10 hobbies to try if you’re interested in a challenge
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Some people love to be challenged. In fact, they need to feel challenged if they’re going to be satisfied with life. If they don’t have something just outside of their current comfort zone, they’ll feel bored, unfulfilled, or discouraged. And if they don’t feel like they’re improving at something, they’ll feel stagnated.
If you lack challenges in many areas of your life, including your professional career and personal life, this can be even more discouraging. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of hobbies that can provide you with the challenges you need.
Hobbies to Try for a Challenge
Are you interested in more challenges in your life? Try one or more of these hobbies:
- Sailing. First, you could try sailing. Sailing requires a number of different skills employed simultaneously; you’ll need to stay coordinated, use your strength to move the sails, and potentially collaborate with other people on a team. The only rub is that you’ll need a sailing vessel and an open body of water to get started, but it’s easy to find affordable sailing boats for sale these days.
- Rock climbing. If you like the idea of a strength-based challenge, but you don’t like the water, try rock climbing. Rock climbing forces you to use your entire body at once and use your mind to strategize new rocks to grasp on your journey to the top. If you’re intimidated to start rock climbing an actual mountain, don’t worry—you can start at a rock climbing gym near you.
- Solving tough puzzles. Solving puzzles can be a simple matter, especially if you’re working with a small number of pieces or a simple, colorful image. But there are more complex puzzles out there to challenge your brain. You could try a puzzle with many pieces and no image, attempt to solve a 3D puzzle, or even tackle an unconventional type of puzzle altogether.
- Learning musical instruments. Regardless of how much musical talent or experience you already have, learning a new musical instrument can be tough. You’re going to sound terrible at first, but after weeks of dedicated practice and education, you’ll start to get the hang of it. Best of all, there’s no limit to how good you can become or how many songs you can master, so you’ll never be bored.
- Growing mushrooms. Gardening is fun, but for many flowers and vegetables, it’s straightforward. Growing mushrooms is a different, often more challenging exercise—and you can do it in the comfort of your own home. Start with an easy mushroom like oyster mushrooms and work your way to something even more challenging.
- Woodworking. It’s not hard to get started with woodworking, but crafting something exceptional demands years of practice and improvement. You’ll need to invest in some tools initially, or you can capitalize on an existing workshop nearby.
- Painting. Almost any art can be challenging, but painting is especially hard for newcomers. You’ll need to carefully balance the colors on the canvas and practice many different techniques to get the exact image you want.
- Bodybuilding. This hobby is a bit more intense than some of the others on this list because it demands you to change your lifestyle in addition to taking up time with the core hobby. Notably, you’ll need to change your eating habits in addition to going to the gym every day (or nearly every day). Still, many people love the challenge and the thrill of lifting greater and greater weights—and the benefits of getting your body in near-perfect shape are hard to top.
- Dancing. An experienced dancer looks so graceful and elegant that it’s easy to mistake as effortless. But the reality is that dancing is incredibly difficult. It’s physically demanding, it requires intense coordination, and you need to remain mentally focused the entire time. There are also a number of mental and physical health benefits to dancing, so it’s a hobby that’s well worth pursuing.
- Folding origami. If you’re interested in something less physically demanding, consider folding origami. The introductory models are remarkably simple; anyone can learn to fold a crane in an afternoon. But over time, you can fold much more complex creations—or even come up with models of your own.
How to Stay Challenged
Picking up one of these hobbies can immediately give you a challenge, but you’ll need to work actively if you want to remain challenged throughout your practice. Be consistent in your practice and keep pushing your limits; don’t become complacent with the habits you develop over time. And make sure you engage with other people who practice this hobby regularly; they’ll have ideas for how you can grow further.
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