pineapplefriedrice

As part of my endless and possibly futile quest to be a less pathetic version of myself, I've embarked on a campaign to stop watching TV and movies. For me it's low hanging fruit - some people really love movies, but I honestly can't remember the last time I watched something that I truly enjoyed. It's just something to fill dead time when I'm too tired to think. It BOTHERS me that I've spent so many hours mindlessly watching shows that I didn't even like. I feel like I'm wasting my life every time I watch TV.

I've tried reading and podcasts with limited success. They're good to a point, but the type of content I like is usually either pretty heavy or requires some thought (philosophy, human rights, law, etc. are my areas of interest), and I'm increasingly having trouble with my attention span too.

I already cancelled Netflix a long time ago, but I just never found a good replacement for it. Usually I find myself doomscrolling or watching the same few movies I already own or playing chess on my phone. I decided when I started that I'd let myself finish watching the shows I already followed, but just wouldn't expose myself to any new ones. Now one of the last two shows that I had been following has been cancelled (which is understandable, the last season was AWFUL) and the other won't have a new season for a while because of the strike (go strikers), so I'd really like to make TV and movies a non-factor in my life.

So I'm looking for advice here. What other activities are less of a waste of valuable time but not mentally tasking? Has anyone had success improving their attention span? I'd love to become a bookworm but goddamn is it ever hard to keep my ass on a chair long enough to get through more than two chapters. I don't even know why my attention span is so bad - I actually used to tear through book and had no issue concentrating until about 5-10 years ago.

Any ideas?

So I grew up poor-ish, and my parents were always looking for a way to get us a bit of fun because most of our money went towards essentials. A childhood staple of mine was take it or leave it bins in various forms. One was at the garbage collection place (we had to take our own garbage because it costs money to have a garbage collector come in some places). People would put anything there that was still usable. We got furniture, electronics, and one time even one of those children's outdoor playground sets that would have sold for hundreds new. My mom would drive me to the local swimming pool (random place right?) where there was a take one leave one book place, and I would get a new book and drop off an old one.

Now I live in an apartment building that has an informal system like this. There's a basket/shelf thingy, and people leave stuff there, and someone else scoops it up. It gets cleaned at the end of every month, but most things get taken. I got most of my kitchen supplies that way, and have also given tons of stuff (the other day I saw someone wearing a dress that I gave away). I would honestly consider this one of the #1 selling points of my building.

Where can I go to find more of these? I'd love to trade in something I don't need for something that I'll use, or that I want to try out to see if it's useful. They are so in line with minimalism - rehome what you can't use, take what brings joy and utility. It's a shame that they aren't everywhere.

If anything, cannabis seems like a much better (and more profitable) drug around which to build a leisurely establishment.

I'm not a digital nomad myself, just curious about the lifestyle. I've spent significant periods of time abroad, even working abroad, but I always had a place to come back to, usually the tiniest shoebox apartment somewhere.

This absolute treasure is for you.