I tried Denmark’s No. 1 secret to happiness for a year—it made me happier and more confident

For over four years, I’ve been a professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Before that, I worked in the corporate world at organizations like Coca-Cola and IBM. 

Recently, for work, I went to Denmark, one of the world’s happiest countries, to teach a course called “Happiness Blueprint.” While there, I discovered what many had learned before me: Hobbies are integral to life in Denmark. 

From cycling to sewing, I watched Danes find joy in the everyday outside of work. When I returned to the U.S., I thought hobbies could be the answer to help me take a break from my Type-A brain. Last year, I decided to put that theory to the test.

I ended up trying 17 hobbies over the course of one year — baking, cold plunging, collage-making, embroidery, golf, home DIY, horseback riding, jewelry making, mahjong, ornament making, painting, pickleball, pottery, rock climbing, sewing, tennis, and woodworking.

I came away from my experiment, stronger, braver, and more confident. After a year, I was fundamentally changed. Here’s how:

To make space for my hobby experiment, I had to find time — something I assumed I didn’t have as a busy working mom. Surprisingly, there were pockets of time everywhere, particularly once I gave up my evening habit of watching TV while half-working and doomscrolling on a second screen.

When your hands are covered in flour, holding a paintbrush, or gripping a climbing wall, your phone is simply unavailable. I realized I had more agency and less stress when I was putting my energy towards learning new skills, rather than getting pulled under by an algorithm on social media.

I loved woodworking, but it comes with a hefty startup cost and isn’t compatible with small kids underfoot. So, I wrote it off. Ironically, a friend of a friend who’d heard about my experiment invited me to his woodshop, and a few months later, I gave woodworking another shot. 

This time, instead of feeling overwhelmed, I realized woodworking is a “not-right-now” hobby for me. I can picture a future where the kids are older, we’ve stocked the garage with tools, and we’re building bookshelves for our dream library together.

Try hobbies even if they don’t fit your current season of life. You can bookmark them for later.

As a mother to two young kids, one of the most triggering questions in my life is, “What are we eating?” For me, anything in the kitchen is considered work. 

But when I spent time with Sophie, a senior at Emory, I found that each of us finds stress relief from different activities. For her, baking was the furthest thing from work. It helped her decompress from the grind of being a student. 

Indeed, I also found baking to be methodical and soothing. The activity was quiet in a way that my family dinner prep was not, and my efforts led to a delicious treat at the end.

Once I thought about hobbies in this light, I understood that home DIY was a hobby for me, but it was work for others. If you do something consistently and find joy in it, go ahead and call it a hobby! 

For a long time, I had regular manicures, facials, and lash appointments. I thought self-care would make me more balanced, but it created stress from having to be in more places at set times. 

There’s nothing wrong with an occasional trip to the nail salon, but a few months into my experiment, I realized that rather than make one of these appointments in an attempt to soothe my brain, I was redirecting all my energy and free time into my hobbies. 

A general rule that resonates with me is you need one hobby for your brain, one hobby for creativity, and one hobby to keep you in shape. For me that became mahjong, home DIY, and tennis. 

America is facing a loneliness epidemic. But I’ll tell you who isn’t lonely: the hobbyists I met through my experiment. 

When I was invited to try horseback riding, I saw how tightly knit the barn community was. What struck me was people of all ages were brought together by their love of horses. When I spent time with rock-climbers, I heard how they swapped route info so other climbers could be successful. 

Each group of hobbyists has a community and they are actively forming relationships and identities outside of work. My tennis team has about 20 moms. We have something like 53 children under the age of 13 between us.

Being with my teammates is always a reminder that I do have the time to pursue my hobbies.

Every time I asked someone about their hobby, they surprised me. I was once chatting with Emory’s Dean of Admissions, who I knew as a no-nonsense professional, when she shared that her weekends are filled with competitive sailboat racing! 

Once people heard about my experiment, I was freed from making small talk. Instead, I found myself in deep conversation with others, understanding who they were at their core, outside of obligations. 

Thanks to my year of hobbies, I feel like I know the people in my life much better.

All too often, I hear from my former students that they are experiencing burnout. They tell me that as soon as they find balance at work, they will get into a hobby.

Unfortunately, balance doesn’t work like that. It’s not a shiny pebble you find on your way to work. If you want balance, the secret is to get a hobby. You’ll naturally be forced to define your boundaries: as a worker, as a parent, and as an individual. 

My experiment has come to an end, but hobbies are still an integral part of my life. I’m on a tennis team, I have a standing Mahjong game and I’m learning golf alongside my kids. 

The other night, while lying in bed, my 7-year old turned to me and said, “I have so many hobbies.” That’s when I knew, without question, I was modeling something very right.

Marina Cooley is an Assistant Professor in the Practice of Marketing at Emory’s Goizueta Business School and a P&W 40 under 40 Best MBA Professor. She is the author of the Substack “Professor Off Duty.” To get more of her insights on work/life balance, find Marina on Instagram @marinacooley.

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