everyone will compliment is empowering because you feel that you succeeded.
Learning the various flavors and which ones go together is essential.
Knowing a few recipes will go a long way in creating the perfect dish.
Go and Get Empowered!
Any of these hobbies sound exciting to you? We hope that you have selected one or two that you’ll take on from now onwards.
They will breathe purpose back into your life. If your self-esteem has taken a hit recently, practicing these hobbies will give you your confidence back.
They will inspire you to wake up every morning excited and empowered to know that you can control your life.
