162 things to do instead of doomscrolling

Plus, a fun related announcement!

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Last week, over lunch with my badass friend

Jessica Alpert

, conversation—not surprisingly—turned to the dumpster fire state of our country and how we were coping. Jessica mentioned that embroidery has been a soothing creative outlet for her that has also minimized doomscrolling. She shared pictures of different finished projects and it was such a mood boost to see the mix of beautiful and irreverent patterns and freehand works. And since I’m always oriented towards identifying moments of agency—especially in overwhelming times—I thought it would be helpful to create a big list of anti-doomscrolling ideas for folks to use as a jumping off point for their own care and relief.

Before I get to this list—and this is 100% related to not doomscrolling—I have a fun announcement to share. On Thursday, February 13, 1pm PT/4pm ET, join me and

Asha Dornfest

(my co-author of Minimalist Parenting and former co-host at Edit Your Life) for a Substack Live event! We will be talking about community and civil conversations and it will be the warmth and care and loving mojo you need. Asha and I were last publicly “out there” together on January 11, 2024, via this conversation on centering yourself in the sandwich generation and we were last live on video together August 2, 2018. So this livestream is pretty much in line with seeing a total solar eclipse. To watch: Download the Substack app, subscribe to this newsletter, and turn on push notifications to receive a notification when the live starts. Last week Substack also announced that viewing on desktop is now possible. I have no idea whether the livestream will auto populate to my Notes feed but here’s to trying new things and not sweating the details!

And now, on to the ideas! This list is a culmination of: 1) common hobbies and activities that came to mind; 2) personal favorites (some of which may seem a little weird but I figure I probably have some kindred spirits out there); and 3) specific anecdotes crowdsourced through Instagram Stories; these anecdotes are indicated in quotes. In some cases I add personal commentary with associated hacks and resources, which I hope will help fuel your anti-doomscrolling pursuits, and some ideas are quick while others are more involved—the idea is that any reduction in doomscrolling minutes is a good thing. If you have favorite ideas, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

Here’s to finding ways to be more in the world as we navigate these painful times.

Creative, hands-on projects

I had several months of gap time between finishing my PhD and starting my postdoctoral fellowship while I waited to hear about the status of my NIH grant, during which time I got a part-time job at Paper Source in Cambridge. It was one of the best jobs I have ever had and was a catalyst for discovering my creative side and eventually leaving academia. Much of this section is inspired by things I learned at Paper Source!

1. Bookbinding

2. Bullet journaling

3. Calligraphy or other types of fun/fancy lettering techniques

4. Card making (my kids and I have had a lot of fun making watercolor and black ink greeting cards for gifts and personal use)

5. Collage

6. Coloring pages

7. Comic book illustration

8. Crochet

9. Cross stitch

10. Denim distressing (see this post for backstory)

11. Doodling

12. Drawing (see

    Jenny Lawson (thebloggess)
    for wonderful inspiration!)

13. Embroidery

14. Felt crafting

15. Flower arranging

16. Friendship bracelets

17. Jewelry making

18. Knitting [From Instagram: “Knitting a cowl (circular scarf). Just started knitting again for this reason!”]

19. Macrame

20. Mosaic art

21. Origami

22. Painting (oils, watercolors, etc.)

23. Paper craft (e.g., flowers, wreaths)

24. Photography

25. Pottery

26. Quilting

27. Rubber stamping

28. Salve making (this is one of my great joys!)

29. Sashiko

30. Scrapbooking

31. Screen printing

32. Sewing

33. Sketching

34. Soap making

35. Sticker making

36. Woodworking

Entertainment

37. Audiobooks

38. Board games (here’s a roundup of 21 family games that are actually fun for adults too)

39. Books (print or e-book)

40. Card games

41. Cribbage

42. Crossword puzzles

43. Digital games [From Instagram: “Dumb games on my phone! Two dots, block blast, etc.”]

44. Gabrielle Blair
    [From Instagram: “Watching @designmom content” | Gabrielle is a dear friend, so seeing her listed as a form of anti-doomscrolling was so delightful!]

45. Jigsaw puzzles (delay your gratification by not referring to the picture on the box!)

46. Magazines (not related to doom topics; I highly recommend food or home magazines for this purpose)

47. Mahjong

48. Music

49. Netflix (I highly recommend The Queen’s Gambit, which I just finished and Violet and I are watching Project Runway; From Instagram: “Rewatching favorite shows (GBBO, New Girl, Downton Abbey”) or other TV content [From Instagram: “BritBox TV” “All Creatures Great and Small on PBS”]

50. Podcasts

51. Sudoku

Food making

There are obviously a million food items one could make but below are my favorite comfort foods. I love going on a baking blitz then sharing with neighbors/friends.

