things to do instead of doom scrolling
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As I've discussed in prior episodes of this podcast, I have had to take extreme measures to battle my internet addiction. By extreme measures, I mean I had to get two phones, one with social media and YouTube and various addicting apps on it, and one phone that has none of those apps, only apps that are non-addicting, such as the text messages app, such as

Such as the email app, such as the book app, you know, for reading books. One phone being named the good phone, which is the phone that has all the healthy stuff on it. And one phone being named the bad phone, the one with all the addicting things on it.

The good phone stays with me. I bring it around with me all the time, 24-7. It's my phone. And then the other phone, my bad phone, stays home and is used only when absolutely needed. Like when I need to post something on Instagram or I want to order something online.

on DoorDash because it's an emergency and I need to order something on DoorDash right now or else something bad happens, which is very rare. If you want to know more about my current internet addiction management routine, go listen to the episode, Managing My Internet Addiction. I explain everything. So for the last...

Two months, I have lived a life sort of internet free. I can't say internet free. I can't say that. I don't even know if I can say internet addiction free because I think it would be naive to say that I no longer have an internet addiction. But I almost never doom scroll anymore.

If you don't know what doom scrolling is, you're lying to me. Yeah, you do. You know what doom scrolling is. It's when you scroll on TikTok or Instagram for hours and hours and hours and hours and consume hours and hours and hours and hours worth of useless content just because you don't have the self-control to turn it off.

We've all been there. We've all done it time and time and time again. We've all wasted an afternoon, wasted an evening, doom scrolling. It's incredibly hard not to do it, especially when you have social media in your pocket. However, life without doom scrolling is really, really beautiful. It's really beautiful. And listen, I'm aware that not everybody is going to go out and get two phones. In fact, most people should not do that.

The only reason why I did it is because my job is being on the internet. If my job was not being on the internet, there would be no justification for me having two phones. I think my internet addiction was a little bit worse and more toxic because my job is on the internet.

or it was just maybe more complicated, I don't know, and the two phone situation made sense for me. That's not going to make sense for most people. Most of you listening to this are not going to have a social media phone and then like a normal phone that you use on a day-to-day that doesn't have all of your, you know, toxic, addictive apps on it, right? And I'm very aware of that. And that's why I'm creating today's episode.

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Head to squarespace.com slash Emma for a free trial and use code Emma to save 10% on your first purchase. Head to squarespace.com slash Emma for a free trial and use code Emma to save 10% off on your first purchase. It's really hard not to doom scroll when you have social media in your pocket. However, I think something that's really helpful is having a list of things in your notes app or just in your brain that

that you can go to every time you start doom scrolling to stop the doom scrolling in its tracks and to go and do something else. You know, like for me, the doom scrolling stopped because I simply got the apps off of the phone that's in my pocket 24 seven.

But for those of you who are not going to remove social media from your pocket, you might have to combat the doom scrolling by changing your behavior, right? Like actively making a choice when you notice yourself doom scrolling to do something else. Now, in my experience, it's really hard to stop doom scrolling and go and do something else because

When you don't know what to go do, like there's nothing appealing to do. There's nothing more appealing to do. Like I would be laying in bed scrolling on my Instagram explore page and I'd be like, I know I need to stop. Like I'm starting to get anxious. I'm comparing myself to the people that I'm seeing, but like I have nothing, like what else am I going to do? So today I've prepared a list of

of a bunch of different things that you can do instead of doom scrolling on your phone. Now, there's obvious things that you can do instead of doom scrolling on your phone. You can go for a walk. You can read a book. You could watch a documentary. All of these things are great and true, but they're obvious. That's not helpful. Those things aren't helpful because they're not...

They're not exciting enough. They're not interesting enough. I made a list of things that are a little bit more exciting. And I really recommend that you make a list of things to do instead of doom scrolling so that every time you catch yourself doom scrolling, now you can go look at your list and choose an activity to do instead. Is it going to work every time? No. Sometimes the doom scrolling will win. But I really do think that this is a powerful exercise. And I think it can really work.

Whether you like any of the ideas that I'm about to give you or not, I really do recommend that you make your own list. Hey, combine some of my ideas with yours and you're going to have a great anti-doomscroll activity list. Okay, let's get started.

Things to do instead of doom scrolling on your phone. Number one, if you're somebody who's into fashion, go put together outfits. Go in your closet and just start trying on clothes. Okay? Now, this might sound weird. Like, who would ever want to go do this? But it's actually very fun to do this when you don't have to do it.

