THINQon : How to curb boredom

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Morgan Milford, young

How to curb boredom

Latest Post: September 23, 2010 at 3:05 PM

22 followers

Routine is a boon and it is a curse. When I get into the swing of a routine things become easier by the day and I accomplish more every week. Routines are great ways to stay busy and staying busy means the mind doesn't wander to places where it doesn't want to go. But routines are also boring. They inevitably become stagnant and the days all snore loudly and together as if the routine is just one giant hibernation.

I am young and the promise of a lifetime of routines is haunting. I don't want to become accustomed to any routine, but it's easy and tempting. Routines are calm and cloudy safety nets. They are comfortable and consistent. But consistency is boring and my question is how do I bridge the two. How can I create a comfortable and consistent routine that promises surprise and spontaneity?

Boredom is awful and unless I make myself permanently busy (which of course causes stress) I find myself succumbing to easy and lifelong practices. I'll read or watch a movie and stay in my comfort zone because they are easy and available and are a routine in themselves. But reading becomes boring, even in the middle of a great book, which I'm reading directly after another great book, and so on, and so on. You get the point.

I think it's important topic to address because at a certain point boredom can easily morph into depression, and if boredom is hard to break out of, depression is even harder. So by learning how we can stay active and engaged and fluid in every mode of life, in work and in play, we can learn how to stifle depression before it roots in our brain and grows into a thick forest.

Is there a secret to instilling life into corpselike routine? In making even the minutia fun and eventful, and most importantly different? Not everyday can be a rollercoaster ride, but is there anyway to at least make each day a ride on the ferris wheel?

This post is referenced by the following other contributors:

Mark Opal	in "Public school or private? / Suburban Boredom"	(Study)
Leah Staple	in "That fresh apartment feeling"	(Study)
Chris Utterman	in "Weekend bore"	(AAAhhhh... I'm going out of my mind)

Reply to:

Leah Staple

July 31, 2009 at 12:05 AM

5 followers

It's impossible to defeat boredom by yourself. The best way in my experience, is to just hang out with a friend. Why else do we make friends if not to ward off boredom? They make us laugh, think, and move (hopefully all at the same time).

But how to kill boredom when we are alone is another question altogether. It's harder to encourage ourselves out of the house when we don't have a friend similarly trapped. I think it's just a matter of figuring out what makes you happy when you are by yourself. Figuring out how to combat loneliness. How to be happy, content, and challenged in privacy. Personally, I like to dance. When I'm alone in my house I turn up the music and dance. It's one of the best environments to hone all those moves.

If you are likening boredom to depression, then the only other advice I can give you is to stop thinking about it. Rather than pick apart your boredom, try focusing on the 5 foot radius surrounding you. Bring your attention to detail and get tangled in the moment. Depression is depression because we think we are depressed and that idea doesn't leave our brain, in fact, it get cozier. If you are right about boredom preceding depression, than stop thinking about how bored you are and think about how active you are. Trick your brain and eliminate boredom from your vocabulary.

We owe it to our brains not to be bored. It has so much active potential.

Reply to: or

Anastasis Mondi

September 23, 2010 at 4:04 AM

3 followers

Dear Morgan,

My reply is belated, and I hope that by now you've found a way to escape boredom. I'm writing this just in case you're still searching for a way to kill that corpse like routine :)

From your post it sounds like you're still searching for something in your own life. You read interesting books, but you're tired of following somebody else's life and you wish for your own life to be eventful and fun, so you wouldn't have to analyze it and could just enjoy being in the moment.

Maybe the only way to break that routine is to throw yourself into the unknown. If you're bound to your location, you can try joining different social clubs in the area, visit various events, try out new hobbies and find something you're passionate about. Try new things- cooking, ballroom dancing, painting, learn to play an instrument- their are so many different ways to amuse oneself.

For extreme measures, I would make a full 180 degree change. Go to a different country and spend some time there, or go backpacking for a year or more, travel the world. You have to take yourself out of your comfort zone and do some soul searching. It's frightening, but not knowing what your future will bring is thrilling and exciting. You will live in a moment, cherish your every breath. You will explore different cultures and learn new things. You just have to make that leap.

If you already have something you're passionate about, start your own business. It's challenging, exciting and the pace is very dynamic. There's no one particular routine, things always change, but your input will bring about rewards and self fulfillment.

Every human being should challenge themselves if they wish to grow, and you have to get over your fear and make some risky choices in life.

I wish you all the best and an exciting and eventful life!

Reply to: or

ted berryman

September 23, 2010 at 3:05 PM

23 followers

Boredom has never been so easy to avoid. In my area we have a doctor who will give you an amputation if you’re bored with life on two legs. Bored with your sex, no problem.

The burlesque of the interesting is ceaseless.

On the shore the trough between waves, or the pulse of blood… without the retreat of the interesting interest wanes.

The courage to be uninteresting.

Interest brings a sense of care. Giving interest is giving care. To be cared for, on the other hand, is to let your environment care for you, be interested in you. Presenting yourself to what’s around you, shutting off your interest machine, letting all its gears coast to a halt, becoming a passive object of love for your environment is to honor not only boredom, the silence between waves, the relaxation of the heart muscle, but is to honor your humble place in a vast world beyond complete understanding.