Make Life More Interesting for YOU with These 8 Things

Oh another one of these?

No it’s not really… (at least I hope so!)

Look, once I began writing this blog post, I felt that the title may be insulting to some readers. I mean the title is about how to make your life more interesting… it seems like I am thinking that your life is boring??

Well, no. What I am actually talking about is how to make your already interesting life, more interesting, by allowing you to mix things up a bit in your life, explore other passions, and most importantly make an impact to more people with the more avenues you pursue.

Now, what do you do in your regular life right now?

What I mean by your regular life, is that they are the things you do that are a regular part of your life. If you are studying, working, or both, or even doing side hustles or regular volunteering on the side, if that’s something you regularly do, then it’s part of your regular life (pretty straightforward right?)

This blog post will help you think of ideas that you can do outside your regular life. This blog post is pretty much going to give you ideas on how you can further grow your passions, explore new ones, and try out new things that could eventually lead to big things… because that’s what makes your life more interesting right?

It makes sense that in whatever you do, you have goals that you want to achieve, you’re working hard towards them, and that’s all you want to focus on.

But let me explain briefly why you should even consider exploring new passions, or new activities to do outside of your regular life…

Imagine life when you’re only doing what you regularly do (work/study/both). You don’t want to get stressed out and burned out to the point that we start to resent the regular things we do, especially if those regular things are important! That’s the last thing we want to happen, we don’t want to resent the things that are important to us, and lose motivation in them.

1. Do something that grows your MINDSET

Let’s just put the truth out there – our mindset is a huge game changer. It’s everything.

It is either going to work for us or against us, and when we want to achieve our goals, and accomplish what we want, we need the right mindset.

Pretty much, our mindset correlates with everything that we do.

They either make you more proactive or reactive when challenges come our way.

They either help us keep pushing forward when things get hard, or talks us into giving up.

We get to decide how we want our mindset to be, and it’s up to us to work on it, so that it works for us rather than against us.

Remember, that when it comes to even working on longer term goals, when results are very far ahead, we need the mindset to keep us going, and give us a good outlook when things get hard. What do you think would happen to those goals if you didn’t have a good mindset? Our own mind would talk us into giving up.

Here are some examples of mindsets that are worth developing and enhancing!

Seeing the Bigger Picture of Failure

Learning over Losing

now, what are examples of hobbies/activities that can help us grow our mindset? Here are my top 3 personal favourites that you may think of doing as well:

1. Listening to podcasts.
2. Solo mini drives & adventures.
3. Reading.

How do you know if the activity you are thinking of grows your mindset? Here are the three questions to answer:

1. Does the activity allows you to grow your perspectives, learn something new that benefits you, and helps you become a better person?
2. Does the activity allow you to have a more growth mindset than a fixed mindset?
3. Does the activity help your mind feel more clear and fresh?

2. Do Something That Grows Your KNOWLEDGE

Yes I know, this is a bit of a debatable one. Because when you think about it, when you’re studying, you’re obviously always learning things that grows your knowledge right?

However, what I am talking about here is learning something that has nothing to do with what you’re studying, and the area of work that you’re doing.

For example, for me, I do study law, but I wanted to enhance my knowledge in self-improvement, personal development, lifestyle, and productivity. That’s why I started reading books and listened to podcasts about those topics, and this enhanced my knowledge of it, and became things that I eventually applied in my own life (and my blog posts! 🙂 )

That is something that I encourage you to do. Keep things mixed up, and learn something that has nothing to do with what you’re doing right now. Not only would you not get bored doing those same regular things, you also have the opportunity to develop another area of knowledge, which you can use to help yourself, and also other people.

Don’t worry, it can be as extreme or as simple as you want. You can be as extreme as being a law student/lawyer and you start learning about medical science in some way (that’s a personal no-go for me), or you can be as simple as just learning another language on the side… the possibilities are endless!