Most of the time when we're putting on outfits in our closet, we're on the go. Like we have to go soon. You know what I mean? We have to leave for work. We have to leave for school. It's not a leisurely fun activity. And a lot of times because of that rush that we're usually in, we don't tend to experiment with our clothes as much. If you're somebody who loves fashion, go into your closet and pick out some new outfits. I don't mean new as in like

with new pieces of clothing that you just bought. Not at all. I'm saying new outfits, meaning new combinations of clothes that you already have in your closet. Try out some shit. Pick out like two or three outfits that are a little bit different that you can wear the following week. And it's kind of fun.

If you don't like fashion, don't do that one because you will hate that and you will be bored and you will be like, why am I doing this? And if you're somebody who wears like a uniform every day, again, don't do this. Okay. This isn't for everyone. Next, try watercolor painting. Okay. My dad put me onto watercolor painting. I'm not an artist by any means or no. Okay. That's everyone's an artist in their own way. Everyone's an artist if they want to be right. So sure. Okay. I'm an artist. Fine. But I'm not

I'm not naturally great at art and I'm especially not naturally great at painting. However, I found that watercolor is the only medium that I enjoy, even though I'm really bad at it. I've particularly been enjoying like cartoony watercolors. Like I'll sketch out some sort of cartoon, sometimes with little speech bubbles and stuff and

And then I'll outline it all with black waterproof pen. And then I'll fill it all in with watercolor paint. And it's sort of like a little cartoon, like a watercolor cartoon. It is so enjoyable. It doesn't matter if you're good or not. There's just something about the watercolor experience that's enjoyable regardless of if you're good at it.

I don't know why. I don't know why. I think it's just because it almost always looks beautiful. Like even if you're technically doing it wrong, it still will look kind of good. I don't know. I love watercolor and...

My dad goes out and will watercolor on the beach or at a cafe. And he inspired me to try that. And it's a delightful experience. So I would absolutely recommend watercolor. And there are so many different styles that you can try. Like go on Pinterest and look up watercolor. Make a little Pinterest board of all your favorite styles and try to mimic them. It's very fun. Next, read Yelp reviews.

Yelp is really only a US thing, I think. I mean, they might have it. It might be international. So if you are listening to this and you don't live in America, find your equivalent to Yelp, okay? Yelp is basically, I don't know, it's a website or app that has information and reviews about establishments, restaurants, nail salons, hair salons, coffee shops, whatever, reviews, okay?

I love going on Yelp and just browsing. Okay, let me explain to you how I do it. I'll look up dinner restaurants in my area and just scroll and scroll and scroll through Yelp and try to find restaurants that I haven't tried yet and then make a list of restaurants I want to try near my home that I've yet to discover. And that's a delightful experience because then anytime I'm like, oh, I want to go out to dinner. Now I have this whole list of places I want to try and

I don't know. It's fun. I love trying new restaurants and it's kind of hard to figure out what's out there unless, I don't know, you find a designated spot for it. So I'll go on Yelp and I'll do that. Or if I know I'm going to be traveling in the next few months, I might look up reviews of restaurants or clothing stores or whatever around the area that I'm staying on my vacation so I can sort of make a list of things I want to go check out. It

It's fun, but it's also genuinely useful. Like the information that you're seeking out will actually be used down the line, which I think is a plus. Because I don't know, sometimes I have a hard time doing activities that I know are not

ultimately helpful in any way. Like I have a hard time sitting down and doing art sometimes because I'm like, what is this even doing for me? You know, like, why am I doing this? I'm not going to sell this piece of art. I'm not even going to necessarily show it to anyone. Like, why am I doing it? And sometimes just personal enjoyment is not enough. And that can be really challenging. And in moments like that, when I'm feeling like, I need to do something productive, you know,

reading Yelp reviews can be something that feels productive. And like, if I'm doom scrolling and I'm like, well, there's nothing productive for me to do. Like, why would I stop doom scrolling? Like, I have no other productive ideas, like going and doing a painting or something that's not productive, that I'm not getting any more done painting a painting than I am doom scrolling. Like, it's easy to talk yourself out of activities that, I don't know,

aren't actually useful necessarily in any way. I mean, some people would argue art is useful. I think it is. But when you're in a pessimistic headspace...

and you're maybe a bit more type A like me, you can look at doing a watercolor and say, that's useless, right? And there are moments when I say that to myself. But like going on Yelp and finding cool restaurants in my area or figuring out what vintage stores I should shop at on my next vacation, like that feels useful. So I can justify going and doing it. I don't know.

