Life can seem repetitive, especially if you’re in a traditional 9-5 grind. Let’s be real, what we do for a living isn’t always the most thrilling thing in the world. Our jobs aren’t always fulfilling. It can seem like the days just blur together and you desperately want to make this life less boring.
It’s easy to feel like you’re stuck in a rut and daydream about ditching it all for a one-way ticket to paradise..
Instead of running away from your problems, let’s try something a little different.
Instead of taking a big leap, you just want to stretch yourself a little bit and spice things up with some small changes. The smallest shifts are most sustainable.
Luckily, I have plenty of small ideas for you to make life less boring.
Change your Environment
A change in your environment can have a surprisingly big impact on your life. Especially if you’re changing an environment that you’re in daily.
Normally sit at home and read? Try going to a café to read instead. Try a new place for lunch.
If you’re looking for some peaceful atmosphere you could try heading to a park.
Take a different route to a usual destination.
Another great place to go if you’re looking for inspiration is a museum. Sometimes a change of scenery is all that you need.
But you don’t actually need to go anywhere to change up your environment. Sometimes your home needs refreshing.
At home you can switch up the lighting, paint some walls and display some of your favorite items.
Painting your walls is a reasonably easy and inexpensive way to completely change up the look of a room.
Colors can have an actual psychological impact on your moods. Warmer colors feel more cozy, while cool colors tend to feel more calming.
Rearrange your Space
The space that you spend the most time in can have quite an impact on the way you feel.
Another great way to change up your space is to rearrange your furniture. Rearranging your home in general can change your perspective.
Small changes. I’m not talking about anything drastic like taking down a wall or buying new furniture.
You can create a completely different atmosphere, make your space more inviting or comfortable, by simply changing the arrangement of your current furniture.
You can also make it more organized so that you feel more productive.
A cluttered space usually leads to a cluttered mind and the opposite is true as well.
Try a New Hobby
Learning a new skill or trying a new hobby can be a fun and rewarding way to break up your routine.
When you try new hobbies you expose yourself to new challenges and experiences. A new hobby might even help you tap into a vein of creativity you didn’t even know that you had.
A new hobby could be anything from cooking to painting to learning an instrument.
Trying something new can be a good way to both make your life less boring and learn more about yourself.
Trying new hobbies often exposes us to new perspectives and different social circles.
You don’t have to love or stick to every hobby that you try either. Some hobbies will just click, but others will not.
What’s important is that you open your mind up enough to be ok with being bad at something new.
Keep Learning
Learning new things helps us grow, which is why a growth mindset is so important. You have to believe you can grow.
When you’re learning new things, your brain is creating new connections between your neurons. This helps your brain stay young as well as increases its capacity for both creativity and critical thinking.
There are so many different things that you can learn. In fact the more that you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know.
Learning a new language can broaden your horizons and give you a new way to connect with others. It also helps improve your memory.
Learning history can be a lifelong pursuit if you are learning the history of the world.
In particular, learning true history helps preserve culture heritage and may help you cultivate empathy by exposing you to many different perspectives.
You can also learn a new skill, anything from gardening to coding.
Learning how to cultivate plants can also help you better appreciate the beauty of the natural world.
Did you know there was actually a Language of Flowers? Well now you do.
Try to take advantage of any and all opportunities you get to learn.
Social Media Detox
Is your life really boring? Or is it just boring compared to what you see when you’re scrolling?
Stepping back from social media can help you stop comparing your life and yourself to other people.
It can also cure a lot of FOMO if you don’t even know what you’re potentially missing out on.
A lot of us don’t realize just how much time we spend on social media… but most of us do have access to that information on our phones right now. We just ignore it.
That’s why taking a detox break from social media can free up a surprising amount of time that you could’ve been using better all along.
Take a break from your social media followers or friends and spend more time on the most meaningful relationships in your life instead.
Adopt an Active Lifestyle
Exercise isn’t just good for your body, it’s also good for your mind.
