Things I Learned With Too Much Free Time

1.    Don’t microwave cookie dough. It doesn’t make cookies. It makes fire.
2.    You can share your screen with someone on FaceTime and watch movies together.
3.    Picking out your outfit can be fun and a way for you to express yourself. Stop wearing black leggings everyday.
4.    Dye your hair an unnatural color. Your grandma will get over it.
5.    Learn a new instrument.
6.    You probably ​can ​sing. But pay for a teacher. It’ll be worth it.
7.    Find the thing you’re passionate about. Do it. Do it a lot.
8.    Take an unnecessary online course for no credits.
9.    Travel. Even if it is to the next town over. Stop wasting your tuition money on “gap year programs” or other such extravagant trips.
10.  Parents can be fun.
11.  That younger kid that always looked up to you? Tutor them. You’ll learn more than they do. (But don’t tell them that.)
12.  Understand that your $10 sandwich cost an hour of your life. (Minimum wage sucks.)
13.  Cook one day a week. Whoever normally cooks will love it and you’ll slowly learn your way around a kitchen.
14.  Wake up before noon no matter how tired you are.
15.  Netflix has documentaries too. And 90210. But also educational things.
16.  You can actually vote now. Go register.
17.  Debit cards are not plastic magic beings. They take your money when you swipe them.
18.  Work a job you actually like. Otherwise it’ll feel meaningless. Take this into the rest of your life and when you are deciding a career path.
19.  You can not just leave. You will run out of gas and you will have to stop to pee a lot.
20.  Plan everything and then forget all your plans in an attempt to live spontaneously.
21.  Find a new spot to think.
22.  Your friends are going to be busy. So are you. 
23.  Duolingo is a great app to help you learn a new language.
24.  Sending care packages is expensive. But, people will appreciate them. (potatoparcel.com)
25.  Your grandparents actually want to know ​ ​you.
26.  They probably have cool stories.
27.  Working out is a great way to spend time that you having nothing else to do with. 
28.  It’s okay to eat cookies after you run for an hour. 
29.  Skype is shit. Use FaceTime.
30.  Befriend a librarian.
31.  You high school teachers won’t laugh at you if you need help or even want to help.
32.  People will tell you a million and seven things to do in your life. Say thank you and keep walking. 
33.  Take everything one day at a time. But also do not. You only have a year, use it.
34.  A year is a long time. Being in prison for a year would suck.
35.  A self­induced coma for a year is a bad plan. (Shame.)
36.  So is being in a circus.
37.  Read that book you never read.
38.  Go to on a yoga retreat.
39.  Listen to weird music. Dance to it.

Author: Emmaline Cook, Class of 2020