6 Non-Destructive Hobbies to Replace your Addictions

We all have them. Most of the time we don’t know how or when we even developed them. For some of us, it feels like we were born with them or given the means to pursue them at dangerously early ages. You would be hard pressed to go your entire life finding someone who hasn’t struggled with unhealthy tendencies at some point in their life. You can call them habits. You can call them vices.

And you can call them addictions.

Addictions don’t need to be something extreme. They can be as simple as a vice that takes us away from what truly matters in life. They are unhealthy habits we pick up at some point that do nothing for us. For some it’s drinking. Others it’s gambling. It can come in the form of drugs, porn, video games, recreation or food. It can be something completely harmless that we do to an extreme and it ends up consuming more of our time than originally intended. Regardless of the trap you have fallen into, it can be categorized as something that is detracting from your life. Something formed out of negative behavior and an inaccurate moral compass. If we’re not careful, the rush of these vices can consume us and cause serious damage in our lives.

Simply put, addictions are the things that control us and put our lives out of balance.

So what can we do about them? What do we do to kill the time when we’re not performing these negative practices?

Here’s a list of six healthy, non-destructive outlets and how they can lead to positive changes in your life.

Journaling

Writing down our thoughts has been widely regarded as one of the most therapeutic ways to reduce stress and anxiety. Especially for people who feel like they have no one to talk to, journaling can be a way of “unjumbling” the mess that swells up in our head and threatens to burst in unhealthy ways.

Journaling can be done in various forms. You can write as if you’re writing in a diary, talking like you would to a therapist who is asking you about your day.

You can write stories. Sometimes things are hard to say, and it can be a useful technique to write out problems as if they were someone else’s. Burdens can grow heavy. Unloading them onto fictional characters and watching how they deal with them can help in multiple ways.

For the non-literate types, making lists can be a useful, straight-forward method to letting go of stress. You can associate words with various emotions, list the stressful things in your life, or simply make a to-do list of responsibilities that may be bogging you down.

Regardless, writing makes things concrete and organizes them. Our heads are only programmed to hold so much information. Writing is a way to process thoughts and emotions and let them go immediately after.

Art

Much like journaling, art is a way of moving your thoughts and emotions out of your head in a healthy manner. When we see those released emotions on a page (or canvas) in front of us, we often find it easier to process them when looking at them from more of a third-person perspective.

If you’re not “artsy,” it’s okay. I’m no good, either.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be a professional to use art as a means of creative expression. Art comes in many forms and can be a therapeutic process. Even if the end product is terrible, the act of channeling your attention into creating something from nothing can stimulate the mind in positive ways while serving as a method of journaling for visual learners.

Collecting

When you collect, your mind is always working toward that collection. You see things through a lens of “your final collection.” What will it look like when the collection is completed? How does this new piece go with the pieces you already have? Collecting items carves out a little space in your mind and lives there. And it’s a fun space. It’s a space where your imagination can run wild with no creative limits because only you can set the boundaries.

Collecting doesn’t always have to be centered around material possessions, either.

In a world where you know a fraction of a fraction of all the knowledge there is to learn, you can collect information. An unfathomable amount of information has yet to seep into that brain of yours. It is the ultimate collection that will never be completed. You don’t need a physically able body to collect it, and the more you collect it, the sharper you become. And as a byproduct, the more of it you acquire, the more interesting a person you become.

This practice is often referred to as “generalism.”

Generalists love knowledge. They may not proclaim themselves to be masters at one specific thing, but they know a little (or a lot) about a lot. They possess a strong desire to know everything there is to know in the world. They recognize how vast the universe’s pool of knowledge is and want to drink from that pool as often as they can.

Fitness

Indulge me for a half second while I write about an obvious one.

It is no new idea that fitness has been used as an escape for years. It’s a way to channel aggression, frustration, and stress into something positive and productive. It might also improve your ability to stay away from whatever negative vices you may be struggling with.

Fitness alters your body; this much is true. But it also alters your brain chemistry. Exercise decreases the number of stress receptors in the hippocampus, helping you alleviate whatever stressful feelings you might have. It releases endorphins throughout your body, helping you fight off levels of depression and anxiety. Working out can also improve memorization by increasing the number of synapses formed between learning and memory.

All of these neurological benefits can help provide you with the mental tools to stay disciplined when trying to avoid vices and addictions.

Community Service

Often when we fall into the trap of addiction we are disappointed with ourselves. Not simply because we know that others view whatever we are doing as bad, but because all of these addictions have something in common. They involve us thinking about ourselves. Addictions are self-serving. They exist for our own personal pleasures and create a life that revolves around us. When we have a “me-centered” mentality, we spend our time focusing on us as the main character but are never truly fulfilled, as our image of ourselves is too big for anyone to fit around us.

That is not a sustainable lifestyle.

The answer can lie in altruism.

Getting into community service can break the cycle of self-serving and force us to practice being a servant to others. Often those we help through community service are in more need of our own assistance than we are. A crazy thing happens when we begin to form altruistic habits, too. As a result, we begin to feel more full. More whole. The emptiness we were trying so hard to fill starts to evaporate as we realize that our time is now being spent filling up those around us. We feel like we finally have a purpose. Now, in place of our addictions that have been temporarily making us feel better are the smiles of those we assist, the relief we see on other’s faces, and the lives that are made easier by our efforts. It creates a feeling of satisfaction inside of us, only this satisfaction isn’t temporary.

It’s here to stay.

Meditation

In a world of distraction, it’s easy to get consumed by a vice and not even realize it. Your social media algorithm knows exactly what you like and gives it to you. Television is a wonderful way to escape into somebody else’s life for a few hours without mentally working too hard. Many of the things modern day life has to offer are quick. Easy. Society is built on instant gratification and temporary feelings. It’s built on greed and laziness and a focus on one’s own needs and desires.

What we forget is that among all the smoke and mirrors, life is truly a beautiful thing at its core.

Life is a gift and our consciousness is a blessing. It’s just easy to overlook them.

When we become caught up in our fast-moving world, we forget to examine our thoughts, feelings, and actions for what they are: responses to external stimuli acting upon us.

Meditation is a way of slowing the world down and remembering who you are at your core. It is about practicing “mindfulness,” a method of being aware of your thoughts and examining why you think certain ways and what things cause you to think various thoughts. It helps us examine the “what,” “why,” and “how” of life, things we often overlook when we are busy taking things at surface level.

Meditation doesn’t need to be an elaborate spiritual journey where we enter a new world in our mind and reach a level of enlightenment that no one has ever ventured to before. It can be as simple as closing your eyes and breathing. The important part is growing aware of those breaths again. What does it sound like? What does it feel like? What do the things around you sound like? What thoughts do those outside sounds provoke? Are they positive thoughts or negative thoughts? What thoughts come out of those thoughts?

All these questions are centered around how you respond to your environment using your senses. No screens, no filters, no vices, no distractions. Just you interacting with the universe.

The more you practice, the more receptive you can be to the world around you - aware of its gifts, signs, and messages - and temptations.