Exercising literally makes you happier with endorphins and very few people are both bored and happy at the same time, right?
There are also so many different ways to get in a workout..
Walking, running, swimming, riding a bike, strength training, yoga, dance, Youtube.. the list goes on.
Working out may also make you tired initially, but actually boosts your energy levels in the long run.
Being more active and working out regularly can also help provide a sense of accomplishment.
Setting reachable goals can help keep you motivated and focused.
It doesn’t just make life less boring either, adopting a more active lifestyle can improve your overall quality of life.
Read More Books
A book is basically an adventure.
You can open the cover to almost limitless possibilities.
A book can take you far from home without ever leaving the sofa.
Of course, reading books also expands our perspectives and grows our knowledge.
Non-fiction books are pretty straight forward with what they plan to explain or to teach you, but opening a fiction book is often full of surprises.
If you don’t typically enjoy reading, try something you wouldn’t normally pick up. There are so many different subjects and genres out there to try. Go get a library card and you won’t have to commit to any of them – you can try as many as you like for free!
And in the event that reading just isn’t your thing, consider audiobooks. If you were wondering if they “count” – they absolutely count.
If you want to ease yourself into it, I suggest giving podcasts a try. There are so many different ones out there on different subjects and by different hosts. Plus they usually come in smaller episodes versus tackling a full-length book straight away.
Challenge Yourself
If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.
Challenging yourself is essential to personal growth and we love personal growth here.
It can help you learn things about yourself, both from your mistakes and your successes.
The catch is, only you know what will actually challenge you.
For one person that might be public speaking for another it could be running a marathon.
You want to choose something that is going to push you, but that is also actually achievable.
I have a post full of ideas for 30 day challenges if you need some inspiration.
Adopt New Habits
Try instituting some new habits and routines into your day.
Trying new habits can help break up the monotony in the day to day. You might discover something you really enjoy but just never tried.
A new habit might also be an opportunity to challenge yourself and step out of your comfort zone.
New routines can also help add some structure to your life.
Both structure and direction can actually help make your life less boring.
I know that seems a bit counter-intuitive, but it’s true.
Successfully sticking to a habit can also give you a sense of accomplishment. One of the best ways to measure this is to track your new habits.
Tracking your habits leads to more accountability as well as being able to actually see your progress over time.
Both habits and routines can help create a sense of balance, focus and fulfillment in your life.
Some easy healthy habits you can try are drinking more water, flossing or getting a certain amount of steps each day.
Attend a Live Music Event
Music alone can have a powerful impact on our emotions, but live performances can be almost transformative.
Especially if the lyrics are speaking to you (and possibly others) on a personal level.
This is because it is often a multi-sensory experience that has the potential to evoke powerful emotions.
Live performances just have a different sort of atmosphere to them.
You may be thinking that you don’t want to sit and watch some band at a bar, or spend the money to attend a big concert, but those aren’t the only musical events out there.
Musical theater can be lovely, along with regular theater, an orchestra, quartet or even a poetry reading.
Appreciate the Little Things
There are so many things in life that we tend to take for granted. Especially the littlest of things.
But appreciating the little things will help you focus on the positives and enjoy life more fully.
There’s an unlimited amount of things to be grateful for.
It doesn’t even have to be a “thing” it could be a feeling.
The feeling of clean skin, warm sheets or the sense of accomplishment you get when you complete a goal.
The point is to pause and appreciate the present moment.
When you focus on the things that you appreciate, your mindset shifts to look for more small joys in your life.
There are several scientific studies that show that gratitude leads to greater wellbeing.
Being more mindful of those small joys in life can help you to not be brought down so far by the difficulties of life.
Change your Hair
There is something about changing up your hairstyle that just feels like starting fresh.
But, remember these are about small changes – not big chops.
You can experiment with different looks to change up the monotony of your daily routine, but you don’t have to do any snips to change up your hairstyle.
