42: Importance of Having Hobbies & Passions Outside of Work

“Mindfulness, hobbies, gratitude, proper sleep, proper rest and proper nutrition, these are not necessarily things that can be compromised.” -Coach Gabriella Dennery MD In today’s episode Coaches Gabriella Dennery MD and Jill Farmer discuss why it’s important to have hobbies and passions outside of work. We need these outside interests for so many reasons that Jill and Gabriella outline in this episode. Not only do hobbies and passions help us to access different parts of our brains but they can also connect us with different people outside of our work world and also a sense of community which we all need. These are things that can contribute to our mental and physical health and help us to thrive. Tune in to find out all the benefits of incorporating hobbies into your life! Podcasts mentioned: Episode 38: Procrastination: The Self Defense Mechanism We Can Do Without Episode 35: Perfectionism: Why 100% at Everything Doesn’t Add Up Episode 27: Interview with Dr. Ysaye Barnwell: Singer and Composer From Sweet Honey in the Rock, Author, Actress, Educator Excerpts from the show: “Why do you think it’s so important for physicians to find time to do things that light them up outside of their workplace?” -Master Certified Coach Jill Farmer “You need that creative juice. You need that creativity somewhere along the line and it's not just work related. I think if we could take work off the table for a minute, life is not just about that. There are other things going on. You need to recharge and I think one of our podcast guests said it wonderfully. Ysaye Barnwell talked about creativity and she said that sometimes you need to shut off one valve and open another one up and allow something else to come in. Just take a mental and physical break to recharge, to get the juices flowing, to have a different kind of community, a conversation. I took up African drumming when I was an attending physician within the first six months of starting my first job as an attending. I was in New York City and it was something I wanted to do, something I was curious about. I saw it on stage one day and there was a particular drum that I wanted to study. I said, ‘Well, I'm in New York City. This is the right place to be! Let's go for it.’ So I found a teacher. Within six months, I started a new job in July and by January, I was in drum classes. And to be around a different community of different people who didn't talk about patients and didn't talk about diagnoses and consultants. They were from different walks of life and they talked about anything and everything. And to be in a space where I was learning something completely different. So encouraging somebody by saying, ‘You know what? I know you think there's no time, and I think through the coaching work what's important is you realize that there is more time than we think there is.’ But even if you believe there is no time and there are other things that are more pressing or more important and a hobby is something you can just push aside… the hobbies are what you dig into even more when you're stressed. Why? Because it gives you that breathing room and that breathing space.” -Coach Gabriella Dennery MD “Yeah, I love what you just said, I think it's really important. We talked about it in other conversations and other podcasts which I highly recommend folks tune into about procrastination and perfectionism. A lot of times people actually procrastinate doing their hobbies because they are so attached to the outcome. ‘Well I can't paint because I can't make a pretty picture out of it.’ This is an important time for us to really play with progress over perfect. It's the process not the outcome. The process is doing as you said, shutting off one valve and turning on another. The term that I use a lot of times with my clients is that we have to change the channel. As a kid growing up in the 70s before we got cable, I'm watching the Brady Bunch and all I've got is a bunch of whi