With daily to-do lists and the basic hustle and bustle of life, starting a hobby may be the furthest thing from your mind. But did you know that starting a hobby isn’t about fitting one more thing into your already hectic schedule? It’s about finding a few hours to spend some time for yourself, or with the people who enjoy the same things that you do.
As the general pace of world moves faster, hobbies can give us a reason to slow down. They can bring joy and relaxation to our lives or provide us with an opportunity to pursue a passion that may have slowly slipped away.
As we ring in the new year, a new decade and celebrate the hobby industry during National Hobby Month, why not take the time to find a hobby that will help you unwind or better yet, inspire you to try something new?
To demonstrate the positive benefits of participating in a hobby, we’re providing you with the top 10 reasons to start today:
1. Foster Your Creativity
Having a hobby can be a great outlet to help foster your creativity. Take the time to create something unique, beautiful and functional. Creative outlets in model rocketry include a combination of activities such as designing, painting, building and engineering.
2. Develop Self-confidence and Resilience
Taking on a new challenge and seeing a project through to completion is no easy feat. Some hobbies have layers of complex steps where the success of the outcome is contingent on how each piece of the project fits together. Ours is no different. Model rocketeers learn how to design and construct building beautiful models that can actually fly. Part of the thrill of rocketry itself is putting it all “on the line” by flying your model and having it land safely and intact.
3. Expand Your Problem-Solving Skills
The ability to solve problems and come up with viable solutions is a sought after attribute and a skill that requires practice and refinement. Rocketry helps develop critical reasoning skills, teaches us to learn how to work through problems, and creates an opportunity for us to imagine solutions in innovated ways.
4. Join a Community
There are many real and virtual, local and national model rocket communities in which you can connect with new people who have similar interests. Many model rocketeers enjoy being a part of a second family comprising of lifelong friends who share their experiences and follow their rocketeer journey.
5. Family Togetherness
Have you ever heard the phrase “A family that flies together stays together”? Probably not, because we made it up. But the reality is we have lots of families who have passed down their rocketry traditions from generation to generation. Long-time traditions can create bonds that will last through the test of time and distance. Introduce your favorite hobby to your children, spouse, siblings and loved ones. Or maybe have them introduce their hobby to you. Regardless, having a family hobby can help you share what you love while creating a learning experience and an opportunity to spend more time together.
6. Learn New Skills
Combine the past with the present. When building model rockets we utilize both traditional hand tools and digital tools to design and construct rockets that can reach a certain altitude or launch a payload to the heavens. Traditional tools can help develop finger dexterity and fine motor skills while digital software tools such as OpenRocket Simulator can help you flush out concepts and simulate rockets before you build and fly them.
7. Exercise Your Brain
Keeping your brain in shape is just as important as physical fitness. Your brain benefits from constant learning and processing new information. Hobbies can help you stay mentally fit by challenging your brain, which can help you reap the benefits of a sharper mind for years to come.
8. Developing Educational Opportunities
Hobbies can be a pathway to technical and engineering careers. With a firm footing in STEM education since the 50s, Estes has helped advance the following skills and disciplines:
A hobbyist not only develops expertise in a topic or ability in the hobby activity itself, they can also develop a greater level of knowledge in related areas. Many model rocketeers become experts on military history, space history, aeronautics and rocket science.
10. Become a Mentor
One of the biggest joys of becoming an expert is the ability to pass the knowledge on. By taking what you have learned and becoming a teacher, a mentor or even a youth group leader; one can pay it forward and help introduce a hobby to a new, eager soul.
As the general pace of world moves faster, hobbies can give us a reason to slow down. They can bring joy and relaxation to our lives or provide us with an opportunity to pursue a passion that may have slowly slipped away.
As we ring in the new year, a new decade and celebrate the hobby industry during National Hobby Month, why not take the time to find a hobby that will help you unwind or better yet, inspire you to try something new?
To demonstrate the positive benefits of participating in a hobby, we’re providing you with the top 10 reasons to start today:
1. Foster Your Creativity
Having a hobby can be a great outlet to help foster your creativity. Take the time to create something unique, beautiful and functional. Creative outlets in model rocketry include a combination of activities such as designing, painting, building and engineering.
2. Develop Self-confidence and Resilience
Taking on a new challenge and seeing a project through to completion is no easy feat. Some hobbies have layers of complex steps where the success of the outcome is contingent on how each piece of the project fits together. Ours is no different. Model rocketeers learn how to design and construct building beautiful models that can actually fly. Part of the thrill of rocketry itself is putting it all “on the line” by flying your model and having it land safely and intact.
3. Expand Your Problem-Solving Skills
The ability to solve problems and come up with viable solutions is a sought after attribute and a skill that requires practice and refinement. Rocketry helps develop critical reasoning skills, teaches us to learn how to work through problems, and creates an opportunity for us to imagine solutions in innovated ways.
4. Join a Community
There are many real and virtual, local and national model rocket communities in which you can connect with new people who have similar interests. Many model rocketeers enjoy being a part of a second family comprising of lifelong friends who share their experiences and follow their rocketeer journey.
5. Family Togetherness
Have you ever heard the phrase “A family that flies together stays together”? Probably not, because we made it up. But the reality is we have lots of families who have passed down their rocketry traditions from generation to generation. Long-time traditions can create bonds that will last through the test of time and distance. Introduce your favorite hobby to your children, spouse, siblings and loved ones. Or maybe have them introduce their hobby to you. Regardless, having a family hobby can help you share what you love while creating a learning experience and an opportunity to spend more time together.
6. Learn New Skills
Combine the past with the present. When building model rockets we utilize both traditional hand tools and digital tools to design and construct rockets that can reach a certain altitude or launch a payload to the heavens. Traditional tools can help develop finger dexterity and fine motor skills while digital software tools such as OpenRocket Simulator can help you flush out concepts and simulate rockets before you build and fly them.
7. Exercise Your Brain
Keeping your brain in shape is just as important as physical fitness. Your brain benefits from constant learning and processing new information. Hobbies can help you stay mentally fit by challenging your brain, which can help you reap the benefits of a sharper mind for years to come.
8. Developing Educational Opportunities
Hobbies can be a pathway to technical and engineering careers. With a firm footing in STEM education since the 50s, Estes has helped advance the following skills and disciplines:
- Reading – following and comprehending written instructions; reading and understanding technical articles and books
- Logic – understanding sequencing and step-by-step instructions
- Science & Technology – learning about flight, space travel, aerodynamics, astronomy, navigation, electric and combustion engines, chemistry, biology, geology and physics
- Engineering – using scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other things, like rockets.
- Math – counting, adding, measuring, converting measurements systems and scales
A hobbyist not only develops expertise in a topic or ability in the hobby activity itself, they can also develop a greater level of knowledge in related areas. Many model rocketeers become experts on military history, space history, aeronautics and rocket science.
10. Become a Mentor
One of the biggest joys of becoming an expert is the ability to pass the knowledge on. By taking what you have learned and becoming a teacher, a mentor or even a youth group leader; one can pay it forward and help introduce a hobby to a new, eager soul.