3 Things to Do When You Are Bored

Whenever I start a new job, I always get this question from my colleagues: What do you do in your spare time? And I almost always answer "I watch YouTube videos." I'm not really thaaaat boring, just that I get kinda embarrassed when I tell them what I really do. If I told them I blogged then they might start asking my blog address. No I don't really like that people I know read my blog. I'd rather strangers do that. Is that odd? But that's just me. Anyway because I keep getting asked since I did two odd jobs during my holidays and I have multiple colleagues, I got inspired to make a list of the things I really do in my spare time. It's in the form of general headings and specifics in the description so people who read this may find it useful if they are bored and don't know what to do.

1) Learn something new

This really depends on your interests and situation. My partner is Hindu so I'm trying to learn Hindi. I use the app called Duolingo, but I just saw another language learning app online called Rosetta Stone so I'm gonna try that and see how good it is. I really like Duolingo though, just that it's a little too easy for me so I get bored sometimes while using it.

I have a slight fascination for computer programming as well (maybe more of because I like how the programming systems look rather than for its purposes). Having recently watched the first two seasons of Mr Robot, I got motivated to learn some simple programming. I'm currently on the third season and taking my time because the fourth and last season will only be out in 2019 so I will have to pause anyway. Synopsis below:

Look at that command prompt! I changed its colour!

2) Volunteer

I think many people assume volunteer work requires a lot of commitment. People think volunteering means doing overseas cip or going to the elderly folks' home or giving free tuition to less privileged kids. But to me volunteering is more than that. Firstly it should be something that you feel strongly about because you are going to contribute a whole lotta love.

Sometimes school cip lacks that. Secondly, you need to know what you want to get out of the experience, so that you can motivate yourself to continue what you started. For me, I started two Instagram accounts, one for vegan food (and sometimes yoga poses) and another for traditional Chinese medicine. I hope to spread more awareness on these two subjects that are close to my heart.

I don't post too often because right now I only want to post something when I feel it is good enough.

3) Declutter aka clean your room/house

Sounds mundane and tiring but you will get a sense of satisfaction. And find lost treasure along the journey.

Being vegan makes you dabble in zero-waste topics because a substantial proportion of the vegan community subscribes to the zero-waste or minimalist lifestyle. I'm not quite there yet, but I do what I can. Over the past few months, I have sorted clothes, books, toys and other items into things I want, things I can live without and things that should be dumped. For the 'things I can live without' pile, I donated some and sold the others. I use Carousell mostly but my friend recommended Refash (for women's apparel) when there was a point in time Carousell limited the number of posts each month and even placed a deadline on each post. Carousell is back to her usual self though. Refash (offline) helps you sell your used and unused clothes in their physical stores. It is good if you don't mind donating your clothes if they don't get sold/ picked to be sold, otherwise you need to make another trip down to collect the rejected or unsold pieces.

Here's the link to their FAQ: https://www.refash.sg/faq/selling

If you are into entrepreneurship but don't want to go full-out, you may even use your carousell account as a platform. Mine is sort of a social enterprise where I write my buyers a card or note that states a fact related to veganism, health or climate change. I even drew my own logo and came up with a name! Pretty fun and low stress if you ask me.

Yep I posted the note on my Instagram as well since it was vegan-related.

Hope some of you find this post useful!

TTFN