7 Best Things You Can Do When You Are Bored

“I’m bored.”

I’m pretty sure you’ve tried quite a few things to stop yourself from falling into the abyss of a never-ending cycle of feeling bored.

You’ve probably tried watching TV only to end up channel surfing because it doesn’t matter what show is on, they just can’t retain your attention.

You’ve probably also tried playing a game on your phone but nothing could keep your focus long enough for you to enjoy the game for a long time, and so you switch to a new one until that one gets old a little too fast as well.

If you are feeling bored at this moment, let’s play a little bit of “Would you rather.” Would you rather stay there and die of boredom or would you rather learn the best ways on how to kill your boredom?

If you pick the latter choice, you’ve come to the right page. In here, you’ll learn of the 7 best things you can do when you are bored (P.S. Most of these tips encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and into your courage zone).

What to Do When You Are Bored?

1. Start a Hobby

Do something you’re interested in. It doesn’t matter if it seems silly or impossible to the current you, what matters is that it’s something you find pleasure in doing. And you can do that by starting or re-starting a hobby.

Not sure what to do? Just answer this question: What is one thing that you like or love to do most? It can be anything: from something practical like cooking good food, creating art, building model houses or baking delicious treats to extreme acts like bungee jumping.

If you’re still stumped on what hobby to start, you can try collecting. Getting into the hobby of collecting isn’t even expensive; in fact, you can collect moments for free. Personally, I like to read and be inspired, so one of my hobbies is collecting inspiring quotes and stories.

2. Hit the Gym

When you’re constantly bored, you become disinterested with most things and when you’re in that state, you suddenly find yourself feeling more tired than you ought to be.

Ever been so bored your autopilot activity is to sit and surf endlessly while waiting for time to pass? If you have, it’s time for you to get up and move those muscles. Go and hit the gym, today. Exercise can do a lot of good, not just to your physical body but to your mental health as well.

Don’t have any gym near you? That’s okay, you can play some sports instead. And while you’re at it, choose a sport that you can do with others.

Playing a game with others is so much better than just playing by yourself on your phone away from tangible forms of contact. You not only get to exercise and move your body, you also get to make new friends while having fun.

3. Go on a Food Trip

To be honest, this is a self-confessed favorite activity of mine, one of my favorites at least. And no, just because I said going on a food trip doesn’t mean the same as pigging out.

A food trip is not just about going out and eating every edible thing under the sun, it’s about going out and experiencing all the different cultures through food.

Just because you are bored doesn’t mean you have to skip your meals. And what better way to spend all your free time than to embrace your inner foodie and just taste the world one dish at a time?

I’m sure you know the age-old adage, “You are what you eat.” Just like how other people can get to know you by the food that you eat, you can also learn a lot about the different places you visit through the food on their tables.

Be forewarned though, going on a meaningful food trip will take a bit of courage as you would need some guts to try something you’ve never eaten before. You might like it or you might hate it but you might just as well discover a new food that you love.

4. Keep Calm and Meditate

Sometimes you get so used to living the busy life where you can’t even get a moment to breathe that when you find yourself in a situation where you have a lot of free time, you don’t quite know what to do with it. So you sit there, bored out of your wits, doing nothing.

If you are in the same situation, this tip is for you. Instead of just sitting there as you watch the clock count down towards tomorrow, why not use this time to immerse yourself in the stillness of the present moment.

Both activities may seem the same at first glance but there’s quite a big gap between living a sedentary life as opposed to sitting still in meditation.

Meditating helps you to be more mindful of the present and helps you to be more aware of your thoughts. It can also help you sleep better so that you can avoid getting fatigued on top of being bored.

If you’ve been looking for a challenge that won’t cost you a single cent, you’re in luck. There are a lot of meditation techniques that you can do on your own right at this moment with no other necessary equipment other than your own self. You can even take this chance and deepen your faith through praying, which is also a form of meditation.

So, next time you feel boredom creeping in, fight it. Just keep calm and meditate.

5. Write Something

Have you ever asked yourself ‘why’ you feel bored? Are you bored because you’ve got nothing to do or are you bored because there are tons of things you want to do but don’t have friends to do them with? Got your answers? Write them down.

The thing is we all get bored. It’s not a feeling that we can avoid but the good thing is it’s not permanent, not if you don’t want it to be. And one of the best things to do when boredom strikes is to channel that into something creative, like writing.

When you write you put your intangible thoughts and feelings into visible words, you are essentially putting yourself out there for the rest of the world to know. If you think about it, that could be something scary, but it’s also quite amazing how the words you write can be of help to someone else.

As much as I love to read, I also like to write. Most times, I write about the stuff that helps me out so I could share it with others who might be stuck in places I’ve been, like this article.

And then there are times when I write for my own pleasure. I write almost anything I can think of, short stories, poems, blurbs, ideas, realizations, and other stuff. Even if I know that most of these works won’t see the light of day, I still write them anyway.

Why? It’s because they’re a product of my sometimes overactive imagination and creative boredom.

I believe we all have something to write about. Maybe all you need is just a tiny bit of inspiration and having a lot of free time in your hands.

6. Take a Walk

Remember when we were all like a bottomless mass of excess energy and boundless curiosity when we were kids?

Well, one of the best ways to combat boredom is to go back to being a curious child. When you’re curious, you don’t see the world in a detached, almost indifferent way, instead, everything feels like there’s something new to discover.

As Louis C. K. said, “I’m bored is a useless thing to say. You live in a great, big, vast world that you’ve seen none percent of.” So, if you find yourself bored and the previous five tips didn’t help you much, maybe a simple exploration walk is all you need.

Instead of being cooped up at home, go out and have a walk. Feel the sun on your skin, feel the earth beneath your feet, breathe and take in the entire world, all the sights and the sounds, and marvel at how amazing being alive in that moment is. Sometimes, a change in perspective can change your world.

If you’re not up for aimless walking, then you can go visit your friends that you haven’t seen since university days and reminisce or catch up with them. If that doesn’t work then you can also go on a date with the best person in the universe, you.

If you’ve got the time to be bored and disinterested then you definitely have more than enough time to pamper yourself.

Here’s another quotable quote: It’s not the destination that matters; it’s the journey that counts. So, go and take your walk, start your journey towards a more fulfilling life by taking a step away from boredom.

7. Choose to Work with PASSION

You can be bored with a lot of things, but one of the most common things that people find boring pertain to their jobs. Doing something monotonous day in and day out can make you feel bored, but you can avoid this pitfall by choosing to work in a field that you are passionate about.

When you have passion in your work, you find it more meaningful and as such, you become less weary and feel more energetic towards it.

Passion is what sustains you when you feel like hard work isn’t enough. It motivates you to keep pushing forward no matter how many stumbles you take or how many nay-sayers say “It’s impossible.”

And when you are motivated and passionate about doing your job, boredom won’t have a place to occupy in your mind because you perceive that every moment you have is too precious to spend on boredom.

Conclusion

Boredom isn’t always bad, but if you have to be bored then be creatively bored. When you feel bored, don’t just sit around and do nothing, use that to stimulate your creativity and create something instead.

What do you do when you are bored? Do you have other tips on what to do when boredom strikes?