I promise you that you have nothing to lose by learning something new… absolutely nothing!

now, what are examples of hobbies/activities that can help enhance my knowledge? Here are my 3 personal favourites:

1. Learning a language
2. Reading – personal development books :))
3. Watching documentaries – if you count learning about the Royal Family as educational 🙂

So, how do you know if this is an activity that grows your knowledge? Here are the questions to ask:

1. Does this activity allow you to learn something new? (the most obvious question).
2. Does this activity allow you to have more knowledge in an area outside of what you regularly do?
3. Does this activity challenge you to learn more?

3. Do something that keeps you FIT

Now, this may not be the first time you have heard this but… exercise is important.

This may be something that you may or may not agree with, but from my personal experience, I personally don’t enjoy exercise when the exercise activity is something that I have no interest in whatsoever.

For example, some people don’t like going to the gym, and prefer to be outdoors instead, and that’s how they make exercise fun. On the other hand, some people hate being outdoors, and prefer lifting weights at the gym instead, and that’s more fun for them. Everyone is different with their interest of activity.

Yes, running and going to the gym are one of the most popular forms of exercise, however if you’re not interested in any of that, what are the chances that you are going to remain consistent with your exercise? Apply what is right for you, not what is popular.

So maybe, you can consider looking at some activities that actually gets your body moving, and the big bonus is that you stay healthy and keep yourself fit.

The key takeaway here is to do something that you enjoy doing, and love doing, not based on what society is deciding what is fun exercise. If you’re not interested in what society is interested in, that’s 100% okay. There are plenty of activities out there that will help you get fit, without even dreading the idea of exercise.

Now, I don’t even need to keep explaining why exercise is important, because I am confident that you have heard this advice everywhere. And believe me, you have nothing to lose by regularly doing an activity that keeps you fit.

now, what are examples of hobbies/activities that can help keep you fit? Here are my 3 personal favourites:

1. Nature Walks
2. Hiking
3. Beach adventures

So how do you know if the activity keeps you fit? Well, unlike the last two, there’s only one indicator:

It. Gets. Your. Body. Moving. (right???)

4. Do something that keeps you creative

And no, I am not just talking about doing art such as painting or drawing. I’m talking about doing anything that challenges your mind to think outside the box.

Honestly, this can range from the most simple activities to the most over-the-top activities, you get to choose!

But the purpose of regularly doing something that keeps you more creative is that it keeps your mind open to many possibilities, it makes you more of an open minded person as well!

For example, if you’re doing something that is really creative and there is a challenge there that you have to improvise a bit to solve, you also begin to subconsciously develop key life skills such as problem solving and decision-making.

The more times you face those little “challenges” that pushes you to find ways to fix things, or solve things, the more that your mind grows and makes you more creative…. When you think about it, this can be applied to all areas of your life!

Another example, is that for me, the one thing that makes me creative is creating videos for YouTube. To be honest, I am happy to not have a bigger audience right now, because I am still in the process of learning how to create engaging videos, and learning more about the different filming and editing techniques. I am constantly learning so many different things, and facing a lot of challenges trying to figure out what works. However, I feel that it’s making me more of a creative person, because it’s forcing me to improvise and work with what I have to solve get through all those challenges.

I have found how that had applied to all areas of my life, such as studying. I have found that when I face challenges when I am study, I do catch myself implementing a problem-solving skill that I had developed while making my YouTube videos.

As you can tell that doing something that keeps you creative, is more than just doing something for fun. It ends up correlating with all the things that you do in your regular life anyway.

So the next time that you think that doing something creative outside of your job or studies is going to be a waste of time, think about how many of the skills that you will learn that you can use in your job or studies! See how the benefits of doing something creative also makes you a better problem-solver… and you probably already know that being a good problem solver is such a key life skill to have, no matter what you do!

now, what are examples of hobbies/activities that can help keep you creative? Here are my 3 personal favourites:

1. Video making (filming & editing videos)
2. Making journal templates
3. Blogging

So how do you know if a certain activity you’re thinking of allows you to be creative? Here are the three questions to ask:

1. Does this activity allow you to try out different things (without trying out a different activity)?
2. Does this activity allow you to challenge yourself with the little challenges you’ll face?
3. Does this activity allow you to produce work that you are proud of?

