AIBU to ask for mentally stimulating solo activities at home?

[Searchingforananswer2023]

Living alone, no friends or family and I was wondering if you have any suggestions for actives to do when alone at home. I have just bought a game of Bananagrams on Vinted as I can complete that alone. What else do you do that is mentally stimulating and can be done alone? I am looking for activities that I can get absorbed in

The following are a given: reading, watching a series, word searches, cooking, jigsaw, listening to music, knitting.

Am I missing something else?

ooh, I love killer sudoku. It's my favourite version. I usually have a book on the go. But I start at the back on the really hard ones and work my way forwards and once I get to the point they aren't taxing my brain then I chuck the book and buy another one.

I keep meaning to see if I can find a book of just hard ones.

The other one I like is the one where you shade squares to make pictures - Kakuro? Again, I start on the hard ones at the back.

I do cryptic crosswords. I'm not terribly good at them. An Everyman takes me a week, but I enjoy mulling them over.

When I'm doing a jigsaw puzzle, I always have a podcast or audiobook on.

Study? Do something with the Open University?

Birdwatching.

Bonsai or miniature gardening.

Bobbin lace making.

I’ve recently got into Tai Chi and Qi Gong and am finding them brilliant for me mentally and physically.
There are lots of resources on You Tube.

Sign up for a course in something your interested in and has regular tests or course work, make it expensive enough you can’t blow it off.
Open University or something similar.

V &A do some brilliant online courses

Lego?

Do an online course?

YouTube exercise video?

I find those stimulating, the latter physically so as well.

OP thank you for your good wishes. My experience is that grief can get in the way of the things you used to find accessible. Personally I don’t have the concentration that I used to. I need activities that I can pick up and put down.

My younger daughter has found rock tumbling enjoyable. And actually enjoys the sound of the tumbler. And pottery. If you have space a beginners potters wheel could be really diverging.

Or creating an indoor cactus garden.

Or getting a fish tank?

My DM used to love to play old fashioned patience with a proper deck of cards. I find that diverting sometimes too.

I wish you well. X

You could start small by doing some rock painting using acrylic paints. Lots of easy design ideas you can google...
Once completed you can leave them around your local area as surprise finds for other people.

I've just found an online bookclub that looks good. It's free, evening friendly 7-8pm and the books are my type of thing. Its the Really Popular Book Club hosted by Cambridge University if anyone wants to take a look.

I'm already studying, a course linked to work. I want something diverting from a course.

Nonogram or Hanjie are the puzzles where you colour in squares to make a picture. I also love Kakuro by Puzzler books where you put numbers into a grid to match totals.

I also recommend cryptic crosswords - I picked it up on maternity leave during relentless feeding sessions and love it. I’m not good - rarely complete a crossword but it takes focus and feels good every time you get an answer right.

OP thank you so much for the book club suggestion. I am going to join!

Sporcle for quizzes of many, many varieties

I learned the flags of the world doing these ones:
www.sporcle.com/games/ryan14/emoji-flag-map-africa

There are so many rubbish book clubs out there but I'd genuinely read those books, see you there.

Gardening
Painting (watercolours/acrylic etc)
DIY/upcycle projects

They are my go to!!

Why not start with a lyre harp? Small and portable, easy to learn and an ancient history.

Another vote for nonograms. They completely absorb you for hours sometimes. Its a guilty pleasure during boring work meetings. If you dont have a screen big enough you can get paper versions too - although make a single mistake and you are screwed!

Online quizzes - I like JetPunk.

I’m teaching myself Latin and have taken up embroidery. Thoroughly enjoy both.

You might like Redactle. It's an online game where you guess words in a Wikipedia article in order eventually to work out what the article is about.

And, actually, you might like to try editing Wikipedia. If you've got something you're interested in, have a look at the relevant Wiki articles and see if you can add anything (with sources). Or try suggested tasks here or at Citation Hunt.

Have a look at the Rebel Badge Club for other suggestions and a structured way to learn/ do stuff.