Things to do when alone

[VowsOfSadness]

I have a big trigger for depression and it's being alone. I'm home alone all day during summer (when I'm not working) because my family works and my brother goes to all kinds of summer camps. Most of my friends chose to stay at their colleges for summer courses.

So I need some things that a person can do alone. Things around the house are good, outside are better. I don't drive but I get around every where by bus or by foot.

So just some things to keep me busy during the day would be nice, cause watching tv 13 hours a day is depressing!

[Ice_crystal]

Outside:

-do you have the opportunity of a park/forest nearby? You could go for a walk.
-go to the zoo
-some animal shelters are glad if people help and walk the dogs.

Inside:

-Buy a puzzle book, eg crossword puzzles, sudoku...whatever you like
-What about painting/drawing? You could also try to make a collage on polyvore.com.
-listen to an audio book (library?)

[VowsOfSadness]

these are good suggestions. I have also been looking on that big list of coping skills for good ones too.

I love the park but havent been there in awhile I will have to try that


thank you

[pelagic]

On a nice day, you can sunbathe (Today, merely hours ago, I wore shorts-- actual short shorts-- for the first time in a year. My scars aren't horribly attention-grabbing, and the sun really helps heal the skin), go for a walk, jog, ride a bike, or walk to the nearest cafe with some friends and hang out there for a couple hours.

At night, you could take a bath while reading a book (bubble bath! Yay), watch a movie, paint your nails, bake oatmeal cookies (they are healthy), or get a healthy cookbook and try out all the recipes!

[VowsOfSadness]

I love bubble baths!!!

[kermit]

I find structure in a day can help. It could be making sure you eat at particular times in the day, or go for a walk every afternoon etc.

Also, I'm sure the rest of your family would love it if you cleaned the house. Maybe you could have a set day each week you did it?

I'm a bit geeky so this might not sound so much fun to everyone else but I like projects. Choosing a subject, finding out about it and writing it up (I remember nothing if I don't write it up!). Is there anything you've always wanted to know more about? Or a skill you would like to learn? Maybe a language? You could get books and tapes from your library so it would be freee/ really cheap to do.

Or volunteer somewhere? Maybe a charity shop or something? That way you're occupied and doing something good

hope you find something

[vampirelover]

if u have a trampoline learn new tricks (good for anger managment)
learn to juggle
organise ur CD's
sort your clothes into colour order
draw outside or inside
learn a new instrument
kick a football around
play games on ur mobile phone or laptop
make up a story or poetry
paint ur nails
make up song lyrics or learn a instrument
upload music onto ur MP3 player
think of stuff to do
throw tennis balls against a wall (not near windows)
make popcorn


heres some more http://www.freewebs.com/livewire11/selfharm.htm

[steady hands]

I like to make lists. Like outisde activities, or inside activities, or even anything that sounds fun, and then go through the list and pick things out and cross them off once you've done them. If you want something more productive, you can do it where you get one fun activity, and then have to do a cleaning activity, or whatever else it is that you need to work on. Keeping a routine around something helps me, like doing one or two activities between meals or before a certain time.

Some of my favorite things are arts and craft type things, like i'll go to the craft store and buy clay and make a pot with it, or you can usually find kits for things to make that don't take too long. I think the variety keeps things interesting and it gives my mind something to focus on instead of focusing on bad thoughts, etc. I find this kind of thing especially helpful i'm having a troublesome bout of insomnia or just as a basic distraction.

hope you find something that works for you.
gretchen.

[Rorah]

I make lists- movies I haven't seen, movies I'd like to own, places around the area I'd like to explore and photograph, places in the world that I want to go to.

I'm a tad OCD...but I'll go through my closet/dresser and refold everything. I usually also to try to find something to donate to charity.

Watching a favorite show I find is always helpful, I also read- humorous books. I write in my journal, do crafts, or I go running.

Best of luck to you!

[VowsOfSadness]

i love to make lists too. its almost an obsession. I thought I was the only one!

