When is the last time you picked and look up a good novel? These days, the only book you read is Facebook. Instead, the next time you cross that old-fashioned little bookstore on your way back from work, go in. Look around, approach the fiction section, pick up a Murakami, or a Gaiman, or even a Keroauc. They are brilliant, but easy to read literature that helps out of practice readers get back on track effortlessly.
2. Watching a good film.
Instead of watching funny gifs on your newsfeed, watch a good film this weekend. Facebook is great for socializing; however, intellectual growth is as necessary as anything else. Order a fancy dinner this Sunday, and have it with your significant other, over an exclusive screening of the latest Oscar winners like Whiplash, or The Judge, or Birdman. You get to spend quality time with your loved one along with growing intellectually via this exercise, not half bad, is it?
3. Writing a fiction/ keeping a diary.
Remember your college days and housing days? You used to write, you actually had a journal. When was the last time you picked up a pen ever since you joined office? Change that right now, buy a fancy journal, invest on a quill, spare 15 minutes a day to collect your thoughts, and put it down on paper. Writing is therapy.
4. Looking for a better job.
You are in your late twenties, or early thirties. You could be in your forties or fifties even. Are you really satisfied with the 9 to 5 job you have been working all your life ever since you graduated college? If, even for one moment you feel that you have settled for your current job, quit. Send out revamped resumes to your dream company. Shoot for the stars, it’s never too late.
5. Travelling.
Make plans. Travel. Don’t just stare at fancy photos of your neighbour’s holiday in Hawai. Pack your bags, leave. Make some memories. Indulge in wanderlust yourself.
6. If you are already on a holiday, spend less time looking at your phone.
Less time on social media, more time at the beach. Or trekking, if you are at the mountains. Make sure you take brilliant photos, but posting them on Facebook can wait, till you are back home. Don’t waste precious moments of a rare trip on the mundane virtual world. Let nature take over, just for a little while.
7. Making a plan to meet up old friends.
When was the last time you saw your school buddies, or college friends? And they live right across the town too, maybe two blocks away from you. Inbox them, make a reunion happen. Meet up at that quaint cafe that recently sprung up around the corner of the street, which you have been meaning to visit for a while now. Go out, live.
8. Sleeping.
Imagine all the precious hours of sleep you lose because you take your phone to bed, and keep scrolling up and down the newsfeed several times before you decide unless you stop you will be late for work tomorrow?
9. Calling our parents.
They are old. They are still stuck in that small town you left behind, long, long, ago. They won’t be around forever. They might be waiting by the phone every evening. Call them. Take a genuine interest in their lives. Fly back on certain weekends you can. You are what you are because of them. One should never forget their roots.
10. Watching the news.
It’s a quaint activity, I know. But instead of browsing through BBC’s page on your Smartphone, this evening, watch the 7pm news over tea. Have a heated debate about the opposing political parties with whoever is sitting next to you.
