Boredom is not always a bad thing
Introduction
We live in a world where boredom is a thing to avoid at any cost.
But let's think about the past. Imagine the routine of your parents and grandparents when they were young. A life without frenetic stimuli, no internet, no social media, no memes or games. Just real life. Maybe you even experienced that, depending on your age. I lived a big part of my childhood without internet, so I know a bit about how to deal with boredom without a screen.
Before I continue, it's important to note that I won't be that guy who says the past was better than today. I also won't demonize current technologies. My point is very simple: boredom is not always a bad thing.
"Okay, so how can it be good?"
I'll answer that, but first let me be more practical and explain what "boredom" means to me.
Leisure isn't rest
You read that right. Your leisure activities aren't rest.
When you play a game, watch a movie, or laugh at some memes, you aren't fully resting. You may feel good during these activities due to dopamine, but you keep feeding stimuli to your mind, which can leave you still feeling tired at the end. This doesn't mean you should stop them. These activities are important for mental health.
So, what is rest?
Rest is avoiding stimuli, being quiet, without urgency. Real rest is a calm walk, staying in silence, lying on your bed. Rest is a process to clear the mind.
I know it looks like monk meditation, but I think it should be a normal activity. People in the past did these things frequently. Even nowadays you can see these behaviors in old people. I used to see some old people sitting in front of their houses, just watching the world. That's very common where I lived. Unfortunately, our generation lost these habits. And worse, we replaced them with watching short videos for hours straight. We confused resting with boredom.
Well, we still can change that. Let me talk about two benefits of real rest and also the method I used to allow myself to be "bored" on purpose.
Benefits
1. Peaceful Mind and Creativity
Boring times are chances to restructure the mind. Even when it is calm and quiet, your mind is still working, but without pressure. It allows thoughts to be organized, recent learnings to turn into solid knowledge and new ideas to be born.
I had many ideas in these rest moments, such as post topics and personal projects (Some of them you can see in my devlog). I also reach some reflective conclusions even without forcing them. I just stay in silence and the answers come up. Even if you don't force the thoughts, they appear, but without the volume that makes you feel disturbed.
When you stop and let things take their places, your mind experiences peace and you can finally think clearly.
2. Develop non-stimulus tolerance
How much can you tolerate being without any external stimulus? I'll help you to estimate it.
Consider these situations and see which ones you find relatable:
- I check my phone many times while watching a movie
- I do other things in parallel while watching a video
- I can't do any task without music
- I use my phone when I'm talking with other people in public.
- I'm always seeing memes or short videos in the work/study pauses of my day.
- I can't focus for more than 10 minutes in a single task without being disturbed
If you find most of the items relatable, this can be a strong indicator that you have a low non-stimulus tolerance. If that's your case, keep reading. I have also experienced this intolerance in my life, but I found a way to deal with it.
Fixing the boredom intolerance
Wait, I won't tell you to turn everything off and throw your phone away. I'll tell you my method, which I have been applying slowly in my life. The method is a gradual stimulus killing.
First, start listing every stimulus you have in your routine: social media, music, games, videos, series and so on. Then, choose one of them and start a gradual turn-off. The gradual turn-off can be a limit on the hours of the day you will do that activity, or a schedule of the weekdays you will do it. The goal is not to just cut things off, but to allocate time to a real rest. For example, instead of playing a game for 3 hours and then sleeping, what about playing for 2 hours, walking outside for 30 minutes, taking a shower and then sleeping?
Remember that you should do it on purpose and by your own choice. If you don't adapt to this, stop forcing yourself. That's not effective.
Conclusion
Staying bored sometimes can be good. Good things can be extracted if you allow yourself to not be disturbed by anything else. Treat those routine pauses as opportunities to recover energy.
I hope this post gives you a different perspective on rest.
See you next time!