If there's one thing that TikTok’s Gen- Z community could teach the world, it’s how to make our endless, boring life admin much more adorable and gamified. Struggling with your wardrobe? Create an outfit plan- ner in Notes, complete with mini photos of yourself. Daily lunch decisions overwhelming you? Buy mason jars and spend your Sunday making beautiful rainbow salads for the week. These hacks are so satisfying that they often spread like wildfire – even if they aren’t actually quicker or easier than bum- bling through life unaided.
The latest trend is to address what philosophers call existential ennui – that weary sense that life is not being used meaningfully – with a ‘dopamine menu’: a long list of activities guaranteed to make you feel good.
The concept was actually developed for people with ADHD, who may need more frequent hits of dopamine (aka the pleasure hormone), but it’s caught on as a generally good idea for the rest of us, too. When you find yourself with unscheduled time, rather than being sucked into a vortex of scrolling on your phone, you have suggestions at your fingertips of more nourishing activities.
It works like a food menu: in the ‘snacks’ category, you list wellbeing-boosting things that can be done in a spare five minutes. ‘Main courses’ are your more substantial activities. ‘Desserts’ are fun pastimes that shouldn’t be consumed in large quantities (like social media). ‘Side orders’ are things that can be done at the same time as a dull task to make it more enjoyable, while ‘specials’ are infrequent treats (perhaps because they’re more expensive).
Of course, you could argue that these hacks are in themselves just ways of procrastinating. On TikTok, dopamine menus tend to be made with coloured pens and stickers, giving the whole thing the feel of a primary- school task that screams ‘too much time on your hands’. Also, do we really need to fill every second of the day with activities we can be proud of ? If you want to spend your free time eating crisps while watching Loose Women and second-screening Instagram Reels, isn’t that your prerogative?
But the dopamine-menu brigade are not arguing that all our time has to be useful. The idea is just to avoid the mindless habits that make you feel worse, like that hour you spent researching your ex’s irritatingly successful wife or reading endless ‘Where are they now?’ articles about former Love Is Blind contestants.
At this time of year, with sunsets creeping up on us earlier, it can’t hurt to have handy reminders of how to brighten your day. And if you don’t have time to crack out the pencil case, we’ve made a menu for you.
Dish of the day
SNACKS
Throw a solo dance party to one great song (Cher’s Believe is always a mood-lifter)
Do a short, guided meditation
(there are dozens on Headspace)
Walk around the garden or the block
Pick one area of your house to tidy for five minutes
MAIN COURSE
Go to the cinema
(try Aubrey Plaza’s feelgood comedy My Old Ass, out 27 September)
Take a long walk with someone you love
Bake something delicious
(Nara Smith’s s’mores recipe is our new autumn must-try).
Paint your feelings on
to a blank canvas (check out Paint by Numbers to create a real masterpiece)
DESSERTS
Binge-watch a classic
(did you know The OC and Dawson’s Creek are on ITVX?)
Buy a new nail polish
(deep red is autumn’s hot hue).
Peruse a few shopping hauls on Instagram
SIDES
Light your favourite scented candle
Listen to an audiobook
(Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo is out 24 September)
SPECIALS
Go for a full-body massage
Plan (and book!) a weekend away with the girls