Not only through some very cool techniques I’ve seen online, but also with wigs or smaller hair pieces.
Your hair can have a significant impact on not just your cursory appearance, but also the way you feel about yourself.
A good change often leads to a boost in self confidence because you just feel good.
Changing your hair can also be symbolic of larger changes in your life, maybe even representing a whole new chapter.
Volunteer
Volunteering can take lots of different forms, but they’ll also provide you with new experiences.
You’ll have an opportunity to meet new people you might not have otherwise met, try new things and gain new perspectives.
All of these benefits to you, while helping someone else. By volunteering you can make a meaningful difference in numerous lives.
Not only does volunteering take you out of your usual routine, but it also generally gives you a sense of fulfillment.
Want to help, but have no idea where to start? A few ideas include helping out at a church, homeless shelter, the humane society or other animal organizations. You might also have the skills needed to tutor a student, deliver meals, shelve books or help build homes. Volunteering can also be done in the form of picking up trash, donating items such as books and clothes or even donating your blood.
Travel
Another way to broaden your horizons is by broadening your perspective. One of the best ways to do that and make life less boring is through travel!
Traveling can help introduce you to new people, places, cultures and experiences.
When you travel, you get to see new sights and try new things that you may not have had the opportunity to do before.
Travel doesn’t just mean traveling to the other side of the globe either. Even semi-local trips can add a sense of adventure to your days.
Unless you’re living in a very small town, it’s unlikely that you have even explored every corner of your own home city! If you can’t afford a trip, try being a tourist where you live.
Visit places you haven’t been before, try a new restaurant.
If you spend most of your time indoors, make your way to a trail and go for a hike.
If all else fails you can turn to technology.
Maybe you didn’t know that traveling virtually was a thing, but it definitely is. Virtual vacations became particularly popular during times of lock-down.
You can even visit world famous art museums virtually and see millions of pieces of art for free!
Of course, there are paid subscription sites, but why spend anything when you can travel vicariously for free?
Say Yes
Are you always saying no? Even to the things that you enjoy?
Saying yes to new experiences (even if you’re not entirely sure about them) can lead to so many more opportunities than saying no.
Try yes instead.
Saying yes more often challenges you to step outside of your comfort zone. It’s outside of our comfort zone where we do the most growing.
Yes can also help build more positive relationships and ultimately bring more joy into your life.
I’m not telling you to say yes to doing the things that you hate.
But if you kinda want to do the thing and you’re just feeling anxious about it.. push yourself to just go for it!
Accept that invitation. Attend that dinner or that party. Try the new food.
Take Responsibility
If you’ve been feeling bored and not excited about your life for a long period of time, have you stopped to ask yourself why?
You want to make life less boring, but the reality is that life is what you make it.
Doing the same boring thing is easy and safe that’s why you keep doing it.
Change can be scary to your brain but you can’t change your life and remain the same at the same time.
The world is overflowing with different experiences and opportunities.
You just have to put in the effort to find them.
Taking responsibility can empower you to take action and make changes, instead of blaming external factors.
It’s important to acknowledge that you do actually have some control over your life and can take steps to create more excitement and fulfillment within it.
In conclusion
I think it’s only natural for us to feel like life is a bit boring sometimes. It’s just part of the human condition to feel bored sometimes.
But, sometimes life can provide a necessary boredom that opens up time for introspection.
Yet other times it feels like it just goes on for far too long.
If it does go on too long, we can crave variety so much that it builds up to the point that we want to do something drastic. It’s never a good idea to do something big just because you’re bored.
Take a single step outside of your comfort zone before you take a leap.
If you want to make your life less boring, in a realistic way, you have to be willing to get creative and take action. …So are you?
I would absolutely love to hear which of these you’re going to try first! Not only that, but how it turns out. You can let me know in a comment below, or you can directly send me an e-mail to me(at)jadesjourneyblog.com!
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