Talking or Doing (collage) by Polly Castor
Maybe most of you are not bored, or don’t know you are, however I know some of you are painfully bored and need to be nudged out of inertia.
Ultimately, being bored is not such a bad place, because it means you are on the cusp of a creative surge.
Here’s a list to help you get started. I just woke up this morning with all these ideas swirling around in thought, with the desire to encourage you to wave your ennui goodbye and seize an opportunity that floats your boat. Carpe Diem!
Here are just a few:
- take a hike
- go for a swim
- volunteer to help someone else
- cook a new recipe
- mentor a child, teen, or young adult
- get a puppy
- go where you’ve never gone before
- paint with a different medium
- write a letter
- write a poem
- write a memoir
- write a story
- write a how-to book
- compile a cookbook
- research your ancestry
- start a blog
- start a podcast
- plan, plant, tend, and harvest a garden
- make care packages for others
- work in a soup kitchen
- join a handwork group
- join a bridge group
- join a running club
- join a book group
- join a band or orchestra
- join a bird-watching group
- join a Bible study group
- join a musical jam group
- join a cycling group
- research consciousness
- research creativity
- research how algae reproduces
- do some math problems
- take a Tai Chi class
- take a pottery class
- take a zumba class
- take a glassblowing class
- learn blacksmithing
- learn lamp working
- learn to make millefiori beads out of polymer clay
- learn to weave
- learn printmaking
- learn to play an instrument
- learn to play golf
- learn to play tennis
- learn a new language
- learn computer coding or html
- learn about other religions
- learn art history
- learn origami
- learn how to use pastels
- learn about a time period or movement in history
- learn to draw
- learn carpentry
- learn portraiture
- learn good nutrition
- learn needle felting
- learn to knit complicated patterns
- learn to make lace
- learn to make gourmet pastries
- read a biography of someone you admire
- train for and run a marathon
- make candles
- make wreaths
- make your own ink
- make preserves
- make a collage
- make a vision board
- start weight lifting
- wash your windows
- teach classes
- write to a deployed soldier
- write to a prison inmate
- start beekeeping
- start carving
- start an abstract art journal
- start a travel art journal
- start a grid art journal
- start a concertina art journal
- start an urban sketching book
- start volunteering in the schools
- read aloud to children
- apply metaphysics
- make new friends
- work for a cause you believe in
- get more challenging employment
- quit your job to follow your dream
- tour the country
- travel abroad
- start a business
- renovate a house
- run for public office
- start a You-Tube channel
- Sing, do comedy, or slam poetry at an open mike night
- volunteer for church
- go camping
- go backpacking
- take a bike trip
- go skiing
- rent an RV and be nomadic for a while
- get involved at your planetarium
- make a list of 300 qualities of God and then express them
- become a docent
- go to museums you haven’t been to
- go down some random research rabbit holes
- paint a room
- clean out your attic
- clean out a closet
- clean out your basement
- clean out your garage
- clean out your kitchen cabinets
- try new cuisine
- watch documentaries
- get season tickets to the symphony
- get rock concert tickets
- get season tickets to the ballet
- get active in an environmental group
- walk on the beach at sunrise
- start contra dancing
- start swing dancing
- start square dancing
- start sailing
- improve your diet
- start a dinner club
- start a neighborhood association
- start an exercise regimen
- become a girl or boy scout leader
- collect donations for the needy
- sing in a choir
- go on a whale watch
- grow your own food
- make your own clothes
- go visit family
- do a puzzle
- have a campfire
- do Morning Pages
- reach out to a friend you haven’t talked to in a year
- host people in your home
- put your photos in an album
- get a manicure or pedicure
- listen to an audio book
- listen to a podcast
- listen to music
- attend lectures
- visit the elderly
- stop your bad habits
- make a gratitude list
- do random acts of kindness
- be curious
- work to save the world
All these are highly recommended.
Stop scrolling on your phone, staring into space, feeling sorry for yourself, or making excuses.
Some of these ideas are direct, easy, and immediate, while others are portals to whole worlds of experience.
What of these will you decide to do?
Any other ideas too, tell us in the comments.
Knitted and felted bag by Polly Castor
Pottery by Polly Castor
Lamp worked beads by Polly Castor and husband
Drawing of Shallots by Polly Castor
Camping in northern Canada
Native American (after Fechin) portraiture in pastel by Polly Castor
Hike to cliffside guesthouse in Switzerland
my to-be-read pile
one of many of my art journals
Concertina artist journal by Polly Castor
Camping trip to northeastern Canada
Moraine Lake (plein air painting in pastel in the Canadian Rockies) by Polly Castor
page spread in Polly Castor’s grid journal
Polly Castor’s travel art journal of trip to Guadaloupe
pottery vases by Polly Castor
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10 Comments
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Wow Polly! You are a multitalented lady! I’m so glad to know you and to have you share your ideas.
I’m currently clearing out my “semi posh” clothes, bought for weddings and other events, which I am unlikely to wear again. Our oldest granddaughter is travelling to an African country to do some charity work next summer. She is tasked with paying her own expenses. So I suggested she sell my items on a website she knows of for such things.
It will clear a space for me, hopefully raise some funds for her and do several others a good turn too. Blessings all round!-
Author
What a great idea!
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Wonderful!!
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I am never bored!! But great list for someone who needs some ideas.
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It’s true, so much to do in life that isn’t boring..great list!
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I would love to know more about the lampwork beads, especially as I have just read The Glassmakers by Tracy Chevalier. It’s a fictional book but set in Murano, an island off Venice about the glassmakers there over the centuries. Perhaps you could blog about it?
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I have that book on my to-read pile! Lamp working is really fun, but an investment to get started. It is best to start with a class, since torches for home use can be tricky and scary for most folks. I (and then we) used to do it back when I was an engineer. My lamp worked glass beads were in the American Craft Museum over 30 years ago! A huge honor.
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Wow Polly, you never cease to amaze me! X
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What a great list and beautiful photos of your creative projects!! And I learned a new phrase – “Morning Pages”. I YouTubed it and it’s a process I learned as free-form writing. Obviously here it’s connected to the time of day done and thus the name :-)) Thank you, Polly!
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I am learning how to knit. It requires concentration and active thought. Your bookshelves look like they are starting to bend in the middle. Thank you, Polly
