Things To Do Instead of Scrolling, Based on Your Mood

I will never forget a simple experiment I did a few years ago.

I went offline for a full week. It was 7 days of no doomscrolling, no social media, no reaching for the phone every second I had nothing to do.

It was an experience that taught me a few things:

• Days feel much longer when I stop asking myself what’s happening online and start asking, “What else could I do with my time?”
• My productivity levels went beyond imagination for that one week.
• I realized life starts feeling repetitive when most of it happens through a screen. 

Maybe you are a little like me. You feel a bit burnt out and flat, nothing sounds appealing, and it’s like life has lost a color or two. Maybe you’ve detached yourself from your hobbies and are too focused on chores, responsibilities, and routines, so you can’t quite remember what you used to enjoy. And maybe you just want to do something – anything – that feels like it could bring those colors back to life.

Whatever version of bored you are right now, there’s something in here for you.

Let this post be your reminder that ordinary days can still feel meaningful. You can fit so much more joy, creativity, coziness, calm, productivity, and adventure in 24 hours – if you just give it a chance.

And I will give you lists of all these things to do instead of doomscrolling, so you will never again lack ideas and inspiration. So make yourself a drink, get comfy, and let’s find something better to do instead.

Quick Links to The Sections:

• When You Want to Feel Cozy and Slow Down
• When You Want to Wake Your Brain Up
• When You Want to Do Something Alone
• When You’re Flat But Want to Feel Productive
• When Your Brain Is Fried
• When You’ve Forgotten What You Enjoy
• When Life Feels Grey
• When You’re With Someone Else

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Things To Do When You Want To Feel Cozy and Slow Down

Imagine it’s raining all weekend. You have no other plans than to cuddle at home with your pet, loved one, or just enjoy your own company. Romanticise those moments, celebrate them, and soak up every single second when you are your own priority. If you crave something soft and slow, something that wraps around you like a warm hug, something that doesn’t “demand” and doesn’t ask you to give even more, this section is for you.

Make a comfort playlist

You probably have at least a few artists you turn to when you need a sense of calm, relaxation, and ultimate coziness. Create a comfort playlist with some of their best pieces. Make it long and filled with only music that melts your soul.

Read poetry

You most certainly can combine this one with the previous idea (or the next one, if I have to be honest). There is something vintage, romantic, and nostalgic about reading poetry when it isn’t an obligation but a simple choice. You can go for classics like Sylvia Plath’s Selected Poems or create a daily ritual out of reading one poem every day of the year.

Reorganise your bookshelf

If you have a well-stocked bookcase, this one should actually be both fun, calming, and productive. You will be able to create a new piece of art to look at (because a bookshelf is exactly that), and you will get an idea of what your next read should be.

Watch rain videos while journaling

There is something almost magical in journaling while soft raindrops make their way down the window. And if the day doesn’t promise you rain, you can summon it yourself by simply putting a YouTube video on. It will influence your journaling, your mood, and create peace and calmness in your soul.

Find a new cozy hobby

When you’re bored at home, you naturally dream of doing, creating, and enjoying something long-term. Hobbies exist with this idea in mind. I’ve created a long list of cozy hobbies for you to try, but here are my favourites: miniature room building, decoden (the Japanese art of decorating phone cases), candle making, virtual room building, and more.

Put an accent on self-care

Pampering yourself slowly and intentionally is cozy, calming, and self-rewarding. And it is much more enjoyable if you do it because you want to and not because you have to. Some of my favourite self-care ideas are: sleeping in, taking a long bath, listening to an audiobook while sipping a favourite drink, meditating, and more.

Live Slow… Intentionally

Taking your time with whatever you’ve decided to do offers you the opportunity to live slow, follow your curiosity, and find true joy in the everyday moments.

Things To Do When You Want To Wake Your Brain Up and Actually Feel Something

Most people say that TV, phones, and any screen-related entertainment overstimulate us. Maybe they’re right. But I think that those same things also leave a specific part of us under-stimulated — our creativity, our child-like exploration of the world, and the simple pleasure that comes from creating with our hands or our minds.

To be creative is to play again, to feel childish, free, and joyful. And to be creative means to want to make something, try something, and feel that small spark of flow overtaking you. The ideas below answer exactly these needs. The best part? None of them requires special talent or any preparation. They just require you to start.

Start a junk journal

I used to junk journal, and it made my creative side flourish.

