Hobbies are key in giving Elevatus designer ‘balance’

What do you do when work gets to be too much? When life gets to be too much?

Sometimes, you just need a release. Having an activity or hobby that you enjoy can help you de-stress and improve your wellbeing.

Nicholas Bloom is all about the release.

An Architectural Graduate, Nicholas takes on challenging projects, and his workload can quickly become intense. To counteract the stress that can come from the demand, Nicholas prioritizes his personal time.

“You need that balance,” Nicholas says. “If you’re working a bunch of hours, even just taking a couple of hours out of the night to take a break for yourself before you get back into doing something like that (is important). I always try to stress to friends and buddies to find a hobby or just find something that isn’t just watching TV or sitting on the couch. It gives us all a break and balances us.”

So what balances Nicholas? A few things.

First, music. Nicholas is an avid guitar player (you might’ve seen him jamming during an Elevatus Karaoke Friday). After work, he’ll pick up his guitar and play for an hour or two.

“It re-balances me after a long day,” he says. “It brings me back down and relieves all the stress – or a majority of the stress.”

Nicholas also plays the harmonica, banjo, and drums, he sings a bit, and he recently started songwriting. He’s written upwards of 30 songs, he says.

Music isn’t the only release for Nicholas, though.

He enjoys skateboarding, snowboarding, biking, hiking, watersports – pretty much anything that’ll keep him outdoors and moving. He’s carved more skateparks than he can count, broken a wrist snowboarding, and hiked in Utah and Washington.

“I like to be moving and not just sitting and doing nothing,” he says. “I’m not much of a beach goer so if I do go somewhere it tends to be like in the mountains.”

The outdoors is where Nicholas says he re-centers himself.

“What I enjoy the most about hiking is when you’re just walking along, you’re not really thinking about too much. It clears your mind,” he says. “I tend to start piecing things back together. I’ve written a couple songs just walking on a trail. You come up with some melody in your head, some lyrics, and get back home and make it happen.”

It’s all about the release.