[Rorah]

No way- never an obsession! I've made them before in class when I'm bored

[onlypurples]

- Take up a craft/ hobby... mine is crochet and I love it! You can do it while you are doing something else, like watching TV or listening to music. Keeping my hands busy helps reduce urges and also proves to me that I can do something POSITIVE with my hands, rather than just self-destructive ones.

- Exercise in the morning, go for a walk or a bike ride before it gets too hot. Exercise can help raise your mood and when it is cool, you don't have to worry about overheating in long sleeves.

- Volunteer somewhere. Many organizations are in need of a couple of hours a week. You could get trained to hold babies in the NICU or help organize donations at Good Will or other charity shop or could even spend a few hours a week visiting with people in the nursing home. Find a place on the bus route and volunteer there (I ride the bus too!).

- Go to the local library and check out books. You can also check out movies from the library too, both of which are free! You could try and set a goal of reading a book or two a week, a book on any subject you like.

[underlife]

Learn to make yourself a website, it is suprisingly simple, and when you are done, you can sit back and think "ahhhhhh I did that", and even then you arent finished, because you can constantly update it and change it.

Might sound silly and geeky, but give it a go! I can spend hours playing around with websites.

[theunspoken]

Writing a novel takes a long time by yourself. I’ve been writing my books for 13 hours a day and I’m happier now than I ever was during the school year. It’s a great outlet for feelings and issues. I’d write about a situation that happened to me and how I could have resolved it differently, kill off some characters, write someone I wish I could be, someone I’d love, someone I’d hate, and marvelous scenes where everything falls in place just how it should, or shouldn’t. I even destroyed the world in one of my stories.

[Roxi]

- Photography

- take up yoga / fun dance clases at your local gym

- hiking

Is there anything during the year which you wanted to do , but didn't have enough time to do ? Like pursue a hobby whihch you think you might enjoy

[callmebaka]

Get a pet then pet it
Build an epic lego castle
Read
Play the pick a web site and see how many links it takes to get to porn game. (the aim is to go through as many links as posible before it becomes inevitable, My personal best is 23)
cook something realy elaborate
anything that would anoy the people you live with were they home

[snowangel_03]

anything that would anoy the people you live with were they home

I used to do this when I had time off college. I used to play my favourite music as loud as I possibly could (my family weren't overly keen on my taste of rock ), I'd sit on my bedroom floor on my pillows, close my eyes and either sing loud enough so that I could only just hear it or just enjoy the sounds. This worked for me several times when I was alone and wanted to SI, as well, as I was distracting myself by doing something I loved and could get away with doing it without being moaned at

I hope you can find something to take the trigger away.

[Quiet little Angel]

yayness for the thread i'm home by myself too a lot, so here's what i do (i should tell you that i'm OCD, so a lot of it will probably be kinda wierd)

Cleaning: (i love cleaning the untraditional stuff, it's much more gratifying)
- cooker hood
- oven
- dusting the top of the doors and doorframes

Organizing:
- rearrange cd's, dvd's and books (in alphabetic order, by genre or in some other way so that only you'll know how to find stuff)
- refolding clothes and then putting the stuff that has gone to the bottom of the piles on top, that way you find new clothes to wear (also i make a pile that if the stuff hasn't been used in 2 months it goes to charity)
- testing all the pens you can find and throwing out the ones that don't work

Other stuff:
- yoga; you can do it at home (its great to do it outside if you have a garden)
- go for a walk with your camera and take pictures of everything (works best with a digital cam, so you don't feel like you're waisting pictures) you can get some really funny pictures, by just clicking without looking.
- baking, it's fun and it can take up a good amount of time, and your family will love to come home to freshly baked bread or cake

i'll be reading along, there are some really good ideas here

*May*

[Just Pomegranates]

I find a good one that is actually best done alone (for me anyway) is marathoning seasons of TV shows I haven't watched before or am following.

Excellent distraction technique because you get sucked into the show and cliffhangers etc

[disastercake]

Maybe you could make a list of all of the things you would like to do, cut each thing into a strip and put them a jar to pick out of for when you can't decide.