Ah, the outdoors! The sun! The trees! The beautiful sights and sounds and smells! There’s nowhere better to be than hiking through the woods or relaxing on the beach, breathing the fresh air and soaking in the sun.
Listen, forget all of that. Sure, the outdoors can be nice once in awhile, but humans build houses for a reason. The outside is full of bugs and bears and weird smells and mud. And every time you go to the beach, you get sunburned. No, thank you.
Forget the not-so-great outdoors for a moment and instead focus on how you can make your indoor space more fun. You’re inside for most of your life – not just when you work (probably), when you sleep (almost definitely), and when you go to the bathroom (hopefully), but also when you relax, when you eat, and when you pursue many of your hobbies. So it makes sense to invest in your indoor fun, so that you have lots to do the next time it rains on a weekend – or the next time that you just feel like staying in.
Let’s play a game
Games are fun. That’s why they’re games. So if you want an indoor space equipped for serious fun, you’re going to want to invest in a way to play some great games.
No, we’re not talking about board games here – though there are plenty of cool and complex board games aimed at adults these days. What we’re talking about right now are video games and other virtual gaming options. Once the sole province of young kids and arcade-lurking teenagers, video games are now a perfectly respectable hobby for grown men and women (do you hear that, Mom?). Big companies make gaming systems and games aimed at mature adults just like you. Heck, yeah.
So go and grab a way to play some games. Consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are great for adults, because they have plenty of mature titles and big user bases competing online. The Nintendo Switch dominates with the younger crowd, but it’s not hard to see why lots of adults pick it up, too – the games are fun, engaging, and often surprisingly challenging. Modern consoles are a little light on local multiplayer (that’s when you play on your own network, rather than online), so playing against friends usually happens online rather than in person. If you’re looking for more of a party console, consider going retro – an Nintendo 64 and four controllers will liven up any party full of nostalgic 20- and 30-somethings.
You can also invest in a gaming PC. Though these can cost more up-front, they’ll save you money down the line with cheaper games and no online subscription fees. And even a lightweight PC can play many simple games and will let you play casino games online.
Have a cook-in
Cookouts are so passe, man. You can make just as much delicious, greasy food indoors as you can outside. You just need the right equipment – like this Broil King professional, portable nonstick griddle. Oh my god, look at that thing. You could make enough eggs for a whole summer camp on that. You could make enough eggs for a whole fat camp with that.
Restaurants are great, but they’re expensive. So go out a little less often and stay – you guessed it – indoors. Next time you’re thinking of dropping big bucks on a meal, consider going to a cooking shop or department store instead (or hopping on the internet) and buying a new kitchen tool. In time, you’ll find that you’ve traded the short-term fun of nights on the town for an arsenal of kitchen essentials that will help you make delicious food on the cheap night after night.
Improve yourself
Yeah, you love staying inside, but your hobbies belong outside, right? Only “unhealthy” hobbies – like gaming and eating a whole griddle’s worth of eggs – are available inside. Hobbies like running and hiking are the ones that improve you as a human.
Sure, running and hiking are great, but go easy on your assumptions about indoor hobbies. The indoors are a great place to better yourself – not just physically (in indoor gyms and home exercise rooms) but mentally, too.
And while some indoor self-improvement habits may not exactly be “fun” (like learning a new language or setting a budget, unless you’re into those sorts of things), others can be a blast. Read a book! Learn how to play an instrument! Watch documentaries! The indoors can be as productive as they are fun. So choose to invest in your indoor fun – and yeah, okay, don’t forget to leave the house every once in a while.