Junk journaling is exactly what you think it is – collecting (or finding in your home) any junk (flyers, craft paper, wrapping paper, labels, twine, stickers, pieces of fabric), and gluing it into a journal.

You can create something that makes sense, and you can also just glue it all together and enjoy the different textures and colours.

Make a dopamine menu

What are the things you love doing when you need a dopamine spike? Maybe they aren’t just one or two. Maybe you have over 10 ideas. Create a dopamine menu with those ideas. That menu could be a simple list, or you can actually create a menu on Canva, print it out, and stick it on the fridge.

Find an unusual hobby

Geocaching, rock balancing, collecting nature ephemera and turning it into small paintings, bookbinding, and astrology chart analysis are all unusual and fun hobbies that will keep you busy and make you an interesting person to talk to. You can pick your perfect unusual hobby from these 40 ideas.

Make a fun list

Making lists is one of my favourite things to do. But making a list isn’t just a productivity thing. You can create lists for fun: favourite comedies to watch, a list of my best qualities, things you’re grateful for, seasonal bucket lists, life wish lists, and many more.

Bake something

Nudge your creative side in the kitchen. Bake a cake, chocolate chip cookies, bread, or a hearty meal. The trick is to add something of your own – an ingredient, a new idea, or a different way to create that food.

Draw or doodle

Even if you cannot draw or you’ve never tried doodling, you can give it a try. The most important thing to remember is that nobody will see it, and your goal isn’t to create perfection but to be creative. Period.

Build something

Build a LEGO set, a shelf for your bathroom, or a fort in your living room. Whatever you decide to build, just build something with your hands.

Things To Do Alone That Actually Feel Good

Spending time alone is usually looked at with a sad smile. We are conditioned to think that when someone is doing anything solo, it means they have no friends, no one showed up for them, or they’re just “going through something”. Yet, the type of freedom one can feel when doing things solo is unmatched.

There’s no one to keep up with, no one else to please, no one to have expectations we need to meet, there is no one asking for attention, no one to judge, and no one to ruin a moment.

There is just you, rediscovering yourself in the same situations, but in a different light. There is mindfulness, and you. For those moments, pick some of the ideas below and do them not in spite of being solo, but because of it.

Go somewhere random

You could do that challenge walking or driving. If you walk, take turns around your neighbourhood you’ve never taken before (stay safe, though). If you drive, set a 3-minute rule: every 3 minutes, take a turn to your right or left (you can decide that before the ride). See where you end up. Get “lost” in places you’ve never been to. Give your brain a new experience, an environment you’ve never been in.

Take yourself on a solo cafe date

How many times have you been on a solo date? How many times have you walked into a coffee place and sat at a table by yourself, without the expectation of someone else joining you?

If the answer is “not too many”, change it. Go on solo dates. But make them “nothing to do” dates and not just trips to the shop, a quick bite or a speedy cup of coffee. Enjoy the moments with youself, read a book, people-watch or journal.

Take photos of interesting doors or buildings

My husband is obsessed with weird big doors. Every time we travel somewhere, he will point at random doors and take photos. He is normal the rest of the time.

But I must admit, it’s fun to see different designs of the same object. It makes me appreciate the craftsmanship and the imagination. When you are hooked on collecting memories (and photos) of the same thing in different shapes, colours, and designs, you exercise your attention to detail. It’s also an unusual and fun hobby to have.

Visit a bookstore alone

I never want to go to a bookstore with someone. It’s annoying to have to keep reminding myself I need to behave and spend a reasonable amount of time there. I like to get lost and spend long minutes exploring different genres, books, read a bit of this one and read a bit of that one, then decide if I want to get anything. It’s like therapy and if I end up buying nothing, I am still equally satisfied because I’ve had my fill.

Go on a walk without music

Do you know what happens when yo leave your house and walk with no phone in your hands and no headphones to blast music or podcast in your ears?

You hear.

You see.

You feel.

You experience the world differently, noticing things, people, buildings, plants, potholes and everything else, fully. It”s liberating to realise that you can do these things wihtout feeling bored. And if you do feel bored… that’s good for the imagination. Your brain has time to relax and wander.

Things To Do When You Are Flat But Want To Feel On Tops of Things

There are days when you don’t want to be creative, adventurous or inspired. You just want to feel like you’re getting your life together, but the soft version of it. The version where you do it with no energy to push yourself to your limits. For those days, when the bar is on the floor, I give you a few low-effort productive things to do that would make it feel like you’re moving ahead.

