Boredom is a common partner of low mood or depression
When you’re stuck in a rut of ‘feeling down all the time’, your creative juices tend to dry up and it’s difficult to break the habit of ‘being a bit boring’. If you bore yourself for too long it can soon lead to depression, as you’ll miss out on many activities that help keep you mentally healthy. When you get stuck in depression your whole world becomes a struggle, which is definitely boring.
Mindfulness is a great way of bringing you, and your life back to life
Boredom sets in when we stop being curious and open minded around what’s actually going on in and around us. Practicing mindfulness helps us develop the attitudes of open, friendly, non-judgemental curiosity. These attitudes help us engage with, and notice what’s new, interesting and different.
Changing how you pay attention to your life can radically transform the quality of your life
Years ago, my friend’s Mum always used to say – “People who say they’re bored are very boring people!”. She was a wise woman to tell her grandson to “go and make some fun for yourself”. He had two choices at the time – either to stay bored and ‘depressed’ because the grownups were too busy to entertain him, or to get busy using his imagination. When he was truly convinced that the adults weren’t going to give in, he’d ask himself ‘how can I be happy?’ and he’d eventually go off and get busy playing with his toys and making some fun for himself.
If you want to become more interesting, you’ll find it most valuable to consider boredom for a while and work out what it’s all about. A great place to start is by reading this article…
Are you Bored or just Boring? (the naked truth about boredom)
Boredom doesn’t “set in.” It doesn’t settle on us like dust in the attic or strike us like lightening or wash over us like so much rain in a thunder storm, soaking us in waves of ennui. Boredom is the natural state of the passively uncurious, the unadventurous and indecisive.
It’s not easy to break the habit of ‘boring yourself to death’ (especially if you don’t have a Grandmother standing over you to nag you into changing) but it is possible. If part of you has become the kind of person that you don’t really like to be with anymore – there’s an answer… Learn how to practice mindfulness.
Being constantly uninspired is no fun at all, so ‘break up’ with the bits of you that keep you bored and miserable. It sounds a bit weird but hey, there’s something in this if you actually make the time to do it. It’s not easy to break those ingrained mental habits, but mindfulness will help you spot them and respond differently to them. Here’s a good framework for you to play with…
How to Break up with the Nasty Parts of your Life (a breakup letter to yourself)
Now you’ve created some space for somebody more interesting and entertaining to come out and play, you’re free to put together a cunning plan around curing your boredom forever…
How to Cure Boredom Forever (four simple solutions)
Mindfulness is a great skill to practice that will give you access to moments of pleasure you never realised were available to you here and now. Once you’ve learned the secrets of living mindfully you’ll never need to be bored again.
Have fun exploring the possibilities and enjoy designing your new, happier life!