When I was young there were a few things we never said around our mom; “shut up,” “idiot,” and “stupid” being a few worthy of mentioning. But the one phrase we knew we should never ever say around our mother was “I’m bored.” As soon as we said those two words together she would immediately give us a chore or a very unpleasant task to do. If we couldn’t be creative and think of something to occupy ourselves that wasn’t television or video games, then by golly she’d give us something to do. As a result, I’ve learned to be creative about finding things to do when I'm agonizingly bored.

1. Read a book

Go to the library and pick a random book that looks good and start reading. Maybe try something a bit challenging like Dickins or Tolkien. If you’re not big on reading, try comic books or graphic novels. Or find a nonfiction book on a topic that interests you (body language, snakes, early scientific discoveries, World War II, etc.) Books are a great way to occupy your mind and if/when you find a good one it can take you away to faraway places for hours on end.

2. Make something

Look up tutorials on making a bird house or a scarf. Or make a flipping awesome fort! Or start a garden, or draw a picture (if drawing is your thing), or make a sock monkey, or the best paper airplane, or a little person out of office supplies. The possibilities are endless.

3. Learn a new skill

There are an infinite amount of tutorials on YouTube of any skill you can possibly think of. Maybe you want to learn how to do your makeup better, or how to change your oil in your car. Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn to sew or knit or draw or paint. Even if you aren’t good, find something you’re interested in and just look up how to do it.

4. Music

Pick up a new instrument and learn to play a song or two. Or if you’re really not musically inclined, go online and listen to music. Explore the world of music and find things you’ve never heard before. Make playlists, find new favorite artists and songs, explore new genres.

5. Exercise

Going on a walk is my favorite form of exercise and one of my favorite things to do when I’m bored. I put on headphones and listen to Broadway show tunes while exploring new roads in the town. Or if it’s too cold or hot to walk or if walking isn’t your thing try yoga or jogging, or go to the gym. Exercise has tons of benefits and if you find an exercise you enjoy it’s a wonderful stress reliever.

6. Write

Now don’t just skip this one because you’re not a writer. It doesn’t have to be a novel or academic article. Write a silly story about a little gnome who sneezes gold nuggets out of his nose. Or start a journal. Or write a letter to somebody—it doesn’t have to be sent and it doesn’t have to be addressed to someone you actually know. Write to your future self or the president or the inventor of sandwiches, or anybody in the world.

7. Cook something fun and delicious

This is the BEST. Go find a fun recipe that is relatively easy and see what happens. Or you could always use your favorite fail-safe recipe and make a big batch and feed all your friends. Cooking can be lots of fun and is so exciting when it’s finally done and you get to sit down and taste the fruit of your labors (pun intended). Even if you’re a terrible cook, there are 3 ingredient recipes that are crazy easy and crazy tasty.

8. Look up random things on the internet

Find the best jokes and riddles, look up random trivia about your favorite movie actor, find out how a hot air balloon works, research the coolest methods of tying a neck tie, read about the history of noodles, you could spend hours on the internet and actually learn something instead of watching dumb videos or stalking people on facebook.

9. Clean/Organize

This is actually a great stress reliever. My dad always said, “A cluttered house makes a cluttered mind.” Now I don’t think that’s always true for everyone but it can definitely relieve tension and help you relax if your house is clean. So blast some music, find a messy part of the house, and get to cleaning!

So there you go! Those are 9 ideas of what to do when you’re totally bored. So next time you find yourself scrolling through facebook, maybe try one of these ideas out and see what happens. You might have a lot of fun and learn something along the way!