On holidays, be it summer vacations or normal weekends, after days of hustle and bustle when life comes to a standstill, killing time becomes a terrible sport, and almost all of us seem to be bad at it. Life has become so caught up in one fast-paced place, doing anything different for a while seems like a far-fetched idea. Scrolling through the internet gets monotonous too after a while, and your brain enters a state of stalling frustration with nothing to do. Time waits for no one, they say, but it passes too slowly when you have absolutely nothing to do. I can’t justify killing, but killing time could absolutely be justified if you know what you could possibly do.

I won't start with the same suggestion of exploring hobbies, but in recent times, hobbies have died a terrible death. What did you love as a child? What did you love doing as a child? Re-explore your childhood once again. Make your inner child happy. Eat your favourite snack as a kid. Even if most of them have disappeared, search for alternatives, find your taste back, and indulge in your newfound comfort.

Learning a new language is too much. But every culture has its own myths and monsters. If not a community’s language, learn about the supernatural sides from all around the world, gain insight and maybe you could even create a fake story out of collective supernatural association and you will have a great story tell on your next trip with friends, night-over or a cousin’s gathering, scaring everyone off like little kids gathered to hear a story.

But boredom comes with unnecessary cravings sometimes, doesn’t it? To fill a hungry void in the belly. But even the usual order gets too regular at times. Trying different cuisines at a fancy restaurant might be expensive, though you can still try them out if they fascinate you. But what could be more fun is searching for new cuisines, going on a grocery shopping spree, and making it yourself. You could try being a chef at home just to see how it turns out. A new cuisine could be too much for some, but baking? To smell something sweet you are cooking in your own kitchen? Boredom might come later to taste it.

With life moving on, friendships get left behind. And you have got time. So why not call an old friend? Catch up with their life. Share your freshness and make a plan. Bringing up old friendships and refurbishing them is way better than randomly killing time, I swear. But if solitude is primary, explore movies out of your comfort genre, get inspiration for your new mood board or room aesthetic. Try out a new tea flavour or experiment with your coffee.

The city you live in has unexplored places, trust me. Go on a close adventure, who knows, maybe you could witness a different plant species, an animal, a new street, a broken bridge, an abandoned building, hoping it's not haunted. Explore your city lights, build a colour palette, and on the next outing, take your friends there too, or maybe just embrace your solitary nature.

Everybody loves taking trips, but almost all the time, they are last-minute planning with half the places never ticked off the list. Find a place you want to visit, explore the manuals and travelogues, or pamphlets, plan your budget, and list out the places. Keep a journal, and when you finally save enough for a holiday, your plans are almost done.

Wardrobes get full almost all the time. If there is time ticking in your closet, maybe take the old clothes out, and find charity places to donate them to. Exploring local markets could be fun too. Who knows if you could find something antique for yourself. But it's not just that. Local markets have stories to tell and sell.

Last but not least, the point of preserving time in acts like this is solely to find oneself. One might do none of the above and still find pieces of themselves elsewhere. That is the most important part, not to forget oneself while trying to search or explore for the sake of life. But even if you run out of things, you know which options you have.

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