Delete screenshots from your phone

You have tons of screenshots that have served their short-term purpose and it’s time to free up some much-needed space on your phone. Spend a few minutes doing just that. I know, these ideas are “things to do instead of staying on your phone” but hey, someone has to do the productive stuff on that device, right?

If you want to go even deeper with the digital detox, here’s my 2-week challenge that will guide you through it.

Organise your email

Tell me you wouldn’t feel on top of the world if your email was organised and everything had a purpose and its own place (folder). I don’t know many people who have an organised email system, so I am sure this must be considered as super power. Master it with this simple system I’ve created.

Brain dump your thoughts

Nothing else can give you more clarity and a sense of being organised like a good brain dump session. You just need a simple piece of paper and a trigger list (you can see mine here) to write down what’s on every tab that’s open in your mind. You might think that you’re fine without writing things down, but decluttering whatever’s on your mind is one of the must-dos.

Declutter one drawer

Speaking of decluttering and soft productive things to do instead of staying on your phone, going through a small drawer is one of those tasks that take forever when you’re procrastinating doing it, but in reality, it takes less than 5 minutes.

Choose any of these 2-minute tasks

I have created a list of 120 tasks that take two minutes or less and I also have it printed in my planner. Instead of doom scrolling, boost your sense of productivity by cheating the system – do something that is productive but takes two miuntes only.

Things To Do When Your Brain Is Fried and You Need to Come Back To Yourself

Scrolling when you’re overstimulated is like turning the volume up to fix a headache. It feels like distraction, but it adds to the noise. If you’re in that frazzled, can’t-settle, everything-is-too-much place right now, none of the creative or productive suggestions above are right for you. These are. Quiet, slow, gentle things that ask nothing of you except to be present for a few minutes.

Sit outside without your phone

Similar to walking without listening to music, sitting outdoors and just taking it all in brings another sense of clarity and calm. Try it for a few minutes, turn it into a daily habit and see how good it makes you feel.

Stretch in complete silence

Be mindful of your body. Stretch every muscle, take your time, feel your way through the movement, enjoy the stretch, the gentle nudge to move that body. Feel good about everything you do while stretching, and don’t overdo anything.

Listen to calming music and do nothing else

I think you have caught the pattern here. This section with calm things to do is focused entirely on mindfully processing the present moment, regardless of what we do in that moment. Listening to calming music (soft jazz, classical, lo-fi) while doing absolutely nothing else is another brilliant way to reach inner peace and calmness that your phone could never grant you.

Write your thoughts down

Journaling is my favourite way of expressing thoughts, emotional regulation, and keeping memories alive. Writing your thoughts down, even if you do it for five minutes twice a week, is like taking a deep breath and sharing your biggest feelings and secrets with a trusted friend. Yet here, you can be sure your journal would never judge you for your thoughts, question your feelings or convince you it’s all in your head. The journal just takes them and keeps them safe for you.

Watch the clouds for a few minutes

My last suggestion is to take a moment and let your imagination work its magic with the clouds above you. See the shapes come to life, creating scenes that nudge your imagination and make you dream. Take a moment to feel like a child again and don’t be shy to get lost in the skies and the present moment.

Things To Do When You’ve Forgotten What You Actually Enjoy

You’ve been bored for a while. You used to have things you loved doing or places you loved going. But somewhere between responsibilities and life getting busy, you quetly forgot about… well, yourself. Now, when someone asks you what you do for fun, you don’t know what to say. And you feel like you’ve missed the point of it all. Well, what you’re going through is very common but that probbaly makes it even more serious. Don’t leave yourself last on your own list. The ideas below will help you prioritise yourself just a tiny bit more.

Try collaging

Cut up old magazines, print images you like, arrange them however feels right. No skill required. No rules. It’s one of those things that feels slightly pointless until you’re an hour in and completely absorbed.

Make a candle

I’ve always wanted to make a candle. There are even small kits that you can purchase if you just want to try something once and (probably) never again. So try candle making. Pick your favorite aroma, grab a starter kit and see how meditative and immercive the process can be.

Book binding

I learned book binding years ago by watching youtube videos. I love it even if I’m very bad at working with a needle and a thread. If you haven’t tried it, I highly recomend doing it this way: go to a thrift shop and choose a vintage book that looks like it has an hour left to live. Gut it (see YouTube for how to do it) and turn it into your very own journal by sewing inserts into it.

