Listening to Boredom

Author: Grace L. Judson

Timothy Ferris, author of the Four Hour Work Week, dropped a bombshell on us here at Holothink with this idea: "The opposite of happiness isn't sadness; it's boredom". Wow - that's the truth. Boredom is a place of stuckness, or depression and this author explains it extremely well. Holothink's Audio Euphoria program is a powerful solution for overcoming boredom, dropping your inhibitions, having safe fun and expanding your boundaries without getting yourself into trouble. Life's too short to waste it away being bored - get out and have some fun. And if you want a little help doing it, then we say "go for it".

A good friend of mine grew up hearing his mother say, "Intelligent people are never bored." I don't know if this helped him avoid boredom, but I am sure he seldom admitted to being bored within his mother's hearing!

In my work with clients, I've come to see boredom as an important signpost. Obviously, boredom has something to say about your feelings about what you're doing, but there's often something more going on. Boredom can teach you a lot about yourself and about your life - where you are, and where you want to go. But like any teacher, it can only teach you if you're paying attention.

A sense of boredom is often a sign of overwhelm

Huh? A sign of overwhelm? How can that be?

When you're overwhelmed, your mind starts looking for an escape. You want to be doing something different. But you know you can't - you've got All That Stuff To DO. Yet your feeling of wanting to do something (anything!) different from what you're doing right now feels a lot like boredom.

So if you've ever been in the midst of tremendous busy-ness, dealing with crises, facing challenging deadlines, and had a sudden thought, "Wow, I'm really bored right now" - that's what's going on. If this doesn't sound familiar, I'll bet that you have felt it, but that your disbelief (how could I possibly be bored in the middle of being so incredibly busy?!?) overwhelmed the feeling and pushed away your ability to recognize it.

Boredom can warn you of stress and burnout

When your mind starts to reel under the weight of stress and when your stress levels rise enough to push you towards burnout, you may find yourself feeling a great sense of boredom and inertia. Your inner self, that part of you that knows things before you consciously understand them, is looking for a way out, seeking relief from the stress. Down deep, you're just over feeling so pressured. You''e ready for a break, for an alternative to the adrenaline and worry and stress. You're ready for a rest. And that sense of exhaustion, of being done, comes through to you as boredom.

Ironically, this may lead you to doing more instead of less. When you feel bored, even if it's due to stress and burnout, the typical reaction is to find something else to do, instead of taking the rest you so badly need.

Long-term boredom is a signal that you need change

I'm not talking about the casual, in-the-moment boredom you feel when you're standing in line at the grocery store or sitting in a traffic jam. (Of course, those might signal a need for change as well - more checkout clerks and fewer cars!)

This is more like the Creeping Crud. It's a slowly-growing sense of dissatisfaction, disinterest, disconnectedness. You may not even realize how you're feeling, or you may attribute it to other causes or unrelated situations. Possibly you're convinced that being bored means you're somehow wrong (like my friend whose mother taught him it wasn't intelligent to be bored). Or you may simply not be ready for the changes required.

Many of my clients find ways to explain away this feeling of being bored. One young woman believed her boredom stemmed from an uninteresting social life. She pushed herself to go out, go clubbing, be the life of the party. In fact, she doesn't much like partying, and much prefers small, quiet, more personal social events. Her job was the problem. Fast-paced and high-stress, she couldn't believe it was boring her, but it wasn't holding her interest at the level of personal meaning and core values - and it was overwhelming her. A career change was intriguing, terrifying, and exciting. She's certainly not bored, and she's working now on something that has great personal meaning. And it's had the side benefit of a new social circle sharing her values and interests.

What is your boredom telling you?

Do you need to find a better-staffed supermarket and a less-crowded route to work, or are you, like my client, seeking more personal value and meaning in your life? I challenge you to seek out your boredom and find out what's underneath it; you may be surprised. And let me know what bores you!

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." Dorothy Parker, writer, poet, humorist, and critic, 1893 - 1967

About the author: (c)Grace L. Judson About the Author Grace Judson is the founder and driving force behind Svaha Concepts. Stuck in a "success plateau"? Stop by and check out my free resources!