Okay, next, give yourself a deep clean. Okay, let's talk about what a deep clean means. It's more than just an everything shower where you shave and you wash your hair and maybe you do a hair mask and you deep condition your hair. Like it's more than that.

It's going in and really flossing your teeth, okay? I'm sorry, majority of us are not flossing every single day. And even if we are, we're not flossing that deeply. Like go in and floss really deep, okay? Go do a face mask. Let that shit sit for the full 20 minutes, okay?

Okay, clip your toenails for fuck's sake. I mean, those things, they're poking you in your shoe. It's long overdue. Clip the fucking toenails. Clean out the dirt from under your nails, you dirty bird, okay? Clean that out. Blow your fucking nose. Do you get what I'm saying? Give yourself a deep clean. Like, literally do everything you can imagine to just clean yourself out. It's very rare that we actually go and do all of that. I mean...

And before any of y'all try to say, okay, Emma, I do that every day. Most people don't. Like most people aren't taking an everything shower, flossing their teeth perfectly, doing a face mask, cutting their toenails. I feel like most people don't always have all of those things done all at once. And it can be kind of nice to give yourself a deep clean. It feels really good and it's very productive.

Next, make a really aesthetically pleasing snack or meal that's plated really fancy and gorgeous. Like go make yourself a gorgeous yogurt bowl. Okay. Like scoop out a bit of Greek yogurt into your favorite bowl. Sprinkle a bit of granola on that. You know, maybe do a little sprinkle of cinnamon. Maybe go out into your backyard and like

Okay, actually don't do that. I was going to say like find like a beautiful leaf for garnish, but like what if it's poisonous? So don't do that. Put some fresh fruit on there. If you don't have any fresh fruit, go into your freezer and open up that bag of frozen raspberries that's been in there for fucking six years and put it in the microwave and melt it and then strain it and then put those mushy berries into the yogurt and mix it up, mix it up, mix it up.

and then put a little bit of more cinnamon on top and then a bit more of a granola and make this beautiful bowl. You know what I mean? Or like make yourself like a beautiful avocado toast, like toast up a piece of toast so perfect. Cut your avocado really aesthetically pleasing. Take your time doing it. If it's a little bit...

brown, you know, because maybe the piece is a bit old. It's fine. You can still make it aesthetically pleasing. Cover it with a bunch of hot sauce or something and then sprinkle chili flakes and garlic granules and all these beautiful little things on top. Sesame seeds. Like, have fun. Make a beautiful snack. There are times in my life when I'm just eating to eat. You know what I mean? Like, things don't need to look beautiful. I'm having like a fucking hard-boiled egg with hot sauce and

and like, I don't know, like a fucking granola bar or some shit, like, and I'm just on the move and who cares? And it looks bad and it doesn't even taste that good, but it just is what it is. If you have time to be doom scrolling, you have time to go make an aesthetically pleasing meal or snack. And so you should be doing that. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. I've seen so many cool products that just don't have a good website. Honestly, they should be using Squarespace.

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Head to squarespace.com slash Emma for a free trial and use code Emma to save 10% on your first purchase. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. October is the time for Halloween masks and costumes, but I want to talk about a different kind of mask.

One that some people wear year round or when they're just feeling uncomfortable. It's interesting. I look back at all of the romantic relationships I've had in the past and I have weirdly worn a mask in every single one of them. I think because I've always feared abandonment. You know, if I'm not perfect, if I'm not exactly what they want me to be, they'll leave me. And I don't think anyone really ever got to know me.

Learning to accept all of you and sharing it with the world can be incredibly difficult. And if this is something that you're struggling with, maybe consider talking to a therapist about it.

Take off the mask.

Visit betterhelp.com slash anything today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash anything. Next, play a fucking board game. No, you're all sleeping on board games. You all think that...

The time for the board game has passed. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're fucking wrong. Board games are so fucking fun. I will say it's helpful if you live with someone. If you don't live with somebody, it's tough. Like even though I live alone, I always am around people at my house.

And board games are so much fun, okay? If you live alone, it's tough. It's a bit tougher and you might have to make more of an effort. Like you might have to set up a game night with friends or something like that. But if you don't live alone or you have people at your home frequently, then this is an easy one to integrate. And I'm telling you, a little evening board game is a delightful experience. Recently, I've been playing Ticket to Ride. It's one of my favorite board games ever.

