To be perfectly honest, I don't get bored very easily. In fact, I can't remember a single time in my life where boredom was a significant and persistent problem.
And I am grateful for that!
However, I also recognize that this doesn't hold true for very many people. Most people I know tend to get bored rather easily, and then they suddenly become fidgety and start looking for something to do as a way to alleviate the boredom.
And that's often how we develop what we might think of as ”bad habits,” or we will make ”bad decisions” that really aren’t thought through... and end up "costing us," in the long run.
A young friend recently decided to quit University because he felt bored with his studies... he only needed 10 more credits (one semester) to get his degree.
The problem people often face — at least according to my ”easily bored” friends — is that they become exclusively focused on being bored, and so they reach for some way to ”entertain themselves” when, in fact, there are plenty of constructive things they could go about doing if they just took a moment to think about the situation.
In a strange way, it reminds me a bit of my dad when we were going somewhere and there was a traffic jam: He’d just start driving randomly through neighborhoods — often going miles out of his way — in search of a way around the traffic jam, because he felt that ”as long as he was moving” he was somehow making progress.
Which was fine, until he'd get hopelessly lost (back in the days before GPS) and we'd waste an hour driving around.
I tend to be someone who just pulls a book out of my bag and starts reading, till the road clears again.
But why do we get bored so easily?
I have to think that it's partially because of the environment in which we live, these days. Everything moves so fast, and the pieces of information we receive from our environment become shorter and shorter and smaller and smaller. And so, we have become trained to expect that our lives mean that there is ”lots of stuff going on” at all times, and when that stream of constant stimulation stops happening we're disturbed by it.
And try to ”jump start” it again.
I sometimes watch a variation of this happen with our own kids, who are now in their early 30s. It’s extremely difficult for them to not check their email/social media/messages for more than maybe 10 minutes.
I suppose we all just have different personalities, and different tolerances (and definitions?) for activity and boredom — or a lack of activity. I know that when I go on vacation, what I like the most is the fact that I can just sit still and do absolutely nothing for a couple of weeks. And I mean nothing. I eat, and I read books and maybe do jigsaw puzzles.
Or maybe I just watch the grass grow, more or less "switching off my brain" completely. The silence of not having any thoughts is how I relax.
But I also have friends for whom ”going on holiday” means they may not be ”at work,” but every day is filled with structured events, outings, schedules for having fun and what have you. For me? That would not be a vacation at all, but we all have our thing, I guess!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Friday!
How about YOU? Do you get bored easily? Or has that never been a problem? When you go on holiday, it it "active" or does it involve as little as possible? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20220304 01:42 PST
0515/1761
