'What I learned from trying 15 different hobbies'
Growing up, Sophie was the queen of hobbies. "When I was in primary school, I did every club. On a Thursday, I’d do hockey, highland dancing and swimming. At one point, I was the school librarian. The more badges I had on my jumper, the cooler I felt."
Today, it's a title she still holds, and her Thursday nights don’t look much different to when she was nine… Except she’s now 25, living in London and working as a designer for Disney. Oh, and she also has an audience of 40,000 followers on TikTok, who watch her journey as she tries out a different activity each month.
But while her childhood was spent trying every club under the sun, Scottish-born Sophie's passions took a hit during her teen years, as so many of ours do. Instead of pursuing her love of swimming or experimenting in the sports hall, she found herself spending more time revising, or trying to fit the expectations of what was deemed 'interesting' at the time.
"As exams became more important, my hobbies became less [so]," she tells us now. "Jump to uni and I became very aware of what people thought about me. I didn't want to do anything that was not seen as cool. If you'd asked me what my hobbies were at uni, I would have probably just said the gym and watching YouTube. I care so much about music - I love musicals and Disney - but at uni I would've just said [I listen to] techno."
This desire to fit in and appear a certain way to her peers followed Sophie when she moved to Stockholm, for her first job post-uni. And while she worked hard on her career, she found herself in that oh-so-very familiar pattern of "work, gym, bed" while simultaneously feeling the pressure to "have a plan" every weekend.
If she didn't, it would be "'Oh my god, panic! I'm not cool!'" And I don't know if that's just a a big city thing, but there's always this ‘go, go, go. I must be productive all of the time.' I got swept up in that."
Eventually, she had a lightbulb moment. She'd moved to London - a childhood dream - and decided to spend more time living the life she wanted, rather than the life she wanted to appear like she had, and so set about trying some of the activities the city had to offer.
She shared this intention on TikTok on what was originally a gym-orientated account, in a now-viral video dedicated to making more of her life outside of the 9-to-5. In the eight months since, Sophie has tried 15 different hobbies: swimming, tennis, dancing, spinning, hot yoga, baking, trampolining/rebound, sewing, boxing, playing padel, running track sessions, musical theatre jazz dancing, pottery painting, travelling solo and ice skating.
But what has she learned from her hobby journey? Here’s Sophie's biggest takeaways.
Other people aren't judging you
“People care a lot less about you than you think they do, and not in a way that they don't love you or you're not cared for. We think that people are thinking about us all the time, and I’ve realised people just don’t care. There's no point stopping yourself from doing something because of the fear of someone else's opinion.”
You don’t have to be good at a hobby to enjoy it
“I love swimming. I'm not good at it, but you don't need to be good at something to have fun. It's relaxing. When I swim, I don't know if I'm going fast, I don't know if I swim far, and I have no concept of if I'm any good or not. I just do what feels good."
Having a hobby is good for your mental health
“If I have a long day at work, I come home, have my dinner, and then go [swimming] last thing before the gym shuts. It’s so good for my head. I shower at the gym, and then go home straight to bed. I sleep so well.”
Forget what people said when you were a child
“At school, you're taught that if you're not good at something, it's not your thing. If you don't make the team, it's not your thing. If you don't get a good grade, you probably shouldn't do that subject to exam level. I feel like it’s ingrained in your brain, what you should and shouldn't do.
“I had that moment [of realisation] when I was trying padel. I played so badly, but I didn't stop laughing entire time. I realised you're not making money, you’re not chasing the promotion, this is literally fun. Take the stress out of it.”
Not every hobby is going to go well the first time, and that's OK
“I remember doing boxing in my living room to a video during the pandemic. Well, what I thought was boxing. It turned out it was like boxing to music and I thought, ‘I’m so good at this!' And then I went to an actual boxing class, and it wasn’t fun. It was bootcamp style. I left, and I thought boxing's not for me. But then I went back and I actually really liked it. I'm going to try it for a third time and give it a go."
Some activities will surprise you with how much you like them
“I went to try yoga. I set off for the 7am class before work. I sat outside the studio, and was still there at five past. This man came out and asked ‘is anyone for rebound here?’ and I was like ‘Oh no, I'm yoga’ and he said ‘Yoga is around the corner.’
"We went round and discovered the class had started, so he said ‘Just come and join my class’. There were only three people in [the class]. We each had a mini trampoline, and we bounced and bounced and bounced. It was the best and most unexpected discovery.”
Your hobbies don't need to regimented or structured
"I get a lot of messages asking, 'can you help me structure my hobby week?' And I'm like 'No! It's a hobby. It's fun, it doesn't need a structure.' It doesn't need to be that Tuesday nights are [for] swimming, and Wednesday nights are [always] dancing.
"If I want to do swimming one day and then the next week I fancy doing padel, I'll do that. I just go with how I feel, and try keep it very flexible. Some hobbies have naturally squished their way into my routine, like swimming and spin, more than say rebound."
Hobbies give you more energy
"When I exercise, I feel more energised than when I don't. When I move in any way, I get a massive happy hormone, endorphin buzz. Sometimes I get home from work and I cannot be bothered to move, but I know I'll come back from the gym and have the zooms and start running around and be super hyper."
Want to try a new hobby this year? Get your hobby fix here.
Follow Sophie on TikTok @sophied_fit and Instagram @sophied_fit for more hobby inspo
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