5. Do something that will allow you to meet other people

I know that as an introvert myself, this was not my favourite idea.

There are many platforms out there such as Meetup, Eventbrite, and even Facebook events that have a whole bunch of activities and groups out there that can suit your interests.

Because it’s one thing to enjoy doing something, and honestly it’s a lot more fun when you get to do that with other people!

You love drawing or painting? Find a Meetup group that holds regular events where you get to meet other artists!

You love business and entrepreneurship? Find an event on Eventbrite that would allow you to meet other like-minded people who are striving for that too!

Just want to meet new friends? Let me tell you, I’ve seen many “make new friends” groups on Meetup where they do a variety of activities such as walking, eating at restaurants, going to different local events.

Meeting people with similar interests means much more than just making new friends. Meeting people with similar interests also grows your mindset, grows your perspective, gives you more ideas… and most importantly, it gives you skills!

You can even approach this differently and go to a group that’s doing an activity that you have never done before, and you’ll see whether or not you like it. Regardless, you get to meet new people!

Because when you think about it, the more times you meet new people, the better your people skills get. And what do you need people skills for? Every area of your life… especially with work.

And the easiest way to meet new people that doesn’t make all of that seem nerve wracking is to meet people in an environment that your comfortable in, and interested in!

And honestly, you really grow as a person when you surround yourself with people who are like minded like you, and even if you meet people that you don’t have the same interests with, or the same personality type, you never know how much of a difference they are going to make to your life, and vice versa!

That’s the kind of the mindset we want to strive to have when meeting new people. I know that meeting new people can be terrifying for a lot of me (I’m on that list!!). But the next time you think about how nervous it may be to meet new people, think about how you never know whose life you are going to change.

I know that there have been many instances where I was so dead close to not attending an event, and when I did, I ended up meeting amazing people who are still in my life today, and honestly had changed my life more than I had changed theirs. Imagine if I didn’t go…. I don’t even want to think about that! The only thing I’ll say about that is that if I didn’t meet those people, this blog would not have existed.

now, what are examples of hobbies/activities that can help meet people? Here are my 3 personal favourites:

1. Local cafe study sessions (I go on my own, but I end up meeting people as well)
2. Hiking groups
3. Scuba diving groups (every quarterly month)

Now, how do you know if the activity you’re thinking of allows you to meet people? Well, I’m not going to list three reasons because the one reason is enough and obvious:

You get to meet people… duh.

6. Do Something that Just Relaxes You (part of your self-care!)

This is basically where you just do absolutely anything that you want to do. And yes, this is your typical self-care stuff.

This “thing” that relaxes you contributes to your self-care. I’m not talking about spa days and bubble baths here.

What I mean by doing something that contributes to your self-care is just doing something that lets you relax, recharge, and doesn’t pressure you to be productive whatsoever. It just allows you to rest and just chill.

I’ve done a blog post on how it’s okay to not be productive once in a while, because I do really believe that not being productive once in a while, does help us become more productive.

7. Do something that you gives you the opportunity to help people

Yes, I know that if you’re working, you’ll be helping people that way. If you’re studying, it’s the same as well.

What I’m talking about is actually volunteering. Doing something that gives you the opportunity to help other people beyond where you’re currently working/studying.

Because when you think about it, it’s common sense that if you’re only helping people through your regular job or your studies, you limit the number of people that you impact and change lives.

However, when you do volunteering and help people outside of all that, the number of people that you can help and influence are countless.

And we’re not just talking about volunteering in homeless shelters, or participating in food banks, because there are so many volunteering activities out there, especially ones that are catered for your interests!

