The Secret Ingredient To Beauty: Self-Love

Chapter 7: A World Outside Social Media

"Remember, even though the outside world might be raining, if you keep on smiling the sun will soon show its face and smile back at you."

-Anna Lee

This chapter is not only dedicated to lessening your time from social media but technology in general. The only exceptions are everyday necessities. How much do you know about yourself? Your hobbies? Possibly you do know what they are? If not, go find out! Try to go out and have some fresh air. Anything to limit your time with technology.

Most of you might say, I don't have time for hobbies, it takes up too much time, or that you are already stressed with what is on your plate. Well, I call that bullshit. It has been researched that hobbies promote better physical health, more sleep, lower stress, more happiness, more friends, and improved work performance. I bet you just believed it was for mental health and enjoyment.

In 2010, researchers from universities in Kansas, Pittsburgh, and Texas published the results of 2 large studies with 1,399 people (men and women) with various health issues (upper respiratory illness, arthritis, and breast cancer). The researchers developed a scale called the Pittsburgh Enjoyable Activities Test to measure the effect of hobbies. All the effects are what I mentioned before.

1. Better physical health. The people who scored higher on the test had a lower body mass index (BMI), smaller waists, low blood pressure, lower stress hormones, and better overall physical function. Hobbies like hiking, bicycling, running, and jogging are very important to your physical and mental health. It affects your physical health with the amount of daily exercise you obtain from these activities. It affects your mental health because most of these activities occur outside or away from technology (unless you are listening to music which is also considered healthy). The fresh air helps send plenty of oxygen through the blood and allows your lungs to work at full capacity. All the oxygen gives your brain more power, hence gives you better work performance too. The fresh air triggers a sense of relaxation. Now, I'm not sure if that statement is backed up with science. I'm speaking from personal experience. How do you feel when you go to the beach and walk along the shoreline? Have you ever walked along the shoreline?

2. More sleep. If you believe hobbies take too much of your time and you need to do your homework, or you have an exam coming up, or you'd rather sleep. The studies show that people who spent more time on hobbies got better sleep. And I'm pretty sure when I speak for all of us, that sleep is an amazing gift, that I almost envy animals during their hibernation period. After I started to exercise and start to practice music, along with a daily schedule, I was able to obtain my 7-8 hours of sleep every day. But I did have my fair share of technology time, but I have limited to only an hour a day. As a highschooler, getting at least 6 hours of sleep seems impossible. I was awestruck that 8 hours existed.

3. Lower stress. People who took part in a lot of enjoyable activities dealt better with a stressful life than people who didn't. People who scored high on the enjoyable activities test showed lower levels of negative moods and depressions and high positive attitudes than their low scoring counterparts. I think I can speak for all of us again that stress is a big part of our life. We let it take control of our mental health. Some of us stress eat or cry. Being stressed is not a pleasant sight to see, but it can be fought or in other words, it can be avoided. How? You would be a genius if you knew that it was hobbies. For me, I like to combat stress by listening, singing, or dancing to music and relax. I sometimes like to walk outside listening to indie pop artists like Lana Del Rey.

4. More happiness. When you ask someone, what is your goal in life? A lot of people would say to be happy. But that answer is probably the dumbest in the world. What's preventing you to stay happy right now? People who said they participated often in enjoyable activities had greater satisfaction and felt like their lives had meaning and purpose. And some of these people had cancer.

5. More friends. Usually, when you think about school you think about homework, teachers, and friends. Most teenagers worry about who they can "hang" with at school, so they don't seem lonely. Don't deny it! We've all done it! However, people who spent more time on their hobbies were associated with having a larger and more diverse social network. So next time your grandma goes to bingo, remember that bingo is the reason why she has so many friends.

6. Improved work performance. As shocking as it sounds, hobbies to improve your work performance. A study at San Fransico State University found that employees who had creative outlets outside of the office were better at creative problem-solving on the job. Their discovery was based on the studies of 430 workers and military personnel that found that having a hobby gave workers a chance to recover from the demands of their jobs, increase their sense of control, also challenged them to learn new skills and testing their limits.

Now apart from hobbies, what else can you do to get away from technology? When you are at home, nothing to do, starting to reach your phone to laugh at some cat videos, stop yourself. Make it a rule that you can't be online if the sun is outside, shining. Instead of cat videos, you can go out for a walk, go bicycling, or any other healthy physical exercise for around an hour before finally being able to watch your cat videos.

Reorganize your room! Decorate it! Do whatever you want to stay away from technology. Doing these activities will give you some "me" time and let you reflect while doing tasks that entertain you. You can decorate your room with plants and candles to create a study vibe if needed. An example is what I have done to achieve a romantic study vibe, which I needed to write this book. This is setting is my magnetic pull to sit down and study.

Well, technology is growing and becoming more advanced. There is this feature where you can set a screen time limit for each app and save your eyes and health. Instead of wasting your time and regretting it later, finish your tasks first and then have your 20 minutes of pleasurable unproductivity.

Set a separate time to read a book before you open your phone or laptop. Challenge yourself to read 30 pages a day or possibly more. You know your limit. Also, I'm talking about physical books with a sweet musky smell or a fresh ink and paper smell. Another offline task you can do before you go online is finishing all other pending work you have. For example: did you do your laundry? Do even know how to do your laundry? When was the last time you cleaned your room? Organize your kitchen cupboards?

Now decide what you want to do, and do it! Don't be lazy! If you don't feel like you are motivated enough to get out of bed, just repeat in your head "Just do it!". Maybe you could star in a Nike commercial in the future if you practice this slogan every day.