Boredom at home (lockdown)

What do people do at home to get rid of boredom. It’s effecting my mental health big time. I usually wake up, drink my protein shake, watch the headlines and then I am usually scratching my head thinking what to do next. How are the other coping with the lockdown.?

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Learn something new, that’s what I’m doing. I’m learning a new programming language, but you could learn an actual spoken language or a skill needed to progress in your career or start a new one?

There are plenty of free online courses and stuff :slight_smile:

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I’d recommend stopping this, if your mental health is being affected this is only going to negatively impact on it.

I’ve been going out for a run/walk most days now to try to free up my mind, and also I’m fortunately still working through the day to keep busy.

Weekends are TV Shows, calls with friends, a bit of DIY & some gaming.

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That is one of the causes. Exercise instead.

What did you do before all this - were you working full time? Are you furloughed?

Always suffered from mental health, on loads of anti d tablets, use to the go gym etc to get my mind of everything. Can’t do much now, with everything being closed. especially with my weak immune system

Exercise outside, the fresh air is better than gym air anyhow :+1:

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I try and have a rough idea what I want to do each day, as a timetable helps add structure, and being flexible about me means I don’t beat myself up when it goes a bit awry and things get missed.

Wake up in the morning, hour or so for breakfast, self-care (washing/showering/shaving - take longer time on ‘weekends’ or days off)
WFH with tasks in hourly blocks. eg 1hr email, 1hr research, 1hr report writing. 10 minute break between each task.
LUNCHTIME! biggest break of the day, and aim for same time every day.
Depending on day, either:
bit more WFH
OR
bit of housework, broken down into tasks i want to achieve in max 3hrs.
OR
leisure fun/hobbies/self improvement:
catching up with tv or books/spending time on an activity I enjoy/learning a new skill or improving an existing wrong.
(there’s a lot of overlap)
OR
a combination of all of the above

let myself catch up with headlines at 5pm and then switch off ‘work’ mode (any and all kind of work) in the evening. avoid news other than this small window as it’s not helpful.
make dinner (again aim for same time each evening), bit of socialising (with household/virtual/email/social media) and a couple of hours watching TV to wind down
Bed.

Repeat as needed.

ETA: reading other replies reminds me that I need to get better at carving out an hour for exercise, that’s an area that wasn’t on my priority list initially, but as time has gone by I realise more that it should be, especially since it has stopped raining so much.

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About 8 miles on the push bike a day
Couple of hours on the punch ball
Loads of on demand sky q
Some resistance band training
Playing forza on the pc with my gaming steering wheel and pedals

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I’m putting up a shed. And as far as mental health is concerned, I wouldn’t recommend it. I’ve wanted to smash it down now on several occasions. The door is wonky, I ripped the felt.

However, I’m hoping when/if I get it finished in the next couple days, I can look back and be proud it (even though I could have probably paid someone £100 to do it better and much faster :face_with_raised_eyebrow:).

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Nice! I’m trying to learn my first language at the moment.

Which language are you picking up ?

If English is your first language, you seem to be doing quite well. Keep up the good work.

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Animal Crossing has been sufficiently quenching my boredom throughout the lockdown during the day! (Currently have around 240 hours of playtime), though now that I’ve finished terraforming my island and am satisfied with it, the daily routine of things to do is starting to get a little stale.

At night time, my friends I do some synchronised binge watching. We’ve just finished Person of Interest and have now started Sherlock. We occasionally play Fortnite and Sea of Thieves too for some long distance socialising.

I’m going through React.js at the moment - I guess if you’re wanting to learn your first language you’ll be starting with HTML or CSS?

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tHAnkS, i tRy mY bESt

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I’m giving Swift a go, though web dev does seem interesting so might pick up CSS/HTML.

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Strictly speaking, @Webby53096, I reckon you’re learning your 2nd language :blush:

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Pretty much what everyone saying: you need to find a flow activity. That’s an activity that requires a long time to complete and engages your mental capacity, but doesn’t require constant reflection or active decision-making - or anything that may trigger anxiety or stress for you.

For lots of people, that means games, jigsaws, reading a book, watching light TV, knitting etc. The only requirement really is that the activity should take as much time as possible and suit you…

I personally find a mix of podcasts, reading, gaming and binge-watching is best.

Also, thoroughly cleaning a bit of the flat every day while listening to something is really rewarding, takes a surprising amount of time (if you’re really going for a thorough clean!) and has improved my space. Much nicer sat on a sofa in a stupendously clean room!

I’m also working on Swift, particularly Swift UI. Finding the Apple developer tutorials good, but not really enough explanation for my liking. Anything you’re finding useful?

I’m fortunate enough to still be working (from home) five days a week as a Python dev with a bit of React, so learning Swift seems like a bit of a busman’s holiday at times…

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I suffer from generalised anxiety disorder, although it has been kept well under control for a number of years through a combination of meds and talking therapies. As a stay at home parent (95% of the time) I also struggle with boredom and a lack of interaction with other adults, but I am too tired to have the concentration or capacity to learn a new skill.

I enjoy activities that are creative but not overly challenging like baking and cooking. If you have one, maintaining a garden is similar. I find non-screen based activities are more healthy for me. I also try to call (not FaceTime) individual friends to speak one to one in the evening. I find this sort of interaction more calming and rewarding than group zoom calls. Reading is good although personally I am in a bit of a rut with it.

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To be honest since I’m learning from scratch, i started with swift playground (the first book on their was very basic even for a newbie, then the second book got a bit more dicey).

Now I’ve been using Codecademy (their free tier is pretty good)
Hackerrun is also a recommendation i got for more real world stuff etc.