52. Brownies (I have been making this recipe for actual decades and people always lose their minds when I bring them to a party)

53. Cake (here’s a live tutorial I filmed on how to make a fancy looking cake with easy piping + a how-to on a gradient rainbow cake I made)

54. Cookies (Sally’s Baking Addiction is a great baking resource—literally every recipe I have tried has worked out great)

55. Cupcakes (speaking of Sally’s Baking Addiction, next on my list is to try her Hostess knock offs)

56. Focaccia (no joke, this is the most spectacular bread recipe I have ever made)

57. Granola (here’s an easy recipe from my archives)

58. Kimchi (between my gifting and eating I’m currently on pace to make a gallon of kimchi every three weeks; I just made another batch on Sunday)

59. Loaves (I love when I can use up old bananas in the freezer for banana bread or near expiration cans of pumpkin puree for pumpkin bread, and in the summer I advance prep and freeze zucchini for this zucchini bread; on Sunday I made a double batch of iced lemon loaf—one for our house and one for our neighbor who helped snow blow our driveway after the big storm)

60. Mac and cheese, from scratch not out of a box (this garlic-herb mac & cheese transformed my appreciation of mac and cheese; delicious and disappears quickly!)

61. Magic salt (I make a big batch of this garlic and herb salt and share with friends in recycled jars—it makes everything taste better!)

62. Pizza (I’m going to try this crust recipe next)

63. Muffins (I love these blueberry muffins + Shalane Flanagan’s Superhero Muffins)

64. Soup (I make a big batch then freeze extras in pint sized takeout containers for later days when cooking feels hard)

65. Tacos (laying out a taco bar spread is my favorite)

Food-adjacent activities

66. Browse your cookbooks and flag a few new recipes that look fun to try

67. Can vegetables (we are enjoying the canned abundance from last summer and it is a wonder)

68. Make a simple yet pretty charcuterie board (here are my tips on building a lovely loaded charcuterie board)

69. Make yourself something nourishing [From Instagram: “Eat a lovely snack”]

70. Organize/winnow down your recipe binder (I am a mega nerd about my recipe binder and I delight in periodically going through to edit the collection—it’s going to be the best thing I hand down to my kids)

Home

I am avoiding listing all manner of crappy chores below. Instead, these are my favorite satisfying home activities.

71. Clean out a junk drawer (I did this with two drawers in my kitchen last month and it was fast and tremendously satisfying—literally, half the pens were out of ink and it was amazing to get rid of them!)

72. Collect books your household is done with and donate them to a local library, used book store, or drop some in a neighborhood Little Free Library

73. Collect canned goods and bring them to a local food pantry or micro pantry

74. Collect and drop off clothing donations

75. Collect toiletries and donate to a women/family shelter (full size or think about all of those hotel samples you have on hand!)

76. Go through your undies collection and throw away anything with gaping holes or wrecked elastics (here are underwear recommendations if you need them)

77. Hang lights (I have found this to be a serious mood booster; I have these smaller fairy lights, which are good for indoor porches, and these outdoor lights in my backyard)

78. Print a picture or two to hang on a wall or the fridge to get photos off your phone and into the world

79. Reorganize your tea supply (I recently did this and it was satisfying to break down boxes with just a few bags in them and also compost tea that I think has been in our possession for 20 years)

80. Sweep (I am including this because my friend

    Casey Brown
    considers sweeping a favorite recreational activity LOL)

81. Tackle a DIY project [From Instagram: “Painting kitchen cabinets”]

82. Wash makeup brushes (I did this for the first time, um, ever, and it was fast, satisfying, and wow do the brushes smell a lot better)

83. Wipe down your refrigerator shelves and throw out old gross condiments (I did this last weekend before going grocery shopping, when the fridge was near empty, and it was highly satisfying)

In your community

Different communities will have different offerings, of course. These ideas are a jumping off point to get out and explore your neighborhood.

