100 things to do when you are bored

Boredom is something we really faced a lot in the several lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 and maybe you could fill that time until now, but it’s starting to become really hard. You probably noticed that looking at social media all day isn’t really good for you. If that is the case for you I have 100 things to do when you are bored.

Sort out your email inbox

There are two types of inboxes. The ones that are super organized and the ones that have 2000 unopened emails in the main folder. In both cases you might have some organizing to do. Answer important emails, unsubscribe from stuff, empty your spam folder. If you organize emails you’ve read into folders like me, then you should also sort through those. We save so many emails for later access and then never look at them again. Note down important info you’ve learned from that newsletter or add that important date in your calendar. Every email not related to receipts, passwords or similarly important info can be skimmed and deleted.

Listen to an educational podcast

This is an amazing way to actually multitask. Usually I’m not a big fan of multitasking from a logic perspective, but if you are cleaning the dishes or dusting off shelves you kinda want something in the background. Podcasts are always a good source of learning more or simply hearing someone else’s views on certain topics. I have a podcast myself. It’s called “The Self Care Creative” and if you couldn’t tell by the name it is about self care, creativity and personal growth. I talk about everything from the flow state to what celebrities need to do more for mental health advocacy. Don’t miss it!

Call a loved one

I guarantee you that there is a loved one you haven’t called in a while. That can be a family member or a friend. I personally love checking in with friends over video calls in the evening when I haven’t talked to them in a while. Who knows, maybe it will be a super long and memorable call or it might be a short one but you just made that person’s day. We need community in our lives and by prioritizing calls over social media we take a good step into the direction of creating a better community around us.

Clean the fridge

Oh boy, when was the last time you did this? I know there are things that probably went bad recently in my fridge. Clean that thing out, throw away food that isn’t good to eat anymore, make a plan for the food that is going bad soon and reorganize your entire fridge. There is actually a wrong and right way to use the shelves in your fridge, so you might wanna check out how your fridge is telling you to store your foods.

Sort out your social media

This is a favorite of mine because I loved decluttering in any sense of the word. You could sort out who you follow, delete ghost followers, change and add to your list of muted words/tags, delete some old posts and DMs or simply update your bios on all your social media accounts. Always make sure that what you have on your timeline is actually what you like to see and nothing that makes you feel worse about yourself.

Take self portraits

I think at least once a year you should take good pictures of yourself for profile pictures online but also just to be able to look back one day and see how you looked at your current age. I personally love taking more creative pictures with props, fancy makeup and different lighting effects. In case that’s not your thing you could just take a couple self-timer pictures with your phone of yourself smiling. It might look awkward, but that’s normal. I personally got really decent at posing with time but a non-awkward smile for photos is something even I still struggle with sometimes.

Cook a healthy meal

Challenge yourself to make a complicated healthy meal. Maybe you even try a recipe you’ve never done before or you meal prep. Cooking is a great way to spend several hours on something productive and you even get some yummy food out of it. This is a thing I’m trying to do more myself, because I definitely don’t know enough recipes to fill a month with healthy meals. 

Declutter your junk drawer

We all have it. If you don’t you’re probably just blending it out of your life. Mine has cables, pens and old notebooks among other things. Decluttering that place where you store all the bits and bobs can be super relieving for your mental space. I don’t know what exactly it is about decluttering, but somehow it makes you feel like you’re simultaneously decluttering your mind. 

Sort out pictures on your phone & computer

While we are in a decluttering mood, you might wanna organize your digital space. I did this recently and it can be quite a bit of work. If you don’t have a structure for how you save things on your computer you might wanna create one. I recently pulled all my video and photography stuff onto an external harddrive and deleted the videos from my computer. Then I went through all the big files that I never use and deleted tons of them. Took me an evening to free up almost half a terabyte of space on my computer. For my phone I do backups and wipes every so often, but sorting them into albums before backing them up is definitely harder if you use Google Pictures (sigh). Who can relate?

Go for a walk

This is a lifesaver. I mean that quite literally. Walking and ideally also being in nature helps us regulate our nervous system and is just overall a great way to get our mind clear. If I get bored this is usually my go-to unless I get stuck to my phone screen. Go adventuring a bit and check streets you haven’t been on in a while or walk through fields. I live in Germany, so walking along fields or between vineyards is always really replenishing. In case you need more input in the beginning you might want to connect this activity with a podcast.

There are 90 more things you can do and I’ve sorted them by category and put them into a little “100 things to do when you are bored” mini-ebook that I’ll send straight to your inbox if you enter your info below. I love referencing this list whenever I get bored and it’s always a lifesaver:

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100 things to do when you are bored by Rabea