Are your weekends passing quickly by? It may be time to mix things up! Plan ahead during the week so that your weekend will be packed with enjoyable activities - this will prevent it from feeling like just another chore! Also consider doing any tedious or time-consuming tasks on Saturday morning! Get Outside Spending time outdoors is one of the best things you can do for your mental health, even just taking a short stroll can help clear your mind and reset. Physically, getting outside releases endorphins that boost mood. And for anyone struggling to solve problems or stalled by writer's block, getting outdoors may provide inspiration that leads to new solutions or thoughts patterns. Enjoying the sun and fresh air this fall can be accomplished at your local park, trail, or simply taking a stroll around your neighborhood. For something different try visiting one of many family-friendly festivals across the country this season such as harvest festivals celebrating harvest or fairs offering local cultures a taste. Or find fun activities to do right in your own backyard such as hiding-and-seek or hopscotch with your children! If you're in search of something more subdued, why not try playing card games with friends or family members? Cards games can be either competitive or noncompetitive and offer a great way to keep busy while passing the time. Find something enjoyable to volunteer for in your community by searching the local ads or online forums for events and opportunities. Perhaps helping out at a theater by ushering or giving out tickets could be just the thing, or maybe volunteering with food banks by sorting and packaging donations could provide the chance to meet new people while strengthening existing ties in your neighborhood. Try a New Hobbie Hobbies provide us with an outlet that doesn't involve work or family commitments, giving our weekends purpose. Hobbies also stimulate the brain in different ways while encouraging us to interact with the world around us. Hobbies can provide both educational and social benefits. Joining a club that shares your hobby (such as hiking or choir choir ) may expose you to new people with whom you share something in common, potentially leading to friendships that otherwise wouldn't exist. Adopting a new hobby can also help you become more creative, which in turn will boost your mood. Hobbies typically come with their own learning curve so patience will likely be required as you master each skill - but you should feel rewarded once your endeavors pay off! An exciting hobby can help maintain physical wellbeing. Attending yoga class or playing basketball with friends is great way to work out body and soul while breaking up monotony at home and preventing weight gain. Hobbies can teach us to be mindful and to stay present in the moment, such as painting or pottery making, which require concentration to complete successfully and let stress-inducing thoughts pass by without disturbing our attention. Hobbies may even serve as an effective form of meditation and help combat depression symptoms more quickly than medication ever could. Test out various hobbies until you find one that best matches your personality and interests - then commit to it for good! Go to the Playground Playgrounds provide the perfect place for children to get some fresh air and sunshine while getting active while they play. Finding one fenced in can make keeping track of them much simpler when they run away or diverge into different directions (a common occurrence when left to their own devices). Parents were recently polled on what their favorite playground activities were for their children; swings and slides topped the list while tunnels/tubes, ladders and monkey bars also proved immensely popular with young children. Don't forget to pack some snacks for your little ones while at the playground; this will keep them fed while they play, plus keep trash to a minimum; opt for healthy options like an apple or crackers that can easily be eaten on-the-go for optimal performance! Grow Some Veggies or Flowers When most people think of gardening, vegetables and herbs come to mind first. But that doesn't mean flowers should be left out! In fact, growing flowering plants in a vegetable garden has many advantages, including attracting pollinators to aid harvests of fruits and veggies as well as acting as natural pest repellants such as marigolds. Furthermore, flowering plants serve as colorful borders while adding nitrogen fixing elements that improve soil fertility. There are a wide variety of flowers that make excellent additions to the vegetable garden, from frost-hardy annuals like zinnias, sweet alyssum and cosmos, to perennial varieties such as dill, queen Anne's lace, chives or thyme. Composite flowers like sunflowers or daisies attract pollinators while some, like marigolds can even protect against pests like squash bugs and tomato hornworms! Flowers should coincide with your vegetable crop bloom times. Make sure that you consult the seed packets to select an array of blooming flowers suitable for your climate - too close, some blooms could interfere with okra or sweet potatoes growing well! Consider planting some flowers in containers, as this allows you to move them easily around your garden and grow them in sunny spots that might otherwise go neglected, such as corners of beds or raised bed gardens. Be sure to use quality potting soil that contains just the right amount of moisture if planting this way. Watch a Movie With thousands of films available for streaming services and theater viewings, it can be daunting to make decisions on which films to watch. Film critics offer tips and techniques to help find your ideal flicks while expanding your experience of movies. Filmmakers recognize the limited attention spans of audiences; to ensure you pay attention, filmmakers often repeat key plot points or highlight them with incidental music to draw your focus back in. Try giving one movie your full and undivided focus for once and see how much more enjoyable it becomes! Hulu (No Ads) or Hulu (No Ads + Live TV) allows users to stream movies together even when they're located in different places, simply by clicking "Watch Together" icon on movie detail page and following its instructions.