Ever have a day when you feel like nothing? This happens to me a lot during the summer, when it's not impossible to find yourself with a whole day (24 long hours) ahead of you, and nothing to do. And I guess it's not that I actually don't have nothing to do, I just have no plans that involve other people. So here are some ways to get the solitude you subconsciously really want, without feeling like nothing.
1.) Go to a coffee shop
Ah, this is always my go to activity when i'm alone. There is NOTHING better than spending a couple hours in a dark corner of a coffee shop, drinking a latte, and doing creative things likeeee reading a book you kind of like, drawing men that look like carrots, or listening to your ipod while staring at all the other people in there who are alone, just like yourself. You get to be with people, but not actually be with them, unless you strike up a conversation with someone interseting in which case you make a new friend! success. Except girls watch out, one time in a new york city coffee shop a man bought me a piece of carrot cake (nice) and then went on to speak to me for 30 minutes about how sensual it can be to eat carrot cake (creepy, i take back thinking you were nice).
2.) Go to a park
Here you can do everything you might do at a coffee shop but you can bring your own coffee/picnic/juice(spikedwithvodka) and save yourself the 4 dollars you would have spent on a coffee drink. Also you get to be outside in nature breathing fresh air and have fantasys about living in nature with Henry David Thoreau.
3.) Take a spinning/yoga/pilates class
Another great thing to do when you have time alone. If you belong to a gym like 24 hour fitness or something of the like, you can most likely go to any of the group fitness classes they offer as a part of your membership. This means you really don't have an excuse for not trying out a zumba class or saturday bootcamp because its FREE. Whenever there is Free Food I eat it, and I try to convince myself to use that same attitude towards exercise classes. Today I'm going to go a bikram yoga class for kicks. Even though yoga people piss me off, I do have to admit there is something really nice about taking an hour to not think about your surroundings and just focus on your inner enregy and being. You'll feel at peace with yourself for at least a good 5 minutes after the class is over (before you drive home get stuck in traffic because the city you live in thinks its okay to constantly shut down the roads around your house for construction). Feeling at peace with yourself = not caring if your something/nothing/anything.
4.) Troll Youtube and Learn Something
This is a tricky one because it can easily go wrong. I'm saying, use youtube to do something whole. If you want to learn how to do the perfect smoky eye, go watch one of those beauty gurus and then follow through by actually doing it to yourself. Go watch videos of The Beatles performing and watch the girls lose their SHIT and be amazed by how you can relate to exactly how they feel and even though they look and are from a different era, they are still people just like you. Then contemplate the evolution of the human. Watch videos of weird people ranting about random things to no one and realize that you listening to them is making them something which in turn makes you something too.
5.) Make an Itunes Celebrity Playlist
Remember those things? I used to love looking at the celebrity playlists on iTunes. Now I have a hard time finding them, I'm not even sure iTunes still does that, but a couple times I've put together a playlist I would submit to iTunes if I was asked to do a celebrity playlist. It's fun to try and find songs that represent who you think you are. The final result is a good playlist you'll have fun jamming to, and having a little something that represents who you are or want to be.
6.) Vandalize Something
I don't recommend spray-painting your full name on a building in the middle of the night (but am not TOTALLY against that) but vandalism can be really fun and exciting. I have a sticker of a little carrot man who's kind of my alter ego and best friend and I stick him up in bathrooms all across my city. I once left him on the window of a bookstore and got such a good feeling when I walked by the next day and saw people looking at him, and I could look too, and no one knew he was mine. So go into a bathroom with a sharpie and write down a lyric or a phrase or draw a picture or write a bad word. Do something that you feel represents you and leave it there anonymously. It feels great.
7.) Go Somewhere Completely Random
The best things happen when you go somewhere you would not have gone. Here are the directions: Think about someone close to you (best friend, parent, boyfriend, girlfriend, ect.) and imagine what they would say if they were asked where they thought you would be the next morning. (Apologies, this a confusing exercise). For example, my best fried would probably guess I would be at my favorite coffee shop near my house tomorrow morning. Now take that answer and do something completely different. For me, I might go to a weird tea shop in a part of town I never go to, or I might go to a new exercise class (aerial aerobics anyone?), or go for walk in the forest. Something I wouldn't usually do. Whenever I have ever done this something good happens to me, I SWEAR TO YOU. Example- I went to this strange toy store in another part of town and as I was walking to my car after perusing for a little while in the store I passed a concert hall where a family friend who I hadn't scene in 10 years was about to go on a play a concert, I got to see him again and it was amazing!).
8.) Write a Letter to Yourself
Say whatever is on your mind, close it in an envelop, and open it in 6months/1year/5years/10years/whenever you need it.
9.) Call Someone You Love That Lives Far Away
After talking to someone who's far away from me I always find comfort when I picture the globe and imagine positive thoughts being sent back and forth between where I am located on the planet and where the other person is. It's crazy but I feel as if my energy or being or whatever is swimming in the air around that area of the planet. Makes me feel special. And vice versa about the other person, because I start thinking about them where I am.
10.) Go Do Something Nice
This nice action can be anything. You can actually go volunteer at an organization you support (I like going to this place that lets children in need come make art) or just give a compliment to someone who looks a little down. Anything.
