Productive things to do with your free time

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Create a car playlist: Very simple to do. If you’re not on Spotify, or any sort of pre-made playlist app, then creating a playlist before you get in the car is definitely helpful. Admittedly, I always find myself swerving off the road because I’m trying to pick the perfect song on my phone. If, however, you don’t store music on your phone nor have the Apple Music app, then I suggest 8tracks. It’s an app that allows you to listen to and create any sort of themed playlist for your ride.

Learn a new language: Knowing multiple languages is not only impressive, but it’s extremely useful, especially here in the U.S. where language barriers can be very prominent. DuoLingo is a phone app that teaches you all sorts of languages and makes it easy by providing you with a variety of games. DuoLingo also allows you to compete with other players which encourage you to learn further.  

Meditation / Yoga exercises: Whether you’re religious or not, meditation can be clearing for your mind and body. Yoga helps calm the body and release it from stress. Yogabasics is a website that features all sorts of yoga poses and techniques.

Read: Reading is one of the most novel ways to increase creativity and intelligence. Books open up new, exciting worlds that are easy to get lost in. They can be informational, insightful, meaningful, or adventurous. Create a list of books from all sorts of genres and make it a goal to read each one by a certain date.

Start an art journal: Art journaling is an excellent way to express yourself and be creative. It can be as simple or as extravagant as you’d like. Buy a blank page journal, some mediums to help create your art, and let your imagination take it from there.

Community service: Despite it no longer being a requirement to graduate, community service not only looks great to potential colleges but it’s an enormous help to your community. Being altruistic, or doing good for no reward, rewards the self.

Exercise: It’s extremely important to stay healthy in a world that promotes the opposite. Exercise doesn’t have to be done at a gym; it’s quite easy to get in a few workouts at home. YouTube and Google search can help you find easy, at-home workouts to keep you in shape.

Organize and clean: Organizing and cleaning your space creates a feeling of relief and refreshment. Change up your bedroom layout, sweep the dust collected on your furniture, re-organize your closet and/or desk, etc. Look through your room and get rid of anything you don’t use/need anymore; donate it if it can be, trash it if it can’t. This process is very cleansing and revitalising.

Take up a side hobby: Learn to play an instrument or join a school club. There are plenty of clubs within the school from a wide variety such as Interact (community service) or Chess club, or Robotics. Tryout for a new sport, or take lessons in a sport outside of school such as archery or dance. Start creating photography or other volumes of art. Anything to keep you occupied in reality and not glued to social media feeds.

Read The Main Four Newspaper: Howell High School’s newspaper is full of insightful and well-written stories curated by and about our very own student body. It also contains articles that help you on your way in and out of high school, life outside of school, and keeps you up-to-date about the community.