Yes, I know there’s a catchy song doing the rounds on TikTok right now that goes something like, ‘bored in the house and I’m in the house bored’. Well, not today.
There are so many things that you can do at any moment in time. The possibilities are endless. Yes, even now during lockdown, we have no reason to be bored.
It’s so easy to throw around the word bored like it’s nothing. Your work may have dried up, so you find yourself bored. It’s the evening in lockdown and nothing of interest is on TV, so once again, you’re bored. You’ve been eating the same meals for weeks on end and you’re bored of the same, plain food.
Before you sigh and let out a ‘I’m so boreddddd,’ stop yourself and think – what could I do right now that would make sure that I wasn’t bored?
If your work has dried up a little, search the internet and read something. If the TV isn’t doing it for you, I’m sure you have Netflix or another streaming platform and I’m sure there is something on there that will keep you entertained. Try a documentary or crime series! If you’re sick of the meals you’ve been eating, Google some new recipes or buy a cookbook (there are more than enough amazing free recipe ideas online now).
We have no excuse to be bored in the digital age that we live. We’re spoiled for things to do, things to learn and things to occupy our time. Here are a few things to try before you cry of being bored again.
READ SOMETHING
Whether it be a book, a blog, a magazine or an article. If you read anything at all, I’ll bet you’ll learn something that you didn’t already know.
Or you could search the internet for things that you want to read about. My go-to sites for articles that always interest me are Career Girl Daily, The Everygirl and these three others.
Read a book, or read 10 of them. I’ve recently rekindled my love for reading books and have got my own little library going here in New York. For me, there’s nothing that beats getting lost in a good book, learning something new and even learning something that will help improve yourself. I have 35 book reviews on my blog now, which you can find here.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FREE ONLINE LEARNING
During the pandemic, a lot of online courses have been offering their content for free and some at reduced prices. I’ve put together a list of five online courses that I’ve enrolled in during this time and would recommend all of them.
But you don’t need to enroll in a course to learn something online. YouTube videos, blog posts and podcasts can all be great mediums to learn from.
Dependent on your preferred way of learning, the three I mentioned above teach by watching, reading and listening – something to suit all of you. Or maybe you want to teach yourself an instrument during this time – try buying second-hand from eBay, Gumtree or Craigslist (or ask if any of your friends have an instrument lying around that they no longer play).
WATCH TV/DOCUMENTARIES
Growing up, our parents had the option of two or three TV channels. Some of our parents grew up having no TV. Now that we’re spoiled for choice with streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and more, there is really no excuse to complain that there’s nothing on TV.
We have it so, so good and we don’t even know it. There are documentaries, films, TV series, musicals and so much more to suit everyone. I love a good documentary or crime series now and again, but I do also love drama series.
I spent the end of last week watching Normal People and have only a few episodes left to go, am still in the final season of The Crown and trying to finish both shows so that I can move on to something new. Recommendations welcome before I commit to re-watching Grey’s Anatomy from the beginning.
Documentaries such as Tiger King (I’m sure you’ve already watched it), The Great Hack, Blackfish and Now They See Us are great to watch if you’re in the mood for that genre and to learn something new.
GET CREATIVE
Why not spend the time that you are bored doing something creative instead. If you’re a creative person, you could start an art project, create mood boards, design some interior spaces (I love doing this) or pin things on Pinterest.
I wouldn’t say I’m the most creative, but a lot of the interns here have purchased adult colouring books and also a huge 6ft poster of New York that they’ve been colouring in for weeks, while pinning it to their living room wall.
You could even get creative by improving your cooking and baking skills. I’ve been cooking a lot more than I ever have, but haven’t yet tried my hand at much baking.
Or get creative and start writing. Start journaling, start writing some diary inputs daily or even write a book about your time in isolation. It may never be published on a global scale, but at least you’ll have something to remind you of that time there was a worldwide pandemic.
I’m kind of using my daily emails as a journal of sorts during this pandemic, talking about everything I’m getting up to in New York/New Jersey as well as sharing books I’ve read and hopefully passing along some words of wisdom too. If you like, you can sign up to receive daily weekday emails from me here.
THOSE WHO PUSH THROUGH BOREDOM, SUCCEED
I learnt the above from a book I read called Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time and taught me a lot about my behaviour and how I can change and improve it.
We all get bored, that’s inevitable. It’s fine to be bored, but it’s not good to get stuck in a rut.
Let’s look at this as an example. You start working out and want to lose weight or tone up. You go to the gym five days a week for three weeks. Then it gets to the point when you ‘can’t be bothered’ with the gym. You’re ‘bored’ of it. The gym-going goes out the window and you’re back to square one.
Now let’s look at athletes. They also go to the gym five days per week, maybe more. They do the same workouts over and over again, working on the same muscles. After three weeks, they also get bored. But they continue to show up. They push through the boredom with their mindset so that they can still achieve their goals.
To learn more about habits and mindset, read this blog post I wrote a few weeks ago.
When you get bored of something, think about the end goal. If you find yourself bored with nothing to do, then take some advice from the list above. Try to stop using the word ‘bored’ and substitute it with something else. You aren’t bored – you are just lacking inspiration.
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