Collect nature treasures

Go outside and pick up things that catch your eye — leaves, interesting stones, seed pods, feathers. Arrange them, press them, stick them in a notebook. It sounds like something a six-year-old does, and that’s exactly why it works, and choose a vintage book that looks like has an hour left to live. Gut it (see on YouTube how to do it) and turn it into your very own journal by sawing inserts to it.

Things To Do When Life Feels Grey and You Need Something To Look Forward To

Whether it’s because of the season outside or because of the season in life you’re stuck in, there are moments, days, weeks or even months when life feels grey. There is nothing exciting (enough) happening, you have nothing to look forward to, or whatever’s ahead is still too far away to excite you. You have no plans, no projects and honestly, nobody’s annoying you either. No emotions. Just a nothingness that feels heavy and endless.

For those days, weeks, and months, I have a list of useful looking-forward-to ideas that will keep you busy and bring the emotions back to you.

Start a monthly challenge

You can go about this in two ways:

• Pick one thing to do for the next 7 days or one month. Grab a challenge tracker for this one.
• Do something different every day for a month.

The point isn’t the challenge itself, but the idea of moving a small thread through your days an give them a shape, a focus. You can try one new reicipe every week for a month. You can take a photo a day, do gratitude journaling, walk 10K steps, draw something every day, practice a dance so you can see your progress and so on. Here’s a list of 50 serisouly inspiring monthly chalenges you can try.

Sign up for one class

Many years ago I lived alone, had a stable but slightly boring job and nothing to do with my life on most evenings. That’s when I started going to salsa classes. It was so fun, I met new people, learned the Latin rhythm and exercised at the same time. So I recommend you do the same. Sign up for a class, any class, and learn a new skill, master a skill you already know and add “something” to your days that you can look forward to.

Start a small project with visible end results

Something you build gradually and can see taking shape — a scrapbook, a jigsaw, a knitting project, a reading challenge. The key is that it has a finish line, even a distant one, because finish lines give you something to move toward.

Write a list of things you want to do before the next season ends

Not a bucket list — those feel enormous. A seasonal list feels manageable and close. Six to ten things, a mixture of tiny and slightly bigger ones, and then actually do them. A seasonal bucket list like this one is one of the simplest ways I know to make ordinary months feel like they had something in them.

Things To Do With Someone Else

Yes, you can be with someone else and be bored together. That person could be your mom, your bestie or your life partner, it doesn’t matter. The ideas below will give you ways to chase the boredom away.

Ask each other deep questions

Nothing can bring you closer emotionally to someone like a 2-hour deep conversation does. And it all starts with the right question (or two) to get you into the mood and open the doors to your philosophical selves. I have recently created a list of 120 deep conversation starters that can give you the perfect ideas.

Drive to nowhere

My husband and I love doing this when we’re bored, want to go somewhere but have no idea where. We jump in the car, pick a direction and just drive. We live in the UK and that means every second turn takes us to a cute village with beautiful English houses, gardens filled with blooming flowers or fields with farms and animals. If you’ve never done anything like that, now you have an idea waiting for you.

Make a joint bucket list

There must be places you want to visit together one day, things you want to experience, food you’d like to try together… Make a bucket list of those things, dream together and see if anything on that list can become a reality soon.

Teach each other something

Teach each other something We are all knowledgeable in something. What is your expertise or passion? Can you teach the other person something fun or useful that you know? The other way around — ask them to educate you, show you or help you do something they are good at. For example, my husband used to teach me how to paint anything — a wall, a table, a chair. He would show me the little tricks only professionals know and I still remember them.

Have a “yes evening”

This is a fun game. One of you suggests 5-6 things to do and the other has to pick 3 of them to say yes to. Make it fun, even silly, so you both enjoy your time together. Alternatively, each of you can offer 2-3 things the other must say yes to. Here are a few examples:

• “Want to make pancakes at 10pm?” Yes.
• “Want to watch the most obscure documentary we can find?” Yes.
• “Want to build a blanket fort and eat dinner in it?” Yes.
• “Want to do a living room dance-off right now?” Yes.
• “Want to write each other a poem in five minutes and read it out loud?” Yes.
• “Want to go outside and look at the stars even though it’s freezing?” Yes.
• “Want to pick a random country and cook something from there tonight?” Yes.

Before You Go

You don’t have to wait for life to become exciting and filled with events and adventures. In fact, the calm and quiet days make up the majority of our lives, and the adventures are simply sprinkled throughout them. So, for those quiet weeks, create your own tiny events, something to look forward to at the end of the day, something to keep you inspired, and something to ground you and bring peace into your life.