I can't explain it. Just Google it. It's a great board game. I also have been playing a little bit of Monopoly. Monopoly is a lot of fun as well. I don't like it as much, but there are so many great board games. Oh, chess. I'm so fucking bad at chess, but still kind of fun. Board games are so great because they suck you in. They're communal. You have to play with someone you love and time just flies by. Like you don't even think about your phone when you're playing a board game. It's a great...

way to pass time in a way that's sort of like a little brain workout. Like that's the other thing I like about it. I really do think board games are like a brain workout. Like winning a board game takes a lot of thought. And I think we underestimate how healthy it is to get in a little brain workout and a fun board game can be just that. I really recommend Ticket to Ride though. It's such a great board game. Monopoly is great too.

What other ones do I have? I don't know. Those two are my favorites right now. Next, go to a wine shop and ask the wine shop employee to recommend you wine. I can almost guarantee you they will talk to you for hours.

I'm in my wine era, if you will. I've been drinking a lot of wine, not in an unhealthy way, in a fun way. But the thing that I love about wine is that I never drink enough of it to get drunk. Whereas when I used to drink cocktails, tequila sodas for the most part, I would get drunk so quickly and so easily and it was just not enjoyable. I actually get to enjoy wine and enjoy the taste of it and get to enjoy a decent amount of it and not...

really get drunk. So I'm very much in my wine era. And as a result of that, I've been going to a lot of wine shops because...

where else do you get wine? And I like to have a few bottles in the fridge at all times. And something that I've learned from going to various wine shops is that almost every wine shop employee knows a little bit too much about wine. It is unbelievable how much they know and it is unbelievable how much they want to talk about it. They are so excited to talk about it, which is actually a beautiful thing, especially if you have the time for it. If you don't, it can be a bit

challenging. Like, oh my God, I just need to pick up a bottle of wine and get the fuck out of here. I can't handle this right now. But if it's a matter of doom scrolling or listening to the wine shop employee talk about all the different wines, the latter is so much better. And you'll learn a lot too. Like, listen, it's not easy to understand wine. Like I'm really into wine right now. I don't know shit about wine still. I don't know shit. Okay. And

And there's something kind of fun about listening to the story of a bottle of wine and listening to this, this and that about the flavor profiles and how it developed that flavor profile through this process and that process. And then to go home and try it. There's something really fun about that. Like listening to a wine specialist talk about a bottle of wine and their interpretation of it. And then you go home and you try it. I don't know. There's something really fun about that.

They're excited to talk about wine. And if you're excited to buy a bottle of wine, you could easily kill an hour in a wine shop doing that. And it's a whole lot better than doomscrolling. Hey, and now you get a glass of wine. So I guess that's the next one. Instead of doomscrolling, have a glass of wine. Put a little bit of ice in it. Why not? That's what I do. I love pouring myself a little glass of wine with ice in it. Yum. So refreshing.

Okay, next. Look through a picture book. Sometimes reading a book is too much work, okay? Sometimes looking at a picture book is just right. It's not too straining on the brain, but it is still mentally stimulating. The other day, somebody was over at my house and we were sort of bored and we were like, we don't want to watch TV. Like that's

eh, you know, we weren't really in the mood for a board game. So we sat down and looked at one of my photography books that I have in my book collection. And it was weirdly very enjoyable. It's kind of like a weird thing to do. I don't know, like sit down with somebody and look through a picture book, but it was actually quite fun. And we analyzed a

the photography, like each image, like why is this a good image? Why do we like this image? Why do we not like this image? There was something really enjoyable about it. And it actually reminded me of growing up how my dad and I used to look at art magazines because my dad is a painter and artist. And

You know, he obviously loves looking at art, the good, the bad, the ugly. He loves looking at all art. And so he was subscribed to a few art magazines. And so we would go through when I was very young, like 10 years old, and analyze the art in the art magazines. And there was something really fun about that. And I think you learn a lot about yourself and your taste when you look at art or photography or...

whatever. And yeah, there's something really enjoyable about it. And I think it can be fun to play judge, you know, especially if you're looking at some sort of art or photography book, play judge and be like, is this one good? Is this one bad? Why is it good? Why is it bad? That can be really fun. Or if you're looking at more of a childlike picture book or comic book or something like that,

That can just be nostalgic and relaxing. Okay, next, find a hill and go up it, okay? If you live in a really flat area, like, I don't know, if you're in Iowa or something, fuck, I don't know, is Iowa flat? Huh.

don't know. Well, if you live in a really flat area, this might not work. But something that I've always enjoyed and something that has, I don't know, this is so weird, but growing up, my dad and I used to walk a lot of hills. Okay, this sounds weird, but like we would seek out hikes that we could go on that had a lot of hills. Like climbing a hill felt really good. We

We also used to go on walks around our neighborhood, and we would particularly specifically go on this one walk that took us up a hill. Now, you might be wondering, why, Emma, why?

