Things I Would Do If I Had Nothing to Do
I think everyone needs a list like this. While my days of “I’m bored” and “there’s nothing to do” are long over, having a list like this helps you decide where to focus in life and also help you understand what you really like/want. A lot of people don’t know what they really want and enjoy in life – a list like this helps put it all in perspective.
My motto lately has been “do what you love” – so if you’re struggling to find your life calling or looking for a job, writing a list like this can give you a lot of insight. Plus, if you ever do find yourself bored, a list this might just come in handy.
So, here is my list: Things I Would Do if I Had Nothing to Do
1. Catch Up With Old Friends: Ray and I were talking about how we have friends who probably don’t even know we are married and have kids. There are people I haven’t seen in a good 10 ten years! It’s not that I don’t like these people anymore or don’t want to talk to them…it’s just time flies by so fast. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day crap, and then one day you are reminded of someone, and you think, geez, it’s been months/years/nearly a decade! I wonder how they are? How awkward would it be if I called to say hello?
2. Watch a Sunset: I love sunsets. Especially at the beach, but anywhere with a good view works too. I told Ray our next house needs to have a sunset view – ours right now is surrounded by trees, so hard to see the sun setting. I don’t know why I like sunsets, but they are so peaceful and relaxing.
3. Write Like a Madman: I love to write and if I don’t write, I usually get cranky. I have so many things I need/want to write about…I don’t believe I could ever get bored if I have a laptop or a pen and paper around.
4. Take More Photos: I love taking pictures, it is something I truly enjoy. But with the kids, and the fact that it’s winter and I don’t even want to leave the house…it’s hard to get a lot of pictures that don’t just totally suck. I have been craving a good photo quest adventure.
5. Build More Websites: I think I enjoy the planning/building aspect of creating websites the most. Updating them and marketing them becomes a drag after awhile, but I could endlessly go on thinking of ideas for new websites and building them.
6. Make Music: I love music. I have no talent, but I do enjoy it. Actually, I think I am very good at writing lyrics, even semi-decent at coming up with melodies. Where I struggle is the actual playing of the music. While I know how to play pretty much everything (all brass and woodwind instruments, as well as guitar and piano) – I can’t read/play music or stay in rythym to save my life. I am one of those people who picks up an instrument and just plays something…if you handed me a sheet of music for a song though I probably couldn’t play it (would take months of practice, lol). So while I have limited skills, and no aspirations to sell a #1 hit or become a rock star, it’s still just fun to do.
7. Play Tennis: I have no idea how to play, but still like to pound balls across the net.
8. Go Camping: We do this a lot, but I never get sick of it. Just the other day I was trying to convince Ray we should live in a tent.
9. Take a Walk in the Woods: I definitely love to go hiking, walk through the woods, all that stuff. It’s hard with the kiddos though, so something we don’t hardly do.
10. Take Classes: I hate school and think college is a hoax, but I think it would be fun to take non-credit type of classes just to learn things I want to learn about. I’d defnitely take a bunch of computer/web design/graphic design classes, plus maybe a writing or art or photography class too. I’d also probably take some classes on nutrition, maybe some crafting types of classes…I always want to learn more. Even when I know everything there is to know about something – I still wonder if there might be something new to learn.
11. Build Stuff With Legos: My brother and I used to spend hours playing Legos. I wish the girls were older, cause the oldest kid and I could definitely play Legos infinitely, if I weren’t afraid of two little godzilla princesses destroying our city or choking on the tiny pieces. Duplo blocks are cool, but not quite the same.
12. Do Puzzles: Ah, puzzles. I love puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles especially, but also word puzzles, logic puzzles, suduko puzzles, puzzles on the computer. I could stay endlessly entertained solving puzzles.
13. Read Books: It is hard to believe that by the time I was 12 years old I had read every book in three libraries and anything else ever printed on paper (including an entire set of 1964 Collier encyclopedias from front to cover). I finally decided I should just write my own stories since I had none left to read. I was beyond being just a bookworm – my whole childhood revolved around books. Sadly, it has been months since I’ve read a “real” book or been to the library, and years since reading anything just for the pure fun of it. (Mostly when I do get the chance to read, it’s been children’s fiction, consisting of more pictures than words or a “how to” type of book) I love to learn new things, love a good story, love poetry…and yet, once again, a lack of time has pushed books down to the very bottom of the priority list.
14. Have an Awesome Garden: Each year, we try to grow a garden, and each year it is semi-disappointing. Why? Because to have an awesome garden, you need time to put into that garden. So, it’s not too long after planting that things go untended.
15. Go Flea Marketing: I’ve sold at our old flea market many times and always had fun, though usually never made much money and ended up with sunburn. I rarely buy anything since I hate clutter, but it is neat to see all the different things.
16. Travel: I have had a huge travel bug in me lately, but we’re stuck in Pittsburgh for the time being. I have pretty much stayed in one small corner of the world for most of my life, it’s time to branch out a little bit. I don’t seek any crazy adventure or anything, but a road trip to every single state has been something I wanted to do since I was a teenager.
17. Make Art/Do Crafty Stuff: I don’t really have much talent in the crafting/art department (my fav. is making collages, which is just cut and paste, lol) – but still, I always admire all the stuff I see on sites like Etsy, Martha Stewart, and BHG. I like to paint and draw and doodle and I think it’d be fun to make sculptures out of junk, like a 3d collage sort of.
18. Play with Play Dough / Clay: I have all kinds of stuff for working with polymer clay but its always pushed to the back burner. There's something so satisfying about sculpting something from scratch.
There is so much more I could add to this list…but alas, other things I have to do are calling. (Like sleep, eat, shower…just having time for that is sometimes a challenge!). I think I’ve covered my favorites though, and honestly, any one of them could keep me entertained endlessly for hours, months, some of them even a lifetime or two.
I really hope you write a list like this – everybody should. It makes you realize what you’re missing in life by getting caught up in stupid stuff that is not important, and in most cases, not even nearly as fun. It helps you understand what you really love the most in life, and hopefully will inspire you to start doing what you love to do.
If you DO make a list like this, I’d love to read it – feel free to post your list here or if you have a blog share a link to it in the comments below!