84. Adopt and care for a tree (our city has a tree preservation initiative; new trees have watering bags on them, and trees in public spaces often need community members to commit to watering them)

85. Enjoy a green space or hiking trail

86. Find a hill and go sledding

87. Go to a community event

88. Go to a local concert

89. Go to a local theatre production

90. Grab a bag and some gloves, and pick up trash around your neighborhood

91. Picnic at a local park with loved ones

92. Stop and chat with a neighbor

93. Support a local business

94. Support a public school fundraiser (PTOs and school clubs often host fundraising bake sales, community events, Christmas tree sales, etc. and need support!)

95. Visit the community center

96. Visit the library (for books or an event)

97. Visit a nearby museum

98. Visit the farmer’s market

Nature-related activities

99. Animal tracking

100. Birdwatching

101. Foraging

102. Harvesting herbs (I dry out herbs for teas and steep fresh herbs to make salves) [From Instagram: “End of summer: break up dried lavender from the garden and sew baggies for it”]

103. Indoor gardening: Grow microgreens (I have been thinking about trying this!)

104. Indoor gardening: Repot a plant

105. Indoor gardening: Split off clippings from an overgrown plant (pathos are the gift that keeps on giving)

106. Indoor gardening: Start seedlings indoors

107. Outdoor gardening: Plant seeds or flowers

108. Outdoor gardening: Prune bushes

109. Outdoor gardening: Split and share plants (one year I split a bunch of hosta plants and shared them with a friend and it still delights me to this day knowing that we share plants)

110. Outdoor gardening: Weeding

111. Wood fire management: Collect kindling

112. Wood fire management: Split wood

Relationships

113. Call or video chat with a loved one

114. Do a small kind act for someone in your household

115. Meet up with a loved one for a walk or meal

116. Make a care package for a college kid

117. Make a Spotify playlist for a loved one

118. Spend time with your family

119. Tackle activities related to family [From Instagram: “Working on mental load items (making family photo books, planning the next birthday party”]

120. Text a loved one a lovely video (because I live under a rock, I only recently learned about the musician Jon Batiste—his videos are an incredible mood boost)

121. Walk/play with your pet

122. Write and send a card or letter to a loved one

Wellness: Physical

123. Aqua fitness

124. Bike

125. Canoe/kayak/row

126. Circus class (aerial silks and hoops)

127. Dance

128. Exercise class (at a gym or virtually, e.g., Peloton)

129. Foam roll

130. Golf

131. Hike

132. Pickleball

133. Pilates

134. Run

135. Soccer

136. Stretch

137. Swim

138. Tennis

139. Walk [From Instagram: “Get on my walking pad and watch a British show on PBS”]

140. Weight lifting

141. Yoga

142. Zumba

Wellness: Other self-care

I’m not including things like manicures, pedicures, and massages—I love all of those things but I wanted to focus on easy to access ideas.

143. Apply eye gel pads (I leave my snail mucin eye pads in the fridge which makes them so refreshing to apply)

144. Aromatherapy

145. Do a face mask (this is a super affordable multipack I keep in stock at my house)

146. Do a hair mask (Violet used this hair mask over the weekend and loved it)

147. Ice roll your face

148. Moisturize the hell out of yourself

149. Paint your nails

150. Pumice and deep moisturize your feet

151. Shave whatever you might want to shave (lol)

152. Trim your cuticles (mine get overgrown quickly so this is a regular form of self-care for me)

153. Use a loofah or body scrub in the shower

Activism

These ideas are for when you want to do something democracy oriented but don’t want to doomscroll.

154. Write postcards with Postcards to Voters (I have sent a lot of these and it is very satisfying; I use my prettiest markers)

155. Write letters with Vote Forward (I have also written letters with Vote Forward and these are quick and easy; I have even done them in my car while waiting to pick up children!)

156. Call your representatives (no joke, 5Calls.org makes five-minute activism super easy)

157. Vote (if it’s that time of year)

Learning + reflection

158. Journal

159. Learn an instrument

160. Learn a language

161. Take a class (online or in person)

162. Write (e.g., stories, non-fiction, poetry)

I hope this list sparks ideas for you! And if you need further thinking re: hobbies and creativity, here are some wonderful Edit Your Life episodes:

• Cultivating Hobbies + Interests

• Creating A Self-Directed Practice

• Making Room for Creativity

• Finding Connection + Community Through Creativity with the wonderful

  Dan Blank

• Tapping Into Creative Fierceness with the wonderful

  Lucrecer
  Braxton

This is the delicious falafel and roasted veggie bowl I enjoyed while having lunch with Jessica, where the idea for this post sparked.