The episode has ended. The credits roll in the top left corner of your screen and the tempting play button for the next episode appears. The seconds begin to count down. 15 seconds. 14 seconds. Your mouse hovers over “Back to Browse”. You know it’s the right thing to do but you just don’t have that much going on today. 13 seconds. What’s the harm in one more episode? 12 seconds. 11 seconds. You return to the play button. 10 seconds. Isn’t this wasting more time and you should just start it already? Nine seconds. Eight seconds. Only our generation would figure out a way to procrastinate watching Netflix. Seven seconds. Six seconds. You just want to know if she got the new job! Or if he really did it! Five seconds. But maybe there’s something more productive you should be doing. Four seconds. Three seconds. At this point you might as well wait out the countdown right? Two seconds. Right?
We have all been here. Often clicking the play button feels less out of a need to see what happens next and more out of a need to avoid reality. So next time you’ve already watched quite a few "30 Rocks"and you know at this point you’re just frying your brain for no reason, try one of these instead:
1. Read something
Book, poem, article, magazine, anything! Maybe look up that current event you saw on your twitter feed, or open up to the bookmark that’s been sitting two thirds of the way through that book for the past month. Reading require a long term focus that I’m sure a lot of us in our generation could benefit from. Not only that, but you will probably find yourself just as engaged and excited about what you are reading that you’ll be happy you chose to fill your brain with words.
2. Listen to music
Give your eyes a break. Instead, blast some "Lemonade" while you clean your room or some "Newsies" as you fold your laundry or Regina Spektor just all day and all night. Music the best thing to do because it’s perfect for multitasking so you can be productive on lazy afternoons.
3. Take a walk
Enough sitting around on your butt. Get up and get some fresh air. If we’re being honest, people watching in a nearby park for the next 20 minutes will be more exciting than Netflix anyways. And if it’s a nice day out the sunshine will make you feel way better than the cold light of your computer screen.
4. Paint a picture
I bet somewhere you have some old watercolors stashed away. Well break ‘em out and swirl together something fridge worthy. This is probably one of my favorite ways to take a break from anything. It’s fun to pretend you’re Picasso for an hour and do something interactive.
5. Try a new recipe.
But not something too new. Once my friend and I tried to make chai tea ice cream. It was better than Netflix but I wouldn’t make it again. Better ideas might be trying to copy your favorite meal from a restaurant or making the featured dish on the back of your oatmeal box or bean can. Or go on Facebook and actually make that Tasty video you shared.
