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Whenever I have small interesting little pieces of trash (like a toothpaste cap, the spring from a dried out pen, handle from an old razor etc) I now have dedicated craft drawers to keep those knick knacks in
Now whenever I want to make cool little sculptures or crafts, I have a generous collection of various shapes and materials that I can make them out of
Also helps save on whatever extra apoxie sculpt I would have needed
I've been seeing small bands play locally. I love metal and all it's sub-genres and my town has been absolutely stacked for smaller shows this year.
I saw Hippie Death Cult and The Obsessed in a tiny venue for $22/ticket and even got to meet some of the members of the bands as they were walking around or working the merch booth.
I've got at least 2 concerts each month for the rest of the year and may fit more in if I can.
Hell, even the most expensive show I went to was $50/ticket and that was for Alcest, Deafheaven, and Mastodon (favorite band of all time). It was absolutely mind blowing and I'm still buzzing from the "high".
I should note I'm 3 years sober from alcohol and have struggled with crippling social anxiety and panic attacks over the years. I'm using these events as exposure therapy (along with actual therapy) to social situations and knowing that I can leave at anytime helps to avoid the uncomfortable cyclical anxiety loop I was getting caught in. It's actually been enlightening how much I've been able to enjoy and has made a massive positive impact on my life.
Step outside of your routine. Drive 20 minutes down the road on a whim and go to the park. Go for a walk. Break the monotony of life in small ways all throughout the day/week. Less screen time too.
Is this the "touching grass" activity they spoke of? Seems scary.
Well kind of. But it's more like touch DIFFERENT grass. Like whereever you live I bet there's a river or creak or lake or whatever within a 30 minute drive. Go there. Check it out. Sit next to it for a minute. Let yourself be an ape for a minute. It's what we are. Just follow your whims. See a cool rock? Go check that shit out.
Leisure walk every day. 30 minutes is enough.
Don't smoke, don't drink alcohol.
Drink a lot of water.
Regular sleep schedule. Sleep hygiene.
Eat healthy.
Appreciative social contacts.
Spinning yarn. Fiber arts in general, but spinning is very low effort. It keeps your hands busy while you watch something on TV (or if you're waiting in a waiting room) so you don't feel the urge to grab your phone. Drop spindles are also very affordable and probably the best way to learn. You could spin wool roving or top. You could also go forage a ton of wild nettle (do that it in the winter so it doesn't sting), process the nettle, then spin that. Or you could get into the dying process, which is super fun. It's an entire rabbit hole.
The fun thing is you can use the product of the low effort hobby in higher effort hobbies like weaving. And once you get fabric from weaving on a rigid heddle or floor/table loom, you can amp up the effort even more in following a pattern and sewing things from that fabric. Or just hang it and look at it.
No matter how much your brain tells you that it's go time... You need to take 10 minutes a day to stare at the ceiling, have a bath, or do nothing and turn that fucker off.
E: I know my own brain, it will not stop. So I literally have a repeat task in my calendar and my do not disturb set to go on for that 10 minutes automatically!
Do a kindness to someone without expectation of recognition or return
Read a book
Find an enjoyable exercise
Sit under a tree on a nice day
call friends & loved ones even if there's no particular reason to
10-15 min walks. Great time to just get the body moving and get into deep thought or listen to an audiobook
Having a regular water refill routine
Weekly/monthly budget/finances review
All the small annoying non "fun" stuff that every old persons unsolicited advice essentially.
I take the stairs, when i'm sad, frustrated or upset i do pushups
Team Sports are pretty good for a social life. As in casual leagues. Just daydrinking with extra steps.
Going for a walk is generally a good thing.
Set the phone in another room.
Hey, sometimes the phones are hucked into the other room if they're going off too much. Time out, Daddy's gotta work.
Wash my hands the second I get home.
Semi-regularly wash the touch surfaces in my home including door knobs and light switches.
I don't get sick like I used to.
Instead of cherry picking "low effort" habits or hobbies. Pick habits you value and hobbies you like, then just put in a bit of effort starting from the lowest amount. Stop when you think it's too much.
Cutting off stressful, negative, or hateful friends and family members has had a hugely positive effect in overall life quality and wallet.
Hobby: Doing mobility 10-15 min a day.
Habit: Taking fiber supplements before every meal.
Knitting, reading, gardening, at least one walk every day.
Take out the next days clothes the night before, its one less thing to think about in the morning.
Make your bed when you wake up it requires minimal thought and slowly wakes your brain up.
Reading novels; helped me grow my vocabulary and helped me learn empathy and critical thinking by putting me in other people's shoes
blinking eyes.
Like, extra. We don't blink enough and they get dry.
The greatest frontline oral health routine is just a wood toothpick and a tongue scraper.
We have kind of been tacitly sold this idea that the way to keep our mouth clean is to use rinses and to brush. The deeper truth is that preventative maintenance is much better!
Get the bacteria fuel off of that wet carpet called a tongue, and get it out of the gaps where your gums meet the teeth.
I still brush my teeth, but my friends, hear me!
If you pick and scrape 10 minutes after eating, the requirement to brush almost goes away. I am not saying to stop. I'm just saying that what I personally experienced was that my mouth feel and teeth were so clean, there were many days that if I did not brush by habit I would have forgotten. I think a lot of people (myself included) use teeth fuzzies and mouth feel as the signal to brush.
Edit: there is a very interesting read about the origins of the toothpick in North America! If you're interested a quick web search will show you the way. But the gist of it is that Brazilians were noted to have exceptional oral care and wonderful teeth in the 1800s, when no modern dentistry existed - their use of the toothpick was found to be what made it so! Although noted to be an exceptional method of keeping one's mouth and teeth clean, it did not catch on due to being considered a vulgar practice in NA.
Smoking
I see public smoking to be problematic and anti-social, since such folk don't seem to care about the health of others due to 2nd hand smoke.
Last year I flew from Midway to Laguardia and when I arrived I realized that I left my smokes in the central time zone. I walked out to the smokers pen and asked someone there for a cigarette and we wound up chatting for like 20 min before our pickup arrived.
Wait until you find out about tge health effects of fire, gas cooking, and car exhaust
three things i think about everytime i stop smoking :( why bother? I feel better when i dont smoke, after the first three days anyway
I don't like those too. A reason why I support the popularisation of electric vehicles and induction cooking.
And is it not like saying 'the climate will likely change, so why have complaints on the global warming adding to it'?
Why pour oil on the fire?
Since when are drug-addictions a hobby? There isn't even any noticeable benefit of smoking. Drinking, gambling or even the harder drugs at least give you something back.
OP asked for habits or hobbies. IMO smoking is a habit.
Yup he said that, didn't see it. But "habit" makes it sound so harmless though. Would you call it the same if it wasn't socially semi-acceptable or if it was crack not tobacco?
Yeah, I'd call smoking crack a habit. I don't categorize habits as harmless
Hm, addictions can involve learned habits, but itβs surely more than a habit. "Habit" implies the ability to just stop. But this is semantics :)
Lol someones on the wagon, calm down mate, do you want to live forever?
I would like to. But i wouldn't trade a longer life for a totally benefit-free smoking. I'd take weed or even cocaine over something that just reeks and burns money :-)
Hobbies I'm not sure, none of mine seem low effort.
Habits, just off the top of my head:
In my last job which was WFH I would go for a bike ride in my lunch break. Now I cycle to work so that also works for regular exercise.
Gardening, can get all the rosemary and sage I want for free and cover roast potatoes with it.