Why walk up a hill? Like, who cares? There's something really satisfying about walking up a hill and getting to the top of it. Your glutes burning. It's a great workout, but also usually at the top you get to see a different perspective that you didn't get to see when you're at the bottom of the hill. There's a lot of things that are very mundane and very inconsequential that actually make walking up a hill or running up a hill really enjoyable.

It feels like an accomplishment. You see a slightly different perspective and it gets your endorphins pumping. All of those things are very simple and very mundane, but there's something really beautiful about just walking up a hill, running up a hill, going up a hill in general. Now, if you don't have a hill, don't worry. You can supplement this

By just going on a long walk or going on a long jog, you know, like getting those endorphins out, getting that. I mean, it's the same thing, but there's something particularly special about walking.

finding a hill and going up it. And it's a whole lot better than doom scrolling once again. Next, we live in our homes to a point where we almost become blind to what our home actually looks like. Do you know what I mean? Like we put our furniture in the place that we put it X amount of years ago and it's been there ever since and we've never thought about it again. I

I mean, obviously everyone's a little different. Some people are really anal about the way that their home is decorated, blah, blah, blah. But for the most part, even for people who are obsessed with home decor, like I would say I'm somebody who really loves home decor. However, I even become blind to my own home decor after a year of living in it. I just don't even see it anymore. I don't even think about it anymore. It can be kind of fun to make a conscious effort to

to analyze your furniture, your home decor, placement, everything, and rearrange it. Make it even better. Try stuff out. Now, this could mean moving a table. This could also mean moving a candle, okay? Like, it doesn't need to be that deep. It doesn't need to be that serious. It can be, but it doesn't need to be. It's just a lot of times we become blind to how our home is decorated. And it can be kind of fun and regurgitating

rejuvenating to take a moment and actively make the choice to move things around and perfect it every once in a while. Next, find something in your closet that you're bored of, something that you just are sick of. You're just sick of it. And try to make it cooler or better. Give it an upgrade. And listen, even if you fail, it's fine. You can just donate it. You know what I mean? Somebody else will enjoy it. Unless it's really destroyed, at which point, okay, now you have...

made a piece of trash, unfortunately, and it's time to throw it away, which is sad. But there are so many different things that you can do to sort of upgrade something that you're sick of. Like, for example, okay, let's say you have a plain black baseball cap that you're just sick of. You're bored of it. Okay, maybe you can add some pins to it to make it look a little bit cooler, a little bit more interesting. Or maybe

Let's say you have like an army green jacket that's just simple army green. And you also have a bunch of vintage patches that you've been collecting for the last few years. Maybe you could attach those to the jacket. Obviously, these are things that sound quite kindred, like meant to be. But...

It could also be a slightly longer process. Like you could, you know, turn this into a few day project that could get you off your phone for a few days. Like, oh, I have this army green jacket and I really want to spice it up. Oh, maybe I should go to some thrift stores and pick up some vintage patches that I could attach to this jacket to spice it up.

Or let's say you have a pair of jeans that has a hole in the knee. Maybe you want to go find a cute piece of scrap fabric that you can sew onto the knee. You know what I'm saying. Make it into a little project. Get creative with it. Have fun with it. Take your time doing it. The more time you spend on a little project like this, the less time you spend doom scrolling. So that's a good thing.

Next, buy that kitchen appliance that you've been really wanting and find a bunch of recipes for it. Okay. Let's say you've been dreaming of the air fryer, kind of 2020 coded, kind of, you know, the air fryer was having its moment. It's not really having its moment anymore, but it's still enjoyable to many. A lot of people still love the air fryer. Let's say you want an air fryer.

go get that air fryer. Let's say you've been wanting the Ninja Creamy. I don't know if you know what the Ninja Creamy is. It's like a blender that kind of makes ice cream. Like it's like an ice cream blender. It'll turn like anything into ice cream. Okay, let's say you've been wanting that. Maybe it's time to go out and get that. Or maybe you want to get a new blender. Like you want to get a Vitamix or something. I mean, I have still never gotten a Vitamix. The Vitamix is like the famous blender. You know, everyone loves the Vitamix.

