How To Deal With Boredom
How to deal with boredom is a question many people ask but don’t have the answers to, even till today. Boredom is the state of feeling disinterested in one’s surroundings; having nothing to do or feeling that life is dull.
It’s a feeling that comes with being idle, not doing anything, apathy, feeling numb, and so on. It can be normal; it can also be classified as an illness especially when the feeling becomes excessive.
Personally, I feel boredom means different things for different people. For some, it’s when they’re idle, not doing anything productive. For others, it’s not having any form of entertainment at the moment. For yet another, it’s feeling disinterested from life itself i.e. apathy.
What is boredom for you?
Now we have all made the statement, “I am bored” at one point in our lives. It’s normal and even an everyday feeling for most people these days. But what exactly is boredom? Why do we feel bored? What situations exactly causes boredom? Is there a way to alleviate it? For us that feel sad or depressed when bored, especially those that lack interest in life, is there actually a way not to feel that way? If that makes sense then let’s discuss the “whats”, “whys”, and “’hows” of boredom.
How to Deal With Boredom in Self: Unproductivity
Unproductive, in this context, does not necessarily mean being useless or worthless. It means more of ennui, a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of excitement. It refers to not achieving up to what you feel you should be achieving.
Most times, we feel a certain lack of enthusiasm when we’re not doing that dream job, when we’re not married to that dream guy, when we’re not studying that dream career. In other terms, when we’re not satisfied with the way things are.
This is actually very simple to tackle. Most people feel weighed down by societal norms and as a result, they find themselves working in a place they don’t like, doing the things they don’t like, leading to a lack of interest in their workplace and professional life as a whole.
For us that go through life like this, the simple solution is Change. Now, before you start thinking “if it’s that easy, why have I not done it since?” Wait let me finish.
I once came across a unique quote, “The only thing constant in life is Change”. I couldn’t understand it at first. But think about it. Everything undergoes change. The way you think now is definitely not the way you thought as a child. I know some of us wish to be children forever.
We are in any situation we are at the moment because we want to be. No one is forcing you to remain in that marriage, in that career, complaining daily how bored you are with the way your life is. No. Change.
Do something that involves not just your body, but your mind, heart and soul. I feel the way to combat boredom is in Doing. Go out there and do. Even continuously doing a particular thing every day is tasking not to talk of doing something you have no interest in or love for every day. It’s bound to have a mental effect. Yes, boredom can also be ascribed to mental stress.
How to Deal With Boredom at Home
This in other words means not having any form of entertainment (the action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment). This could be in the form of not being with friends, not having a book to read, not having any movie to watch, no or slow internet connection, or even not having a place or party to go to. Some people cannot go a week without going to party.
I know someone that also locks herself in her room all day with a book, and she’s happy. As our faces are different, so also our preferences.
Some of us can be alone all day, as long as there’s free internet connection, a book, or a video game, we’re content. Others must be in the company of people, either friends, family or a special someone. Another still has to be outside, under the skies, feeling the wind, either alone or with someone, to feel pleasure.
My point is we all have our ways of having fun. And this fun leads to a sort of relaxation, enjoyment, amusement, and even pleasure. So the question here is, “How should you spend your leisure time?”
For some of us, we want someone to make us do something. A friend invites you to a place you want to go but you say no. That’s why some people say it’s not that you’re bored, you’re boring. I feel most of the time we allow ourselves to be bored.
This of course might be good, healthy even if it is a once in a while, for self-reflection or meditation. But it should not be so much as to cause weariness or sluggishness or in a more relatable term, melancholy. Go out and have fun, purchase that book online, visit that person, see that movie, go on that vacation or trip.
How to Deal With Boredom in Life Generally
Now this has been rampant over the past couple of years. You hear phrases like, “Life is boring. Life is trying. Life is tiring.” It’s also the cause of many suicide cases lately. A lack of motivation or drive towards life naturally causes depression and an extreme case of sadness. This can also be labelled with one word, apathy. In fact, there are many words for it, unresponsiveness, detachment, lack of concern.
Psychologists say it’s the suppression of emotion caused by a prolonged state of being numb, which is also being bored with life over a long period of time. But let’s not go too far. A lack of interest towards life is mostly due to loneliness. This does not necessarily mean being alone.
Loneliness can occur even amongst a group of people, in a party, a cinema and so on. Why is this? This is because your body is present but your mind isn’t. This leads me to my next point, Boredom is a state of the mind. What you don’t put your mind in, you can’t find joy or fun in it. Some others that fall into this category actually choose to suppress that feeling of excitement. Life is how you make it.
Travel. Move out of your comfort zone. Do that thing you want to do that you are afraid of. Go bungee jumping. Try skydiving. Go on that trip, even if it’s alone. See new faces, new experiences. There are others who eat just to feel filled when they are bored. At the end, they find themselves fat, still feeling empty. Go out and live. After all, Life is only once anyway. You might as well live it.
A person can choose to be in her room all day and be happy, another can choose to go out all day and be sad. A person studies Medicine and is content, another study it and feels uninterested in general. My point is it all boils down to you as an individual. What makes you bored? In what area of your life do you find yourself lacking, or do you want to run away from? Can you do something about it?
When we start asking ourselves these questions, we find out that boredom is not such a big thing to be worried about. Life is so much more interesting than we make it out to be.
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