Your Hobby According to Your Personality: Experts Determine It

SadaNews - Despite the differences in each person's life, mental health experts advise everyone to engage in a hobby.

According to a report published by Martha Stewart's website, engaging in a routine activity can enhance brain health, help foster new friendships, and bring organization to one’s life, provided one chooses a hobby that suits them.

Monica Vermani, a clinical psychologist and author of the book "A Deeper Wellness: Overcoming Stress, Mood Swings, Anxiety, and Trauma," states, "Understanding oneself, along with their traits and preferences, makes decision-making easier in various aspects of a person's educational, professional, and personal life."

How to Identify Hobbies

Regina Bonds, a business and lifestyle coach, recommends understanding the five main personality types, as these traits allow the identification of strengths and weaknesses. They also help determine what a person wants from life, foster relationships, and enhance the understanding of others. Additionally, identifying one's personality type provides a greater opportunity to understand the hobbies one enjoys and can continue to practice.

The Five Personality Types

There are five basic dimensions of personality, known as the "Big Five Factors." These are general classifications used to describe personalities, often referred to by the acronym OCEAN, which stands for Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Dr. Vermani states: "Each of these five factors represents a continuum between two opposing ends. Many people possess traits that lie somewhere between these extremes." Furthermore, personal traits change as people mature, learn, and grow through life experiences.

Openness

Bonds describes individuals who fall under this personality type as always curious. She states, "They have a vivid imagination, are open to trying new things, love new challenges, and are not afraid of taking risks." Suitable hobbies for them include:

Creative hobbies
• Visiting museums
• Going on nature explorations
• Reading novels
• Engaging in arts and crafts
• Traveling locally or internationally
• Practicing photography
• Attending creative and adventurous baking and cooking courses.

Conscientiousness

Bonds says that conscientious individuals are very sensitive; they constantly think about how their behaviors affect others, paying attention "to every small detail, spending time preparing to enjoy their scheduled plans and daily routines," adding that they "like planning and adhering to deadlines."

Meaningful hobbies with tangible outcomes
• Writing
• Creating a home garden
• Playing chess or strategy-based games
• Volunteering
• Attending organized and competitive cooking courses
• Participating in trivia competitions.

Extraversion

If a person considers themselves "very extroverted," they are likely an extravert. Bonds says, "These individuals tend to be very social - being in crowds and around others helps them feel energized and gives them a boost of vitality." In contrast, individuals lacking openness prefer solitude and need special time for relaxation, especially after social events; suitable activities for them include:

• Attending high-energy exercise classes
• Joining group classes in painting or pottery
• Organizing game nights
• Attending concerts and festivals
• Joining a debate or public speaking club
• Participating in improv classes and groups
• Engaging in networking events
• Singing in a choir or music band.

Agreeableness

Dr. Vermani explains that friendly individuals tend to be cooperative and view life with optimism: they often get along well with others and are generally characterized by kindness, trust, altruism, empathy, and gentleness.
Hobbies that benefit others
• Volunteering at a charity
• Organizing a book club
• Writing poetry and reading it to someone
• Supporting a local shelter
• Creating a community garden
• Organizing a food drive
• Planning seasonal community events and celebrations
• Participating in a sports league.

Neuroticism

Neurotic individuals feel distress from the world and find it threatening and unsafe. A person with this personality type - or who regularly displays traits from this category - may seem sad, moody, and irritable. Dr. Vermani states that this category "includes individuals at both extremes and everything in between, from those who are emotionally stable to those living in complete emotional chaos." Neurotic individuals often find it difficult to emotionally recover from difficult life experiences and need some support and care to do so. However, if a person falls under the neurotic personality type yet experiences symptoms on a narrower scale, they can often manage stress well and enjoy emotional stability through the following:

Soothing and supportive individual hobbies
• Training for marathons
• Creating a blog
• Caring for houseplants
• Learning a new language
• Joining a support group
• Meditating
• Fishing
• Solving puzzles and crosswords.