Albert Einstein once referred to creativity as “intelligence having fun”. I don’t know about you, but I like being intelligent and I especially like it if it’s fun.

However; despite my desire to live a creative life, the truth of the matter is that I’ve never really considered myself to be a particularly creative person. Oh sure—I like to create; I knit, crochet, craft, and write, however, the things that I create are usually from a pattern that someone else has created and I am simply replicating. Heck, even my writing, though original, typically falls in the non-fiction, self-help genre rather than among more creative fictional works.

Time. It is one of our most precious commodities, and yet, it is something that so many of us squander without giving a second thought as to how it might be better spent. One thing that never ceases to bewilder me, is how often people will say to me that they don’t have time to go out and pursue their dreams–and yet, those same people can tell you everything that happened during the last season of Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead or The Bachelor.

Now, please, please don’t take this wrong. I am not saying any of this in judgement, since I too, enjoy watching TV on occasion and understand that there is a time and a place in life for guilty pleasure. However; I do know (from personal experience) how much more fulfilling, enjoyable and rewarding life can be when we make the effort to regain control of our time and pull ourselves away from the television. I mean think about it…we all trade the minutes of our lives for something; do you really want that thing to be hours of zoned out disconnection in front of a glowing box?

If you are ready to start taking back control of your time (and ultimately, your life) and weaning yourself from hours spent in front of the television, here are 50 suggestions of things that you can do instead of watch TV.