Finding Your Passion: How Hobbies Benefit Mental Health

Sasha Javadpour
Dec 1
4 min read

Updated: Dec 1

In a world that rewards performance, speed, and productivity, it is easy to lose touch with what truly stirs your soul. Too many of us are surviving on autopilot—working hard, staying busy, and ticking off boxes—without ever asking: Is this the life I want to be living?

At Hirsch Therapy, I often sit with people who are exhausted not just from overwork, but from under-living. They’ve followed the rules, met expectations, and achieved stability, but still feel something is missing. That something is often passion, not in the romantic sense, but in the deep, animating force that makes life feel meaningful.

What Is Passion And Why Is It Essential To A Meaningful Life?

Passion is the spark that ignites you, not for success or recognition, but for the sheer joy of doing something that feels true to your core. It could be creating, building, exploring, or learning. It’s not necessarily what you do for a living, but what makes you feel alive.

Following your passion isn’t about escaping your responsibilities or chasing some lofty dream. It’s about weaving what lights you up into the fabric of your life—intentionally, regularly, and unapologetically.

Whether it's cooking a meal, painting a miniature, or travelling the world, pursuing your passion is about remembering what makes you, you.

Why Passion Feels So Distant

Many adults today have a complicated relationship with passion and hobbies. Somewhere along the way, we were taught to be practical. To grow up. To focus on what pays. And in doing so, we slowly traded curiosity for efficiency, creativity for productivity, joy for utility.

Over time, we begin to feel flat, disconnected, or as though we’re simply going through life rather than living it. This isn’t a personal failure—it’s a symptom of a culture that rarely gives us permission to play, wander, or pursue what matters simply because it matters to us.

The Psychological Benefits Of Following Your Passion - Starting a Hobby

Reconnecting with your passion has profound emotional and mental health benefits.

Reconnecting with your passion can:

Restore a sense of vitality and purpose
Reduce feelings of burnout, depression, apathy, and low mood
Rebuild identity beyond roles and obligations
Encourage self-expression, creativity, and authenticity
Reignite hope and future-oriented thinking

When you follow what you love, even imperfectly, you’re sending yourself a powerful message: My life is worth living fully, not just functionally.

How Therapy Can Help You Discover Your Passions

Therapy is not here to hand you the answers, but to walk alongside you as you ask better questions. Who are you when you’re not performing or pleasing others? What do you love—not what you’re good at or praised for, but what you long for? What did you once dream of, before the world told you to "be realistic?"

Therapy can help you discover your passions by creating a safe space to explore what lights you up, beyond the noise of expectations, fear, or routine. Through conversation, reflection, and gentle guidance, a therapist can help you reconnect with forgotten interests, identify what truly energises you, and make sense of the blocks that have held you back.

At Hirsch Therapy, we believe therapy is a place not only for healing, but for discovery. Discovery of joy. Of purpose. Of aliveness. Together, we chart a course toward a life that feels like yours.

Life Is a Journey - Let It Be Worth Living!

There’s a difference between existing and living. Living means being in touch with what brings you meaning, not just what brings you income. It means making room for wonder, creativity, exploration, and play. These aren’t luxuries—they’re essential human needs.

As the old saying goes, “Don’t just get through life. Live it.”

And to live it well, you need to live passionately.

Introducing CaveDayz

At the core of my work as a Psychotherapist and Counsellor, I support my clients in creating the life they have always dreamed of - a life filled with meaning and fulfilment.

One great way to reconnect with that innate intuition for meaning, passion, and fulfilment is through the magic of hobbies!

A hobby is a leisure activity that one engages in their free time to enjoy, relax, relieve stress, and gain a sense of mastery. A hobby can come in the form of creative pursuits like painting or model building, physical activities, or even collecting treasured items.

Our hobbies have a beautiful way of reconnecting us to our inner child, from which our ability to play, have fun, and love life originates.

Sadly, from my experience, a lot of people have given up their hobbies. Some have no idea what a hobby even is to them, some see it as a waste of time, and others might feel they don’t deserve to have one.

That inspired me to create Cave Dayz—a channel dedicated to the pursuit of my hobby with the hope of inspiring others to pursue theirs.

I have created channels on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and I warmly welcome you to join me there.

Cave Dayz is a space where my work intersects with my passions, and where I remind myself that the journey matters more than the destination.

Are You Ready To Discover A Passion-Filled Life?

If you’re unsure about where to start, please don't hesitate to reach out.

In our sessions together, we will explore what is draining you and what can make you come alive again.

Let therapy be your compass.

Let passion be the spice.

And let your life be something you look forward to—because you made it your own.

Explore Hirsch Therapy with a free 15-minute online consultation and begin the journey back to your spark.