this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2025
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Asklemmy
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Doing any nature related activities away from screens, whether it be daily walks, gardening, hiking, kayaking, mountain climbing, swimming, camping is really good for both mental and physical health.
In that blue zones documentary, it's said that daily walks and daily gardening help your mind and longevity more than any other activity.
Learning a musical instrument is always good, and is something you can show off. Knitting, crocheting, or any kind of ravelry works your mind, and you can also listen to audiobooks while doing it. Woodworking (you can start small, even doing spoons and things).
I wouldn't be too focused on doing mentally challenging activities. Screens wear out our brains enough, and what we really need is time away from them to recharge.
Outside of that I'd just recommend reading a lot of non-fiction, audiobooks where available.
I got into doing nature photography over the pandemic as a way to get out of the house, and it's been amazing for my mental health. It forced me to get out and just live in the moment really paying attention to the environment around me. I've realized how little we notice of the world around us normally. I've also found martial arts are a similar experience in a sense that you're really just focused on the moment and forget about everything else you've been thinking about.
I've been dabbling a bit, but I never thought to go out and intentionally do it, it's always been incidental on my walks around where I live. I should try and expand it!
That's how I started originally. I'd just walk around and if I saw something that looked neat, I'd snap a pic with my phone. And then I figured getting an actual camera might be a good pretext to get out of the house. The lockdowns kind of sealed the deal since I started getting cabin fever with nowhere to go. :)
Yea, all my pictures look a bit fuzzy due to being on my phone, a dedicated camera sounds great. I'm tight on cash now, though, so that'll take a while.
Yeah, for a decent entry level camera it's around a thousand bucks, and lenses tend to go for close to that as well. If you do decide to go for it at some point, something like Sony A6100, is a good starter. I started on the older A6000 model, and it served me pretty well.
Gotcha, I'll keep those in mind, thanks!