I've still never been able to justify going out and getting it. I know I would love it. I just don't use a blender enough, but you get what I'm saying. Or, or you know what? Even like a crock pot. Let's say you love soup. You're a soup girl. Oh my God. You're a soup person. You love soup.

You really want to get a crock pot. You know what I mean? Like, just go out and get that fucking crock pot. Go get that appliance that you know you're going to use and have fun going online, going on Pinterest and making a board of a bunch of recipes for this new appliance. It sounds stupid, but it's so fun. Like, I haven't done that in a while, but I mean, listen, you could do this without going out and buying a new appliance. Okay, you could do this, just, you know, find fun recipes. But there's something really fun about...

finally splurging on that new appliance that you've been dreaming of and then, you know, finding fun recipes for it. Like, I don't know, even if you want to go get a fucking soda stream or something, I don't care. You get what I'm saying. All right.

Next, go to the mall. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I kind of love the mall. There was like a few weekends in a row within the last year where I fully went to the mall every week. There's something fun about it. There's something just blissful about it. It's so, it's so freaking corporate. You know what I mean? It's like,

I just feel like a corporate pawn when I'm at the mall. I just feel like I'm being sold to, I feel like I'm in a weirdly dystopian environment. I feel like I'm in an environment that will not exist in 20 years because it will be replaced by robots somehow. I don't even know if that makes sense, but it like does to me somehow like, like,

It feels like something that will not be here forever. But it also feels like something that in the now is still somehow working against all odds. But it also feels like a failing business model. But it also feels like a bustling business model. I can't figure it out. And there's people everywhere. But also it feels like there's people nowhere. And like, who are all these people? I love them all. I love them all. I don't need to buy anything. I just like to be at the mall. I just like to look at things and touch things.

And I like looking at the marketing and the campaigns that are on the walls and the products that are on sale. I like figuring out why the products that are on sale are on sale. I love them all. I love people watching at the mall. I love seeing what people are buying. I love seeing the outfits that people are wearing. I like seeing the people that are out together. I like trying to figure out if two people who are walking along that are around the same age are dating or if they're siblings. I like the mall. I love the mall.

go stroll around your local mall. Whether your mall is modern and bustling and honestly like a great vibe or your mall is a dystopian, vacant whisper of 2005, there's something very beautiful about the mall. This episode is brought to you by Adidas. Pressure. I felt it. You felt it. And now Adidas is here to put an end to it.

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Next, find a fucking pool table and play pool. I am obsessed with pool right now. It's so random. It's so unexpected. I never saw this coming.

Find a family member, find a friend, find your significant other if you have one and go and play pool. It's so fun. Okay. I discovered a pool recently on a family trip. There was a communal pool table that could be used. Like, I don't know, my whole family goes on this trip and everybody stays in

little cabins and there's like a communal ping pong table and there's a communal pool table. And I fucking fell in love with pool. It is so fun. I don't know. I don't know. Like at first I wasn't really into it cause I wasn't very good, but after like five or six games I started to get good and I really got into it. So

There's a bit of a learning curve, but once you get through it, it is so fun. And now every weekend I have to play pool. I've been going to this bar every weekend early before all the kids show up just to play pool. It's so fun.

Go play pool. Next, find a boring wall in your house and make a piece of art for it. Like really go to the art store, buy a huge canvas, make a Pinterest board with art inspiration. Take your time sketching it out. Spend a fucking month on this piece of art. Make it really good. Make it something that you're proud to hang up on your wall. This is something I've been really wanting to do, but I just haven't had...

the time to do it. But if I was caught up doom scrolling, this is something I would absolutely do. Going and buying art is amazing. It's an incredible experience and it's very fun, but it's also very expensive and it's also very time consuming. Like you have to really hunt for those special pieces. If you have a blank wall in your house, make the art yourself. And if you really dedicate yourself to making it good, I can almost guarantee that you'll get sucked into the process and it'll really get you off your phone.

Next, rewatch a show or movie from your childhood. Recently, I started watching Wallace and Gromit again. And it is, oh, I am exploding.

with how good this show is. I mean, it's a show and also a movie that... Wallace and Gromit, it's a universe that you can enter into in many different ways. It is a fucking genius. I love Claymation. Anything Claymation, I love. Like, I love Tim Burton movies. I love Wallace and Gromit. I love Claymation. And so I've been watching those again. And you know what's funny is I think the most enjoyable thing about...

watching your childhood favorites as an adult is that you actually truly come to appreciate it as an adult. There's so many things that you can't comprehend when you're younger that are so delightful to experience as an adult. Like the details in Wallace and Gromit, I totally took for granted as a kid.

