New hobbies turn into stress relief activities

PHOTO: Playing board games with friends and family is one option for entertainment.

By Lynsey Hsieh,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Daisie Chiuu is a busy mother of two kids. She whips out a book for the night to relax from days of stressful work. Reading serves as Chiuu’s way to get away from the sea of problems in the world, and to bring her back to where she finds peace.

During quarantine, students and adults deal with the stresses of their own lives. Developing hobbies can be a good coping strategy to deal with stress, serving as a safe space where everyone can escape life’s problems. Some may even develop some new life skills.  

Chiuu’s two kids struggle to find entertainment by themselves while Chiuu is working. Chiuu tried to find different activities to entertain her children while staying at home, until one day, she came across a YouTube channel named, Cartooning Club How to Draw, which taught their viewers how to draw certain things step by step.

In the end, her children stuck with sketching as their hobby. Chiuu’s kids would draw two to three pictures a day, and hang them up on the empty walls. “I took pictures of them to remind us later of some of the things they did during this strange time in their lives,” Chiuu said. 

While her children were drawing cute little pictures, she sewed masks when she had the time. “I felt like I wasn’t doing my part to help if I wasn’t sewing masks,” Chiuu said.

At the beginning of quarantine, Chiuu, along with many others, were left confused and lost. Chiuu states if she wasn’t focused on anything, she would become too focused on the outside world where she knows she cannot make much impact. 

Before quarantine, Chiuu felt like she did not have a great work-life balance. Since she started working at home, she feels like she has gained a little bit more of that balance. “I feel more relaxed than with the schedule my family had before with sports and events every weekend,” Chiuu said.

However sophomore Melody Ho has a different coping strategy. Her mental health has deteriorated into a gray area. “I haven’t been too upset with myself or super happy either,” Ho said.

She copes with stress by listening to music and singing. She sings alone to some songs such as, “Paper Hearts” by Tori Kelly PH, “Honesty” by Pink Sweat$ H, “Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars LS and “Glorious” by Macklemore ft. Skylar Grey G.

Typically, Ho finds snippets throughout her day where she is alone to sing. Her melodic voice softly echoes off the walls of her empty home. 

While exercising, she listens to various K-pop and pop artists. At home, she runs on her family’s treadmill, located outside on the yard patio behind the glass doors in her house. She also works out on a workout bench located in her living room.

Ho tries to workout regularly, but has to take breaks regularly due to her ankles hurting or because she simply overworks herself. 

Ho is glad that she got the opportunity to develop those hobbies. She says it helps her express herself more than she would usually and made her happier than she has been previously. “They give me something more to do than to just stare at my phone,” Ho said. 

Some people even turned their hobby into a small side business. Junior Hannah Hong has started sewing and crocheting over quarantine. She has been making masks and other accessories to sell or give to close friends.

Before Hong discovered sewing, she felt as though she was not doing anything productive whether that was in school or in general.

Hong was introduced to sewing through her mother, who was very skilled at it. Now, she is sewing often since she is selling her creations, which she has to keep up with.

“I am sewing things for my friends and masks for community service,” Hong said. 

According to Hong, sewing has changed her life for the better. Having a hobby has a variety of benefits which may even come in handy in the future.

“And in the end, you can always gain another skill,” Hong said.