1) Make plans: a lot of language schools, embassies and universities offer free entry events. So figure out what you're interested in. If you enjoy film and tv, French language schools often have screenings. If you like cooking, East Asian embassies often do demos. If you like history, universities often offer seminars. Make plans and do them. If you wake up on the day of and don't want to go, that is a sign that you absolutely need to. Go out, try something or learn something, stay for the refreshments and talk to people, and don't put any pressure on yourself to perform in any way, just be in the moment and connect with your interests and people.
2) Eat robust meals: you need to eat. As someone who has been the person who chugs an energy drink down, or has a coffee with an apple, it is not enough. Your mind needs sustenance otherwise you tire quickly and it feels like your brain is leaking out of your ear. But when you eat properly and you have a lot of protein, starch, veg etc in your meals, you feel the difference. So get your favourite cup and plate and put a filling meal on it.
3) Commit to a new hobby. It can be anything. The reason you need to commit is to get into the discipline of needing to get out of bed to do it. Painting, walking, making music etc. Commit to learning or doing something that requires that you get out of bed, and that requires some level of focus.
Bonus: look at your phone usage and if there are apps that you use too much, delete them off of your phone and only use them on desktop/laptop.
Related Recs
🕶
When i say everything can be different i mean it !
changing your bed‘s position can give you a sense of difference in your day to day life.
So let’s go slowly and expand that with little resources :
Home :
-Changing your room from bed position to where the desk is - maybe even change the whole room with the other siblings/parents.
-As an outfit repeater i always try to put a piece with a different one just to be able to create a new out.
-Art is your friend, try to sketch, colorbooks, craft, crochet, etc…
- Journaling with prompts, use tiktok and youtube to get prompts and start writing as much as you like
- discover the internet, start searching new niche websites as a hobby, searching by itself is a hobby, use reddit to discover to world.
- try new recipes with the ingredients you already have in the kitchen.
- pinterest mood boards
- reading books
- get into movies, analyse the movie, rhe colorgrade, the technique etc..
- discover new music
Outside :
- try new roads
- discover your city parks
- register in a library
- walk by the beach even if it’s cold
- collect plants (either by taking pictures for a digital board or a physical one in your journal book)
- watch the sunset with music on
- try new drinks in your local coffeeshop
- window shopping (you dont have money so what ? Just look at the items even try them, you like it ? Thats a motivation point to be able to save up for it for the next sale season etc..)
- if you work or use your laptop to study, use the internet to make it more fun ( ex : search how you can navigate your mail box without using your mouse - search how you can write a whole email without touching the mouse - make your tables colorful - try a new style of writing - etc …)
- after work/school, dont go straight home, walk a bit, discover anything “new” around you.
- before school/work, try to wake up earlier, get pretty for yourself, skin care routine, shower a bit longer, make your fav breakfast, walk slow to ur destination..
- ask around if u can do any volunteer work in your city.
- join a book club
- join a craft club
Jan 13, 2025
🛏
once I realized that most days I spent entirely at home made me feel awful when they should make me feel rested, I started making a point of getting out of the house on days where I have nothing planned. you can really go anywhere as long as it's a place that you're comfortable and can waste some time in. I would usually go to a coffee shop and do homework/browse the web on my laptop, which I could just as easily do at home but it felt better than doing it there because I actually had to get up, get ready, get outside, and interact with people even if minimally. it just helped me stay grounded.
nowadays if i have to stay home I make a point to force myself to get up at a normal time (sleeping until past noon will make you feel like you can't do anything because it's already so late you migh as well just stay in) and do something creative, usually that helps the time fly if you get engrossed in it for a while. having a hobby is a great timesink that actually feels productive.
if the weather is nice, just go outside and take it in. if you can walk around your part of town, just putting on music an meandering can be a good way to get familiar with your area or find something new to try. I'm a fan of biking so if there's a pedestrian trail in your city just get on and ride. I've found that putting on music and going at a chill pace I can end up wasting hours taking in the sights and vibing and actually get some excercise too.
in general, moving around and getting out are huge. you don't even need to be doing anything ""productive"". but if you must stay inside, get out of the bedroom and find an activity you can get lost in for a while, stimulate your mind a bit.
