So you've finally finished finals, said goodbye to your friends, and moved back home. You've watched every episode of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Friends" on Netflix -- twice.
Now what? Here's a few tips to overcome summer boredom.
1. Find some water and dive in.
If you live by a beach, go surfing or body-boarding. If you live close to a lake, take a canoe out or swim at the swimming beach. You can also go to a river or a creek. One day, my dad and I waded several miles down a small creek in our hometown. It was unexpectedly fun and interesting! If you don't have a natural body of water nearby, go to a pool with some friends. Water parks are one of my favorite places to go during the summer and it can be a exciting day-cation with friends and food!
2. Take up a new craft or art.
You can learn to sew, knit, crochet. Or you can take up multiple kinds of different bead crafts. You can create your own invention with an object to recycle it. You can take up origami, make melted crayon art with old crayons, or make pottery with clay. You can make string art, build a bookshelf, or go outside and take pictures.
3. Get active.
Ride your bike or borrow one if you don't own one. Go on a walk, a jog, or a run with a friend or family member. Take your dog to the dog park. Fly a kite you bought from the dollar store. Learn a new exercise routine to do outside. Create a water slide with a tarp and a hose for the ultimate race.
Go swimming, jump rope, or play sports. Go to a local park with a basketball, soccer, or volleyball and meet new friends. Take up ultimate frisbee or disc golf. Take a group of friends paint-balling or organize a game of capture the flag. Go on a hike in a place you've never been before. Sign up for an exercise class such as aerobics, zumba, yoga, or pilates.
4. Go on a treasure hunt!
Have you heard of geocaching? It's the largest treasure hunt in the world where you can find objects anywhere using GPS coordinates and the naked eye. It's really quite fun and you can totally do it with your friends.
5. Read one of those books you've left in the corner.
I know everyone has at least one book lying around they never had a chance to read. Go for it now! Reading increases your vocabulary, you could learn something new, and keeping up on reading in the summer can help your textbook reading speed during the school year.
6. Learn how to cook something new or bake an old favorite.
Make a smoothie, create your own recipe, or make some smores in the oven. Google search fun recipes to cook or bake some cookies or brownies. Master a dinner recipe by cooking for your family one night. Bake your own granola bars, learn how to fry up donuts, or bake and decorate a cake based on a theme. The recipes are endless!
7. Choreograph a dance or learn a dance routine from Youtube.
Whenever my sister and I were bored during the summer when we were younger, we would create our own dances or learn Disney channel series theme song dances, like Shake It Up. There are plenty of dances that you can learn through Youtube videos.
8. Binge watch all of FunforLouis' vlogs.
FunforLouis is the Youtube channel of Louis Cole, an awesome British guy from London who travels the world. He has dreads and says "yes bro yessss" all the time. He's been daily vlogging for five years and has some really cool 360 videos. His travels range from Camel rides in the Sahara Desert to zip-lining in Jamaica and hiking in Iceland. He's also done a few road trips across the United States in a sketchy bus called "The Wonderwagon."
9. Send letters to your college friends.
Since you'll most likely be far away from some of your closest friends, it's always fun to send them a postcard while you're traveling or a letter to let them know you're thinking about them.
10. Take a walk and listen to a podcast, audiobook, or sermon.
There are endless amounts of Ted Talks, audiobooks, and fantastic sermons you can get your hands (or ears) on. Use Audible or your church's website to download it onto your phone temporarily and walk around your neighborhood. You gain knowledge and exercise at the same time!
11. Call a long distance family member or friend.
Haven't talked to grandpa in a while? Remember that aunt you never talk to? Call up them and give them more than the time of day. They'll appreciate you thinking of them, and you won't regret it. Talk about college, friends, your siblings, activities at college, and whatever else is new.
12. Reevaluate your social networks.
Go through your Facebook friends and unfriend anyone from high school or anyone else you most likely won't see again. Keep the friends you talk to in-person or check up on from time to time. Go through who you follow on Instagram and follow the same method. This can also be done on Twitter for who you're following and minimize all those spam accounts that pop up because you're following something related to some random account.
13. Organize your computer files, flash drives, and phone pictures.
Don't get me wrong. I know this takes hours, but it's worth it in the long run when you're looking for that high school transcript or your resume that needs to be revised. Organize your laptop files into folders and purge your school assignments. Move them over to a flash drive for safekeeping so your laptop will run faster.
Speaking of flash drives, go through your old flash drives and delete anything you don't need. Move files around on them in a more organized manner using your computer as the transfer tool. Label them with a sharpie when you're done so you know what you have.
While you're at it, plug your phone into your computer with the charger and take old videos and pictures off that you don't need taking up space. Videos take up the most space, so make sure to take as many of those as possible off your phone first.
14. Login to your old email account.
I'm guessing I'm not the only person with an email account that I created when I was ten. Figure out your password, login, and start deleting. This will probably take a long time, but you might find emails that are actually worth keeping or scholarships you haven't heard of.
15. Play your favorite board game with a sibling or some friends.
Take your favorite board game out of the closet, dust it off, and open that baby up!
It misses you and wants your attention. Just kidding! But really, grab a person and challenge them to a game of Monopoly, Life, or Sorry. Whatever floats your boat or propels it forward, get it out and play it!
If you can't find anyone to play with, you can play Monopoly online against the computer.
