Hobbies to Pick Up (as a lolita)

    Having hobbies is great, it can fill time, hone your skills, and relieve stress. I have a sort of problem of picking up hobbies. I can't help it! There are so many interesting things to do in life. Looking for a start a hobby? Looking for the next one in your long list of skills? I've listed below some hobbies I personally know about that I recommend for you lolitas... 

 I. Cooking/ Baking this one seems pretty obvious as it's a basic skill. However cooking and baking as an enthusiast is different than just doing it for survival. There's also a level of "charming" awarded to people with the skill to make food, don't you agree?

II. Sewing/ Embroidery another basic skill that can go far past the basics. Sewing is super useful with lolita because you could end up saving a lot of money buy making things yourself. You can also make things that perfectly match you and your personal style. Added bonus is that when you're proficient enough in this skill, you can make money by selling your crafts. Also great for mending things, save your brand! 

III. Fortune Telling this comes in many forms, but my favorite and the one I have the most knowledge of is tarot card reading. It's really interesting and something you can do for yourself and other to help out. My friends regularly come to me for card readings, one so much so that I designed a spread just for him. You can also get some absolutely beautiful decks. Search around, I'm sure this hobby will suck you in, and you'll learn the meanings to all the cards in no time (it's not as hard as it seams, trust me).

IV. Instrument Playing there are so many to choose from it's sure you can find an instrument you can be gifted with. Piano, violin, flute, guitar, harp, the list goes on. I'd recommend something nice and traditional used in classical music. 

V. Choir/ Singing  nothing is sweeter than a soft voice. Though not everyone is born with a musical voice, you can get training to improve it. Again, there are so many styles, but I'd recommend choir singing. If you have a particularly powerful voice (lucky!) you can always try opera too. Just make sure you get proper training before belting out tunes, you can end up damaging your vocal cords.

 VI. Scrapbooking there is a huge social aspect to lolita fashion, so I'm sure you love going out with your friends, going on trips, cons, and meet ups. They are wonderful, happy memories that I'm sure you'd love to hold onto. So why not preserve them is a stylish way? Nowadays, I'd say if you have a phone, chances are it has a built in camera. It's no longer a uncommon thing to take a picture at any moment of time. Capture these lovely moment and design them into pages. Keep them, down the road you can remember all the wonderful times you have. It can also be a sort of "lolita growth" journal, so you can keep track of just how much you improve and change overtime. 

VII. Painting this again is something you won't be necessarily be born with the ability to do. Not everyone is artistic. But hey guess what? You're a lolita, which means you have at least a bit of artistic sense in you. You can attend lessons in order to fill in the missing skill. Or just teach yourself through trail and error. Whatever you style is. I personally find drawing and painting extremely relaxing.

VIII. Flower Arranging/ Pressing this is a surprising more difficult hobby to be good at. Especially for arraigning, I highly suggest taking lessons. In some parts of the word, this as seen as a highly respectable art. As for pressing, you can get flower pressing kits plenty of places. I got one as a birthday present when I was little and spent the next few months gathering every single kind of flower I could find where I lived. Extremely relaxing too. It's a plus if you live by a green area you can get your own flowers and plants.


IX. Papercraft  I know this is pretty broad term, but there are many different branches of papercraft so I'd recommend finding one you like. I recently started doing paper folding and origami in order to help me with anxiety. Most types of papercraft are easy to start and hard to master, so if you pick this hobby to start you will not get bored fast. There's always for complex patterns. 

X. Gardening this used to be something only people with good land could do. But there's been a recent trend of "urban gardening" so even if you live packed in, up high, you can too pick up gardening now. You can grow food, flowers, herbs, or medicine, or even combinations of all. Look up what grows well in the conditions you can meet. Gardening is super rewarding when what you plant grows and flourishes. Even if you don't have a particularly green thumb, there are even plants you can still grow! From the delicate to resilient, to the nutritious to the aromatic, gardening can fit into anyone's life. 

XI. Calligraphy no matter what writing system is native to you, there is usually a calligraphy system to go along with is. Another hobby that is hard to master, but luckily there are plenty of masters willing to teach. There's nothing quite like the feeling of creating something beautiful with your own hands.