Boredom

Welcome to What’s in the Middle, dedicated to helping you find balance in your life, mentally. So today I want to explore an issue that a lot of us have to deal with in our lives, the issue of boredom. Now, I am not the sort of person I ever expected to find herself bored and wondering “What shall I do?”

 

But this is precisely a situation I found myself in lately, and this was a big deal to me. I am someone who likes to keep busy and always finds something to occupy her. Whether it’s meditation, yoga, learning guitar, exercising, or doing some housework, I like to keep busy. So, discovering I was bored was a bit of a shock to me and I decided to dig deeper into why this was.

 

Do I lack motivation? Am I lazy? Am I short of self-discipline? Do I hate doing the same things over and over? Is there nothing to learn anymore? Do I have fewer friends than I thought? These are all questions I asked myself to try to get to the bottom of this revelation, and I finally found the answer…

 

The thing is, it’s difficult to questions your emotions, or even to get a handle on them for a long period of time. Especially if you’re someone who is fairly happy-go-lucky like me. But I did a bit of self-exploration to try to determine why I feel bored and what this says about me. Is this the balanced approach? I feel like it is. I am assessing my mental state, my agitated mind, my spiraling thoughts, my lack of contentment.

 

Now, it’s true that I am one of those people who does like to change things up and enjoy some variety in my life. This is largely one of the reasons why I am qualified and have vast experience in many forms of fitness, personal training, and meditation. I feel it is important to constantly challenge myself, and I encourage my clients to do the same as well. Focusing on different forms of fitness and well-being gives you a diverse form of self-care, and you might well find some things appeal to you or are more effective to you than others.

 

I am going through a stage of life where there are potentially huge changes on the horizon, and this has made me anxious and worried. It has also caused me to question a lot of the ways in which I live, and, though I try to quiet that restless, wild part of my mind through meditative practices, it is still very easy to get lost down the rabbit hole again and again. When this happens, we tend to say or think things that we don’t fully understand, such as “I am bored.”

 

As someone with a keen interest in figuring things out, this is something I pondered for a while before landing on my answer. Perfect timing, as I can now crawl under a duvet for a bit of Netflix therapy!

In this case, it was my external factors, and things that were going on with me (or soon to be going on with me) that triggered my sense of boredom, rather than the fact that I had nothing to do. There are so many wonderful opportunities available to us these days, thanks to the internet, that genuine boredom should never really be a thing.

 

All of this got me thinking… Are we ever actually bored, or is it simply external factors in our lives that we feel unable to control that are making us feel this way? Or, are we a lazy generation because the internet and society have evolved to offer us instant gratification all the time? Furthermore, have we shied away from sharing our feelings about things, and do we suffer from repetition as well as a lack of motivation. So the next time you’re feeling bored I want you to take the time to think about how you’re feeling and what you’re worrying about, and determine whether this could be reason for your boredom.

 

If you think you’re bored and you would like some ideas to help alleviate this boredom, then you should check out these stunning suggestions that I have found so trans-formative in my own life of late.

 

-          Check out courses on https://www.udemy.com/, and learn anything your heart desires form the comfort of your own home.

-          Online yoga channels are available in abundance, and you could even take yoga/meditation classes with me – get in touch to arrange this! Alternatively, you might like head to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVrWHW_xYpDnr3p3OR4KYGw and watch the redoubtable Cat Meffan, one of my favorite yoga instructors, and someone I constantly learn from.

-          Learn to play the guitar by checking out this YouTube tutorial from Andy, one of the best players I found to learn from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBz-Jyr23M4   

-          Go for a walk to clear your mind and get some much-needed fresh air.

-         Reading a book is a wonderful form of escapism, and I recommend ‘Breath’ by James Nester.

-         If you want some guidance on calm motivation, watch Pastor Rick Warren on YouTube.

 This should be enough ideas to be getting on with! Remember, you need to try to switch it up and keep things exciting. I make sure to never do anything for too long. But I guess I should question whether this helps me achieve balance, or whether it actually leaves me more unsettled! I suppose the lesson here is that I still have a lot of learning to do as a person. How do you guys feel you approach your life, and do you think you have enough balance?