A Positive Psychiatrist’s Tips To Ease Everyday Stress (One May Surprise You)

Ever heard of this tip? To help ease everyday stress, kickstart a hobby. “Hobbies are probably the purest form of love,” says Boardman. According to a study from Harvard Business School, the best intervention for people who felt stressed and burnt out at work was to learn a new activity—not for the sake of climbing the corporate ladder, but for their own happiness. 

That said, Boardman emphasizes the importance of doing something just “for the love of the game.” Find an activity that brings you joy, and stick with it—just don’t turn it into a side hustle, as that undermines the beauty of the hobby itself, but discover something you deem valuable for your own pleasure. “That’s what puts you in a flow state, where you lose sense of time, and that engagement is just a tremendous uplifter in your everyday life,” says Boardman. 

On that note, one final caveat: “For it to qualify as a hobby, it can’t be passive,” says Boardman. “There has to be that level of engagement.” For example, scrolling through your social media feed does not count as a hobby, nor does watching sports on TV.