May 6, 2024
😃
Try not to completely give into depression and let everything in your life go. If you have an LSAT coming up and need a job, maybe you just need to prioritize one to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Having a singular focus is really helpful because it’s less overwhelming and confusing. And making some sacrifices is better than burning out and failing everything. Can the job possibly wait? If not, I would say its really helpful to create a schedule for yourself. You’ll see that you can get a lot done in a day and still have tons of scheduled time to relax and rot in bed. But remember that rotting in bed feels soo much better when you know you spent some time making your life better. Doing nothing will make your day feel empty and meaningless. And it gets harder to get out of because you get used to it. Even spending an hour on a goal is an accomplishment. Even if you spent 10 hours on your phone, and one hour on a goal, in a year you would have way more going for you than if you spent all day on your phone. Most people are awake for 16 hours, so you could spend 8 hours being productive and still have around 8 hours to relax in bed. Schedule your day so you get a lot of relaxing breaks, so work doesn’t feel so painful. Stick to a predictable schedule. Make sacrifices in any areas that aren’t a priority. Like definitely say no to plans you don’t have time/energy for. And don’t see days that don’t work out as a failure. Like I said, even if you spent 10 hours in bed, just get 1 hour in and count that day as a success. Then you can at least say to yourself that the day couldve been worse. Don’t wait for yourself to have more energy, just use the small amount of energy you have because it kind of regenerates itself and the more productive you feel the more energized you’ll feel. I also recommend taking as many not destructive substances as necessary to get yourself going like even something like drinking more coffee than usual can give you that initial boost. And antidepressants can really help if you think you might be depressed and aren’t on them already
Aug 22, 2024
Top Recs from @ngaatee
Whether you need inspo, are curious about the discourse over the last few decades, want to get into a new hobby or whatever else, you can download open source magazine issues from decades past. They have magazines from as early as the early 1900s too! I have been obsessed with old video games lately so I have been looking at the old club nintendo magazines and it has been so fun. Like look at some of the covers these magazines used to have
Aug 7, 2024
🗣
There is something about seeing someone be unconscious about something that they really love. The sincerity of it, the way they forget to be quiet if its in public, the way they gesture with their hands more. Its great 10/10 would recommend being passionate about your interests!
Jul 10, 2024
📜
Originally I went in with a double major in sociology and communications because I felt like I needed to major in at least one "sensible" major so I chose communications. But I took philosophy as my sequence and I fell in love with it. My then lecturer invited students to this philosophy symposium and he saw my interest in philosophy (I had never dared even think about why I kept choosing philosophy modules during my degree) so he said I could speak to philosophers there and ask them about their work so that I could also see what the field was like.
I almost didn't go but I went and I knew that philosophy wasn't a passing fascination for me. I didn't want to go because I was scared of having to tell my parents that I wanted my double major to be philosophy and sociology i.e. two interests that people told me were not a sensible career path. But I loved it and I realised that I could actually just go to the offices and change my majors and no one could stop me so I did. People were dubious of my decision but I ended up tutoring second years in modern philosophy, African philosophy and the ethics of AI, and now I am doing my masters, so I would say that it is a moment where I exercised my free will that worked out. It isn't my favourite because it worked out though.
It is my favourite because I was willing to risk it not working out. I exercised my free will fully knowing that it might "go wrong" and I did it anyways because I decided that the chance of it going right was worth it and I trusted myself to live with whatever the outcome would be. I still feel the electric sensation of being assertive in a decision that I made on the basis that I wanted to do something because it would make me happy, not because I was concerned with the shame of not meeting people's expectations.
Funnily enough I actually loved communications and I still keep up with research in it, its just that my favourite parts about communications are also not the "this will get you a job" sensible aspects of it, those parts were just okay to me. This decision had a domino effect on how I live my life, it got me back into making art, it made me interested in film, made me realise that I love teaching, and perhaps most importantly it made me brave. There is a version of me somewhere that is too timid and afraid to really live but instead, because of that one moment where I said "fuck it" and just did what I wanted to do without overthinking it, I am passionately and intensely alive. And prone to getting my hopes up lol.
Sep 27, 2024