By Deborah Lambeth Here you are with time on your hands―you don't want to watch TV, know that you should not stay on your computer, but you want to find something meaningful to do. So what do you do? You find a hobby! Say the word 'hobby' enough and it starts to sound weird. After all, what exactly is a hobby? Hobbies are things that people do outside their area of work ,that provide a recreational, spiritual, and creative outlet. Hobbies are for interest and enjoyment rather than financial gain. For example, stamp collecting is a hobby. Some stamp enthusiasts have thousands of stamps from all different eras and countries. This is something they have become interested in collecting, and consequently find it relaxing and enjoyable. Others are fond of collecting coins from different countries, butterflies and insects, paintings, postcards, or autographs. Some people find it relaxing and enjoyable to play board games. While others find jewelry making or putting together very intricate ship models their hobby. This is not to say that in developing a hobby you cannot make it into a profession. Many hobby enthusiasts have turned their interests into a money-making business. Consider those that love to farm―it's something they enjoy doing as a source of relaxation, but they can also find a financial reward from their hobby as well. Canning vegetables, making pickles, selling seeds, making different kinds of sauces are ways in which the 'recreational farmer hobbyist' can make money. There are all kinds of hobbies that can fit into the 'relaxing but making money' category. Scrapbooking, singing, playing a musical instrument, making arts and crafts, and photography are just a few of the multitudes of hobbies that can bring in income. A good resource to find a hobby is to go to a local community college and look at their course catalog. Going online and just typing in the word 'hobby' into a search engine can net many options for you to consider. Many times, something will catch a person's eye and the interest will grow from there. Learning the how to's can be just as enjoyable and relaxing as implementing the hobby! There are many organized clubs, associations, and chapters of like-minded hobbyists that meet regularly to discuss their hobbies and share their experiences. If you have an interest in a particular activity, and want to develop it into a hobby, then you may want to do a little research to see if there is a local club of people who share the same interest. Not only can joining such a club provide you with information and a sounding board in developing your hobby, it can also become a valuable social outlet for meeting people. Everyone needs an outlet from the humdrum and their particular stressors. Hobbies and the cultivation of them provide a wonderful environment in which to take the proverbial 'deep breath' and do something for yourself that brings you inner pleasure. Most of our lives, we work to please other people. In short, the list of hobbies mentioned above give us the opportunity to please ourselves and thus, develop our sense of pride and accomplishment of what we can do well. What's your hobby? Don't have one? Go find one. Happy hobbying!