Hobbies? I’m at a loss

I’ve been going through a bit of a rough patch lately and I’m being told by my treatment team that I need to find a hobby. Problem is, everything I’ve tried so far just hasn’t seemed to work to bring down my anxiety or help my depression. There’s nothing I’ve tried so far that I can truly feel invested in and actually happier doing. I just feel like I’m forcing myself to try a lot of things to no avail. And everything costs money and I’m actually literally broke/on welfare.

I’m not much of an art person, but in the creative realm I do like music. Listening to music does calm me somewhat, and I like to sing, I just also am incredibly self conscious in doing so in front of other people. Coloring is meh for me. I like puzzles to a degree but I can do a 500 piece one in like 4 hours so they don’t last long as a distraction for me anymore. I can’t afford to keep buying new ones. I do absolutely love animals (especially my dog and guinea pig) but that’s not really a hobby. Video games are alright but my therapist warns against getting into them too heavily.

Anyway...I’d be open to any suggestions! What do you do?

If you love music, take up an instrument. Bass guitar is pretty easy to pick up and you can get a starter one pretty cheaply to see if it’s something you’re interested in.

Since you love being with animals, maybe you'd like helping out at an animal shelter or with various animal adoption groups?

Also, maybe you and your dog would enjoy something like flyball: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyball

The social interaction these afford can also help with the depression.

I think it all depends what you identify as hobby and how much time do you have to dedicate to this hobby.
For instance, I work 11 hour days. And i spend about 90 mins at the gym. So, I dont have much free time for hobbies.in summary, the gym ends of being my hobby.

You could take pictures. That is enjoyable, I think. You can arrange photo albums on face book. You have some good subjects at home. You could go out and take pictures of Christmas lights. That is always fun

You can sing along to karaoke songs on YouTube that you like, and record it to see what you sound like.

A friend of mine found a karaoke bar that has a lot of regulars. I didn’t really like it much, but I could have made regular friends doing that. A stranger came up and put her hand on my shoulder and told me she really liked my voice and asked if I was coming back. Later another man came up and talked to me—same thing. You didn’t have to buy anything.

I build models. They often take a few weeks to complete and require a lot of patience. As a bonus, I can retreat to my workshop by myself and listen to music for a few hours. It's a great night-owl activity. And it's amazing how quickly the time goes by.....sometimes 4 hours seems like 4 minutes.

I enjoy rehabbing things. Such as old furniture. Sanding it... repainting it.. and making something ugly -- amazing. I also enjoy making rugs from rug kits and "painting rugs" -- buy a cheap rug from like home depot and a stensel from a craft store...and paint the rug through the stensel.

Ukuleles are even cheaper and easier! I have never been good at learning instruments and the ukulele was the only one I could really get into
good luck on your hobby quest!

as you like music maybe try to make music on your pc you can get some good freeware software these days The 5 Best Freeware DAWs here is a free daw you can arrange your musical ideas all day is fun to do

I can relate to what you're saying MRT. It took me a while before I found not just "what I was good at, but didn't make me happy or feel better," and not just "what interested me, but didn't feel right when I did it," but something that made me feel better and that I enjoyed. It sounds like money is a component for you too.

I think you should go for something musical or with animals. You could volunteer at an animal shelter or sing and listen to music. (you wouldn't have to do it for an audience, you know!) Or both

It might take a while to figure out what really lights you up. It did for me. I'd say experiment with a whole bunch of things, if you are able, and give yourself time.

Fishing does it for me but I also like music, taught myself the basics on ukelele
and also harmonica, both of which are fairly inexpensive and fun to learn.
I hope you find what you're looking for soon.

Oh not officially a hobby but if you have anxiety ... prepping? Or being prepared. I am a kind of a prepper in that it makes me feel better being ready for some sort of disaster. But don't go down the rabbit hole. I find some preppers just like scaring other people.

I bake bread, take my dog for long walks, & do yoga.

Writing in a journal, writing on a blog.... creating your own blog.... I liked the idea of volunteering at an animal shelter, since you like animals, or taking up an instrument, but that would cost money to buy one.

I do Bible studies because they told me I needed a hobby. Then I was told they meant something more active.

I enjoy writing, cooking, and shopping!

Maybe pet sitting and dog walking?

Volunteer

I knit, color in coloring books, play video games, grow venus flytraps, and do a whole lot of looking up animal facts. Maybe try one of these?

"I like puzzles to a degree but I can do a 500 piece one in like 4 hours so they don’t last long as a distraction for me anymore. I can’t afford to keep buying new ones."

My local library has puzzles you can check out like a book. I am sure someone has already mentioned this but photography can be great. Little point and shoot cameras are not that much and you could try wildlife photography. Birds, cats, dogs, squirrels, etc.

Your therapist is right to caution you on video game addiction but, as long as you exercise self control and self discipline you should be okay. Since you're poor like me, you may want to get into collecting vintage video games that are in the affordable range. Right now Atari 2600 is still easy to collect for as it has many common titles that sell really cheap. Also 6th generation systems like PS2, Gamecube, Dreamcast and the original XBOX are still fairly affordable on craigslist and at flea markets and pawn shops. The games right now are pretty cheap too. I've seen good PS2 games as low as 5 dollars with the jacket included. Another cool thing about video gaming is finding the replay value in games that normally don't have any replay value by coming up with in-game experiments like seeing how far you can get on one life or how many items you can gather in record time or how much ammo you can save. The possibilities are endless. You may also try movie collecting by genre, action, adventure, comedy, cult classics or genres that you come up with on your own. I particularly like car movies like Mad Max, Two Lane Blacktop, American Graffiti, Canonball, Gumball Rally and so on. Others have mentioned writing. I have just recently started writing fiction and am really enjoying it. You can write about anything.

Have you thought about getting some building block kits like legos, nanoblocks or others. They are kind of like puzzles. They range from cheap to very expensive. They have ones that suit pretty much whatever your interest might be. They keep your mind busy and after you finished one you get a sense of accomplishment. They aren’t just for kids. There are plenty of adults who like them also. I also color, play hidden object games, walk my dog, bicycle, play on the iPad, read, do other arts and crafts.

Yes I agree with starrysky, the biggest challenge is getting out there and trying different things until you find what fits for you and speaks to your soul. But once you, do trust me you'll be so happy!!!