Healing Through Hobbies: Why Play Might Be the Health Plan You’ve Been Missing
What if the things you love — the ones you call hobbies — are the real path to healing?
For most of my life, I thought health was something you had to chase.
Fitness plans. Diets. Gym memberships. Willpower.
But over the years — through experience, injury, parenting, and a lot of reflection — I’ve realised something different:
The healthiest, most joyful people I know aren’t following complicated regimens.
They’re just doing what they love — regularly, intentionally, and on their terms.
Health, It Turns Out, Lives in the Everyday
I took this photo at a local airshow, not knowing that years later, this very place — Holmbeck — would become my home airfield.
Now it’s where I train, reflect, and reconnect through flight.
Flying didn’t just change how I see the world — it changed how I live in it.
I don’t have a six-pack. I work at a desk.
I like a walk more than a run and I’ll take a day in the air over a day at the gym.
But I’ve built a life that works for my body.
And it’s built around things like football, tennis, walking, flying, photography, parenting, and yes — even rest.
None of these are distractions.
They’re my curriculum. My practice. My joy.
Introducing the “Hobbies & Pastimes” Project
I just updated one of the most important pages on Fit2Thrive — and I think it might be the most honest representation of what health means to me right now.
Not with drills or leagues — but with laughter, leaves, and little legs learning to move.
These everyday moments of play are where healthy habits, strong bonds, and joyful memories take root.
This is football at its best: family, freedom, and fun.
It’s not a workout guide or diet checklist.
It’s a living guide to the hobbies that have kept me grounded — and brought me back to myself when life got loud.
Here’s where you’ll find it:
fit2thrive.co.uk/hobbies-passtimes
What You’ll Discover There:
- How football healed more than my body — and reconnected me with my kids
- Why tennis took years to feel like mine — and how it became a lesson in emotional regulation
- How flying reminds me to zoom out — literally and spiritually
- Why walking is the original superpower — and how I use it to reset, every day
Each one will grow over time.
More videos. More insights. More real talk.
No filters. No fluff. Just the truth about what it takes to thrive in your body, your life, your season.
What hobby brings you back to yourself?
Like pausing to frame a moment.
Like stepping outside to notice the way the light hits the leaves.
Photography isn’t just a hobby — it’s a way to slow down, reconnect, and see the life you’re living.
I’d love to know.
Reply below, or hit me up on socials.
Because the more we talk about this — the more permission we give each other to heal through joy.
To walking your path,
— Colin
