I recently got a concussion. Having not really played sports in high school, I'd never had one before. I thought you basically got you sleep all day and maybe watch TV for a couple hours a day. Oh, but how wrong I was. Based on the nature of brain injuries, stimulation following a concussion, while not necessarily dangerous, can make symptoms worse and cause for a longer recovery time.

As the doctor was explaining all of this to me, I asked him, "So, what can I do?" His answer, "Nothing."

To get through the long days of recovering from my concussion, I found that these mundane activities were actually my lifeline for dealing with the insufferably slow days:

1. Showering.

While showering is often something everyone does every day, I found it was often the highlight of the day because it got me out of my bed and the warm water helped my headache. My showers went from 20 minutes of necessity and singing to 40-45 minutes of zoned out hair washing. I certainly didn't need as many showers as I took, but I'm sure the boredom would've killed me had I not.

2. Shaving.

Shaving is something I hate with a passion. Normally, I would avoid doing it until I absolutely had to, but with the boredom of a concussion, I found it was an activity that was mundane enough not to stimulate my healing brain too much, but also something that was better than zoning out in my dark bedroom all day.

3. Ordering/Preparing Food.

To be honest I look forward to food even when I'm not concussed, but with nothing to keep me the occupied food was one of the outlets I had to relieve my boredom. While I certainly didn't have the means nor want to get fancy, even just waiting a half an hour for UberEats gave me something to look forward to and something to do once it arrived.

4. Sleeping.

While sleeping problems are common with concussions, I was lucky enough to not really have any issues falling asleep. I often took short naps to relieve a headache and pass the time.

5. Going to class.

My concussion was only mild and meant that while I couldn't spend too much time doing my homework on my laptop, I could sit in class. Even though it was hard to pay attention and participate at a normal level, I at least looked forward to seeing my friends and getting out of my room.

6. Talking on the phone.

I'm normally an avid texter and only call my family members or in the few situations, it would be easier to call. However, I found myself calling multiple members of my family multiple times a day. Socialization is one of the few things that I was allowed to do and that didn't trigger my symptoms, so I took advantage of it and kept in great contact. I even ended up making calls I would normally avoid or normally deem unnecessary like to order food or the DMV.

7. Bothering my roommates.

I'd like to thank my roommates who let me sit around and annoy them while they did their research papers. It made me a little less bored and often made me feel less isolated while I recovered.

8. Riding the bus.

The bus rides to class are often a time where I would normally put in my headphones and scroll through Facebook. However, while I was recovering, I often found it relaxing to be around people again and often took the opportunity to people watch.

9. Adjusting the pillows.

Being forced to spend the majority of the day in bed makes your bed and pillows become extremely uncomfortable, extremely fast. Over the course of my recovery, I probably spent hours adjusting my pillows and blankets. Eventually, I just gave up and dealt with the permanent crick in my neck.

10. Doing homework.

While I wasn't allowed to do much homework for the first week or so of my recovery, whenever I got the opportunity to do some or work on something outside of class I was thrilled. Normally, I try to get my homework done as quickly as possible, but with nothing else to do, I often looked forward to it, even if it gave me a headache.

11. Crying.

OK, so I only cried once, but whoever made up the phrase "bored to tears" was definitely recovering from a concussion.