And now that I'm an adult, I can really appreciate the art that is the show and the movie Walls and Gromit, you know? So go back and watch your favorite childhood movies and TV shows and truly appreciate them in a way that you never could when you were a kid. I mean, if you think about it, adults are the ones making these TV shows and movies, right? Like it's adults who made them. So they're also sort of making things to entertain themselves as well, right? Yeah.

I mean, maybe not everyone who makes child shows and stuff, but I'd say most of them, like it wouldn't be fun for them if they weren't entertaining themselves a little bit as well. And it's in art form. And I don't know, I think it's like, it's something that you can appreciate even more as an adult yourself. Next, figure out your next haircut. And okay, I know I'm biased because all I've been thinking about recently is what do I want my next haircut to be?

That's been on my mind for a few months now. So you might be thinking, Emma, I don't need to figure out a haircut. I like my haircut. I'm all good. Okay, fine. Sorry. But we tend to get into routines with our hair and it can be kind of fun to go on Pinterest and figure out what your next bold haircut move could be. Or, I don't know, open a fashion book, whatever. Open up a

look anywhere but Instagram for haircut inspiration. There's something fun about making a plan like, oh, I'm going to do something fun with my hair next time I go and get a haircut. You can do that with almost anything that you get done routinely, right? Like I think hair is probably the most obvious example, but you could do this with nails. Like, you know, start planning out what you're going to get done next time you go get your nails done or,

Yeah, I guess hair and nails. It's kind of just hair and nails. But hair is a more intimidating decision. Like getting your nails done, such a small part of your body and your identity. It's like not that big of a deal. Hair is one of the first things people see about you. So making a change is a much bigger deal and planning it out is more exciting, I think, because the stakes are higher. I don't know. I've been trying to figure out my next haircut for months and

I've actually really enjoyed it, like making mood boards and looking at magazines and books and particularly staring at the haircuts in these books, even if they're not haircut-related books. I don't know. It's just fun. And it can distract you from doom-scrolling,

Next, research one of those things that you never understood and never really cared to, but wouldn't mind learning about. For example, for me, like how airplanes work. I don't understand the physics of an airplane. I have no idea. I still don't understand it. I actually did Google it once, but I still don't fully understand it. But that's something that I could go and really research, right? Or how accurate are the renders of dinosaurs?

We don't have photos of dinosaurs. All we have is...

like fossils and stuff. So like, we don't really know exactly what they look like. Or do we? I don't know, right? That's something I don't know the answer to. That's something that I could go and research. Research one of those things that you never understood and never really had the motivation to look up. But now that you're trying to distract yourself from doom scrolling, maybe you can go and Google a few things. There's actually something really fun about that. Next, write a short story. Hey,

No one needs to see this. Like, I think a lot of us get embarrassed to make art or to write or to do, you know, certain art to even sing. Right. We become intimidated by art because we're afraid of being embarrassed because making art is very vulnerable.

And we don't want to be bad at these things. But nobody has to see. Nobody has to hear. Nobody has to know. Write a short story. If it's bad, who gives a fuck? There's something kind of fun about like sitting down and writing a little short story. It could be fiction. It could be nonfiction. It could be a drama. It could be a thriller.

It could be romantic. It could be whatever you want it to be, but that could be a really fun little project to assign yourself. Next, find a recipe for something that you usually buy pre-bought, okay? Like, you know, granola, bread, et cetera, and make it yourself. Find a recipe online and make it yourself.

There are so many things that we buy that we could honestly be making ourself. Like, I would say the only thing that I really make myself that's sort of unusual is nut milk. I make my own nut milk every week. I don't buy nut milk anymore. I have a little machine that helps me make it. But, you know, that's something like I eat granola sometimes or cereal sometimes.

I could probably be making that myself. Like if I was really motivated to and I had nothing better to do, I would make granola myself or cereal myself. Or I could make crackers like when I want to eat, you know, cheese and crackers or whatever. I could make my own crackers probably. Again, like it's not something that you have to do. But if you're doom scrolling anyway, figure out how to make bread, you know, figure out how to make granola, figure out how to make nut milk, figure out how to make soup.

