Currently, many of us are feeling this emotion of ‘boredom’ or ‘lethargy’. But, time deceives us all when we realize we have very little of it. A way to decipher this issue would be to discover small hobbies or a grand one that allows you to grow your journey rather than to stop. Recently, many of my friends and I have touched on a variation of ideas to continue to strive closer to our personal goals. 

  1. Learning a new/foreign language: provides you a sense of another culture and possibly could expand upon your worldwide view. These times have helped me reflect on situations that were crucial and enhance personal visions. In my point of view, I took this chance to learn that there are countless encounters to take a problem and understand that it is small in comparison to the issues other cultures face.
  2. Playing a new game: This activity enhances your critical thinking and sense. I have been playing many different games, especially Valorant, that allow me to develop personal skills such as teamwork, communication, and reevaluations. More importantly, by playing games new to us, we learn how to adapt to situations and learn from them which can mirror our life in a way.
  3. Virtual Hackathons: I have personally found these helpful to strengthen my holistic knowledge and learn the language of computers! Coding has become a more important key to society as it is becoming a necessity.
    Helpful link: https://devpost.com/hackathons
  4. Exploring the world: take a naturesque walk or drive to a safe place. With COVID-19 precautions still intact, we are limited in terms of going out, but we can always visit nature because it’s a free adventure. Often at times, you do not need to use money to have fun.
  5. Podcasts/free YouTube videos: I have found many Harvard or Stanford videos that provide you with a stronger grip for the next semester at UTD. The more one exposes  the brain to experiences other people have had, the further one could use that advice to apply it to their own life. For a start, Spotify has numerous!
  6. Trying out challenging workouts: The motivation for this new year, 2021, has definitely been a rise to a newly felt emotion. We can take that ignited energy to start a new habit if exercising isn’t already part of your daily schedule. Overall, there are many unique workout videos free to do so at home straight from Youtube! Healthy body, healthy mind.

Taking in account all the ideas listed above, there are surely many more that allow you to use your time to the highest productivity levels. To all the students feeling a lack of excitement and/or motivation in life right now, remember to live in the moment, because those seemingly simple moments are what, oftentimes, nostalgia reflects on.