You've stumbled upon a surplus of time. Freed from work, between jobs or a simple but radical shift in perspective has opened new vistas to fill with enriching activities. Perhaps you've exhausted or grown tired of all the negative habits and fillers that once served as escapes or diversions from a busy schedule and troubled mind and may now be looking for some constructive habits and quests that will build your resources rather than deplete them. Maybe it's been years or decades or lifetimes since you actually chose your own activities and you've forgotten where your true interests lie. Hopefully something on this list may fan that ember of exploration, discovery and endeavor that once made you look forward to jumping out of bed in the morning.
- First, get some free hugs at the nicest place on the internet
- College courses, free ones, taught by professors you always wish you had. Teachers so enthusiastic about their topics that if you had any morsel of interest at all, you'll be caught up in the excitement that always attends true learning. Try Coursera or Kahn Academy, Udemy, Reddit University and more.
- Volunteer for help in your area
- And find out what's going on
- Or where to go
- Computer graphics, games, design, coding, try some free tutorials at tutsplus or code academy or go through the very fun, hands-on cs course at Kahn.
- Build something cool at Instructables or Make.
- Watch one of the 166 free documentaries that will expand your consciousness or these 25 documentaries everyone should watch.
- Practice Zhan Zhuang, standing qigong.
- Learn a foreign language with sites like DuoLingo or with Pimsleur audio, if you just want to listen and speak 30 minutes a day without taking notes and develop a killer accent.
- Learn how to meditate, and do it 20 minutes every day. And maybe try some variations. And, for the hardcore.
- Learn how to cook. Maybe start with a crockpot.
- Learn how stuff works
- Play strategy games like chess or star craft online and enter online tournaments.
- Play a retro MMORPG like Ultima Online Second Age
- Check out this list of must see anime for adults and add this one.
- Discover some new music you like with Pandora or Spotify.
- Start Journaling
- Learn to draw
- Make some art
- Play with Fractals or 3D Modeling and Rendering
- Make your own music with MixCraft or GarageBand or make some quick chiptunes or sound effects
- Get in shape with body-weight workouts, start some martial arts or yoga. (more yoga) Get an exercise bike and do tabata intervals 3 times a week. Go for long walks
- Get rid of stuff, embrace a minimalist lifestyle and feng shui your living space
- Become an ordained minister.
- Take a 30 day journey with Mandala or just print out some geometry to color
- Help people around the world out with micro loans or random acts of pizza or contribute to a new idea
- Develop and refine your perfect set of daily routines
- Learn how to pick locks
- Instead of TV
- Start or update a blog. Or build a website if you are more ambitious
- Learn Poi, Juggling or Spinning fire thingies
- Learn a musical instrument
- Learn how to tie a bunch of different kinds of knots and carry some rope or string in your pocket or purse to practice at odd times.
- Design some t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers and set up your own store on zazzle if you need a good graphics program to get started, try the free InkScape.
- Try your hand at remote viewing with target monkey
- Learn knife or shuriken throwing, and try painting them glow in the dark, or get a real bull whip and figure out how it works. Practice until you can snuff out a candle (without setting the room on fire.)
- Learn storytelling. And a few good stories. Start with one, and tell it to yourself until you learn its rhythm.
- Find out how to identify all the edible and medicinal plants that grow in the area you live and try some recipes with them.
- If you work/ed with computers as a day job, especially with the os or networking, but developers too will find learning a little ethical hacking a great hobby.
- Get a USB microscope and create microscopic art that you blow up into images.
- Master a few origami folds.
- Plan and execute an excursion, big and small. If it's travel, try this packing list.
- Randomize parts of your day. What to do, wear, eat, go... a roll of the die among alternatives and go with the choice made by the die. Mindfully. Ethically.
- Walk, run or ride under the full moon
- Keep a dream journal. And if you have some flexibility on your waking times, try some tech for lucid dreaming.
- Learn the constellations with your android or iphone, just point it up to the sky at night.
- Master self-hypnosis over the weekend (one of the best resources I've found, comes with 3 very good recorded inductions as well.)
- Prepare for time travel by brushing up on caveman chemistry.
- Experiment with moving slower
- Try your hand in online competitions like Kaggle with this book or this one and a little R or the Art of R or even Machine Learning with R.
- Master a few techniques to radically improve your memory.
- Know 41 things, you didn't know before, for no particular reason.
- Complete something that is pending.
- Start tracking something to learn more about yourself. What you eat. Your fitness and/or how you sleep. etc.
- Stop doing 1 or more of these.
- Do nothing for 2 minutes.
- Listen to white noise, or the sound of rain.
- Surf through 50 creative diversions.
- Find a float tank in your area and schedule a 90 minute session.
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