For example, with me, outside of studying I do tutoring, both volunteering and paid. But before I even got a job as a tutor in itself, I was volunteering as a tutor. I began tutoring in high school as part of the “peer tutor program”. However, when I started volunteering outside of school, and began tutoring in an organization where I got to do group tutoring for students who just walked in (it was walk-in tutoring), I got to use my skills to impact so many more people!

The most important part was that I was genuinely interested in teaching (and also teaching through analogies and funny puns…most kids laugh okay.).

Now for you, I’m sure you can think of something that you’re genuinely interested in and can use whatever those skills or interests are to help other people. You don’t even have to think of anything new, I’m sure that you have skills that could help more people than you know!

But, if you want to mix things up a bit, definitely do volunteering with things that you’ve never done before, or would never initially interest you. The key point here is to do something that you genuinely enjoy doing, because that energy of passion and generosity would really show in you as you help the people you help.

8. Do something that makes you money

Let me be very clear on this – this is about having a hobby, becoming so passionate about it, and then the bonus is you make money for it.

Personally for me, I don’t really resonate with the idea to start a hobby for the sole purpose of making money from it eventually. Instead, from personal experience, I have found how becoming passionate about something, and then making money from it as a bonus is much more fulfilling and genuine compared to the former.

Let me explain briefly.

Have you ever worked with someone where you can just tell from their energy, that they’re only doing what they are doing for the money? You can tell that they are not driven by what they do, like they honestly just zone out sometimes.

But, on the other hand, have you ever worked with someone where you can see them being driven by their passion? Like you can tell from the way that they’re speaking, and the energy that they are giving off, they are genuinely passionate about what they do, and if they say that they love it, you know that they mean it.

This is exactly what I mean when I mention to find something to be passionate about first, and then have the money be the bonus.

It sounds cliche, I know because you hear it all the time to do “something that you love, and the money will follow”. As repetitive as that may sound, there is some truth to it.

But let me just emphasise this – remember you still have your regular life right? You still have your studies, work, or both… whatever it may be. This is just another form of passion and another outlet that you can have, so you can have something else to do other than your regular life of working or studying.

For example, I’ve met university students who pursue music on the side, and it has nothing to do with what they’re studying, but it keeps their passions open. I’ve also met a lawyer who has a passion for shoes and auctioning them off, also another activity that has nothing to do with law.

Even for me, I’m a law student, but I have a passion for blogging, and the topics I write about has nothing to do with law. The main purpose of all these passions we have outside our regular life, is so that we don’t just spend our days doing the same regular things over and over again, and then come to resent it.

Overall, see if you’re genuinely passionate about something before you think about trying to make money from it. The people that you will get the money from will be attracted by your passion, and your passion or lack of passion will show!

I’ll leave you with this final thought – the more passionate you are about something, the more driven you are to do it. The more driven you are to do it, the more that you will attract who will possibly buy/purchase/make you money from what you’re passionate about. The more people that you inspire with your passion, the more income you’ll eventually make.

So you can see how we don’t want to make passionate so underrated when it comes to choosing these things!

Everything Correlates

If you haven’t thought of it already, even when you do things outside your regular life, the activities that you do end up linking to your regular life anyway.

For example, the people skills that you learn from doing activities that allow you to meet other people, are very transferable to your regular job or studies because you can benefit from people skills anywhere.

Another example, the problem solving skills that you get from doing activities that allow you to be more creative, are definitely transferable to anything else you do, because you need problem solving skills wherever you go.

And I’ll do one more example, the benefits that you get from doing activities that allow you to be fit are of course beneficial to all your other areas of your life, because taking care of your health is very important to still do all those other regular things.

So really, doing all of these activities above are never going to be useless. Not only would they help you explore other passions, mix up your life a bit, and make it more interesting, they will actually benefit you in the long-run.

Don’t be afraid to try something new. You have nothing to lose from that….

– Lauren 🙂

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