Instead of buying soup in a can, figure out how to make soup yourself. Figure out how to cook beans instead of using a can of beans. You see what I mean? Make stuff yourself that you normally buy. Next, practice eyeliner. Listen, for those of you who are great at eyeliner, ignore this one because why would you practice? But I personally am so bad at eyeliner.

that I could use a good practice session and every once in a while, I'll sit down and just do makeup for fun. And in those moments, I will occasionally try to do eyeliner. I don't know, like again, if you're doom scrolling and have nothing better to do, get good at eyeliner. There's no such thing as too much practice when it comes to things like that.

Next, walk around your house and address stuff that you've been ignoring for weeks. For example, piles of clothes, a full trash can, no toilet paper left in a certain bathroom, chipped paint on the wall that you've been meaning to touch up. This sort of goes back to, you know, what I said earlier about how when you live in your home, you become blind to your home in a way. And recently I've been very busy and I've not, I'm normally, like when I'm not busy, I'm not,

My house is always very clean and I keep things really organized and I put everything away. Like I clean up after myself. But when my schedule gets really busy and I don't have a solid routine and I'm kind of all over the place, I lose track of shit. Like there's piles of clothes over here. I ran out of toilet paper in this bathroom and I've been using like makeup wipes or something for the last week. Like, I don't know, like shit like that just happens. Like you lose...

control in a way. So it can be kind of nice to walk through your house and address all the things that you've been sort of forgetting to do or that you become blind to that you don't even really see anymore. Next, do something that I like to call trying every flavor. It's kind of excessive and you shouldn't do this necessarily with things that you're not going to eventually go through.

But I love to do this. I like to sometimes go to the store and buy every flavor of something that I like, okay? For example, gum. Like I've been recently chewing a lot of gum. And so I recently did a Try Every Flavor where I bought a bunch of different packs of gum and I'll eventually go through all of them because I've been chewing a lot of gum recently. But basically I went and I bought, what, six packs of gum, seven packs of gum, and I went and I tried all the different flavors.

There's something really fun about that, okay? And listen, you can't do this every day, but it's fun to do this every once in a while. I also once did this with Zin. If you don't know what Zin is, it's nicotine pouches that you can put in your upper lip and then it gives you a little boost of nicotine. And I once went and bought every single flavor of Zin. There was a bunch of flavors at the time, coffee, citrus,

cool mint, peppermint, wintergreen, whatever. And I went and I bought all the different flavors of Zin and I tried them all and it was fun, but I don't recommend doing that. And I don't recommend nicotine at all. I do not recommend nicotine at all. So don't do that. Don't go and like try every fucking vape flavor. Like quit while you can. Okay. Let's all quit while we can for fuck's sake.

But yeah, like if you like, let's say you have like a sports drink that you like, go and try every flavor. Try every flavor. It's so fun. All right. That's it. That was approximately 24, 25 minutes.

Things that you can do instead of doom scrolling on your phone. Hey, maybe you hate all of these. That's totally fine. I at least hope that it inspired you to make a list of things to do next time you catch yourself doom scrolling so you can stop yourself in your tracks and distract yourself. It's a tough one. It's a tough battle. Okay, it's a really tough battle, but together we're all going to get through it. Okay, the internet addiction is real. It's real. We're in the generation of it.

We're growing up in the age of it, but together we can get through this. And if you like this and you liked this little list of things to do instead of doom scrolling, let me know and I'll do more of these. I'll come up with more shit that we can do, okay, instead of doom scrolling. That's all I have for you today. Thank you all for listening and hanging out. I hope that you enjoyed this. I hope that you found value in it.

If you did and you want to tune in to more Anything Goes, new episodes every Thursday and Sunday, stream anywhere you get podcasts, although video episodes are exclusively on Spotify. You can check out Anything Goes on social media at Anything Goes. You can check out my coffee company, ChamberlainCoffee.com on the internet or at Chamberlain Coffee on social media. We have coffee. We have matcha. We have cute accessories. We have lattes in a can. We

We have a lot of shit happening, okay? And you can find us in store at many different stores. Target, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Albertsons, Pavilions, Gelson's if you live in LA. Like there's so many different grocery stores. Find us in a store near you or order us online at chamberlaincoffee.com. And last but not least, if you want to find me at Emma Chamberlain on social media, that's all I have. Thank you all for listening and hanging out with me. It's a pleasure.

I love you all. I appreciate you all. And I will be talking to you in a few days. Okay, bye. This episode is brought to you by Adidas. Whether you're a professional athlete or lacing up a pair of sneakers for the first time, everyone feels pressure. Okay, for me, it started when I was a young tween

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