Let’s face it, sometimes life can be boring. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat. We all have grand aspirations in life, but sometimes our day-to-day realities can get in the way. We have a job that is going alright, some old friends that we meet up with on the weekends, and a fairly stable home life. Weekdays are filled with some TV and a takeaway if we’re feeling particularly unenthused by the idea of cooking (which happens far more times than for myself than I care to admit..)
It can be quite easy to get stuck in a bit of a monotonous rut, and none of this is helped by being shut indoors by COVID-19. Whilst we probably have gotten more used to our quarantined existence now, it can get a little bit tiring doing similar things, often in the same boxed room. The days also have a tendency to blur together. The effect this can have is a general sense of numbness – the lack of enthusiasm seeps through wider life, and for me most of the time ends up in an evening slouched on the sofa.
So how can we break this rut that life has got us stuck in? The answer might be something new to stimulate us mentally. Remember the excitement of our first day at work, or taking up a new hobby – When was the last time you experienced that? If it hasn’t been for a while, perhaps you might want to think about finding something new to do to rekindle that creative energy inside of you that might currently be stilted.
A new challenge can take up any form, and doesn’t need to be giant or grand. It can be as simple as learning a new skill or taking a course in something you’ve always wanted to. I started writing these articles in my spare time, often doing this after a long day at work. It’s quite surprising that whilst I usually start writing them feeling quite tired, by the end I’m a lot more energised, with a greater sense of mental sharpness and fulfilment for having achieved something.
And whilst COVID-19 can sometimes make it harder to do certain activities due to being stuck at home, it is quite amazing how much we can still do using digital workarounds. Naturally we’ve all seen the transition of our gym workouts and yoga sessions indoors, but there are equally a great numbers of interesting online course for all sorts of things (look at coursera.org for free courses for instance). I have been taking Spanish and Bengali language lessons online using Italki.com since before the lockdown, which has been a way I keep my language learning up and a sense of development outside of work. If languages aren’t your thing, and you’re lacking inspiration, you could do worse than taking a dip of pretty much any how-to video on Youtube which piques your interest; after all there is an introductory video on pretty much any subject.
In many respects, learning something new is as important now as it probably ever has ever been. There is a key point about our own mental wellbeing, and ensuring that we feel productive whilst being locked up indoors. But also, from a practical point of view, our world of employment and stability is shifting, and you never know when having a backup option of something different might come in handy.
Now, I’m not saying you’re going to start coding tomorrow and become a millionaire overnight. But if coding is something you learn you enjoy, you will probably gain some useful skills and experience out of it. And who knows, let’s say that if you’re working a customer sales job it might give you an insight as to how to improve things within your organisation and get a promotion. You would be surprised how often this happens, and there are certainly plenty of people who have combined seemingly random skills to make a brand new creation that no one would have ever reasonably thought of before.
So it’s good to try new things. But as a word of caution, it’s best to pursue a new hobby or skill that you genuinely enjoy – if you’re doing this activity purely because you feel it will benefit you, you are not likely to be enthusiastic and are far more likely to give it up later down the line. You also won’t find it particularly fulfilling either. So just bear that in mind, especially if you find yourself pushing to gain proficiency in ultra-quick time.
So if you feel like you’ve got some room for some inspiration, why not learn a new hobby or skill?