Coming up with projects for UX practice for a beginner

I am an absolute beginner to UX. I've been doing lots of reading and I'm taking a course for Human-centered Design on Coursera. I've even joined up with a meetup group of UX designers. I've got background in business analysis (recent), and graphic design (almost 20 years ago).

I'm ready to get my hands dirty, but I'm not sure how to do a mock project for UX design. Look for a friend or family member who wants to do a website or app? Should I just do my own, even if I don't expect to actually have it coded in the end? A mock-project?

Any insight would be much appreciated!

Thanks! Marie