“Why does every odd number have the letter ‘E’ in its name?”
“If my milk expires on April’s fools, is it really expired?”
“What about that weird voice in your head, the one you’re reading this with?”
If this category of questions comes to your mind quite often, you might need a new hobby. In addition to this, we bet you’re one of those people who’d kill for a window seat while commuting. Well, those of you who fit that criteria could use some advice on how not to get bored in public or at home! This week we bring you “Creative ways to pass time”.
1. How to kill time at places you didn’t want to be at:
Have you ever been the victim of “Third wheeling” or been to a party against your will because you need to “interact with real people“? Don’t worry, for there are several ways to curb the boredom and excruciating misery of doing nothing. For starters, you could read this article, over and over again (just kidding, don’t). The first thing you should do is, look around and observe. They say ( actually, we say) you don’t need to be good at writing to make poetry. You can write poems about random things, beautiful haikus on trees, bees and the birds (interesting), tables, chairs and whatnot. Upload them wherever you please, and just watch people like and share it. Another thing you can do by looking around is, to observe your surroundings and just build thoughts and opinions about whatever you see. That way you’ll have topics to talk about and can start talking to random people and make new friends!
2. How to pass time in a train:
Now let’s assume, you live eleven stations away from where you currently are (you need a VISA to reach college) and you couldn’t fight your way to the window seat either. Times are tough, what will you do? Well, the first thing that comes to your mind is “Listen to music“. That is a pretty good idea but what if you cannot do it at the moment, assuming you’re not carrying earphones, for example? Easy, count the passengers like sheep, but don’t fall asleep. That rhymed. Which brings me to my next point, poetry. Again, find beauty in simple things, symmetry, colour coordination of the travellers’ clothes, the sound of the chains rattling away on uniform tracks. You could even smile (or frown, but we suggest the former) at random passengers and get a kick out of their response. I think the moral here is, the human brain inherently comes with boredom killing algorithms that we are so unaware of.
3. How to pass time when you’re with friends:
Okay, now this might raise questions like “Why am I being recommended a fun activity when I am with friends?” Well, things don’t always go as planned. Sometimes when you call friends over or go visit them and decide to look out the window and count the number of birds dropping a deuce. We’ll skip the recommendation of generic activities like “Watching TV” or “playing sports” and tell you about the real deal. Dim the lights, switch on the laptop, lower the volume and.. (It’s not what it sounds like… let me complete)… watch old Bollywood horror films. Now we’re talking 70s, 80s or even later ones. Let us tell you that you will never find anything even remotely as funny as them! If you don’t want to do that, or can’t do it, maybe just take a walk, talk about each other’s lives, visit the dark web, simple things like that.
4. How to pass time at your home:
Remember the time when you finished watching Game of Thrones, Stranger Things and a bunch of other shows which lead you to a state wherein you had absolutely nothing to do, which in turn lead you to contemplate your life, decisions and almost drove you to an existential crisis? Us neither. But there might be a time when you must have tried out a large number of TV shows, movies, activities and entered a state of ultimate boredom. Well, we wish this article had been written sometime then. At least now you’ll be prepared. In order to entertain yourself at home you should try (highly recommended) “dancing like no one is watching”, but make sure the curtains or blinds are closed. Another activity you can try is to rearrange your house (if you have the liberty to), try giving it a new look. We aren’t trying to sound like your parents but we also recommend finishing off pending work, assignments or anything doable on your bucket list (written with a tinge of hypocrisy). You could also walk around town listening to music, pretending to be part of a music video (you’d look silly, but it works wonders).
But the best thing you can do to kill boredom is writing an article educating the citizens of the internet on how to pass time.
The following is an image of your expression Before and after applying the knowledge in this article in a boring situation.
–Pablo Escobar.