Emotional Exploration: Boredom

It has been a while, too long, since I have done an emotional exploration post, the last one was Hangry, and that was last year. So why not restart the series with something exciting, boredom! In all seriousness, though, boredom might be more interesting than you think. I chose this emotion because it is part of an ever-growing trend that I have been noticing, which is the discomfort people have with the feeling, and how much effort people put into avoiding being bored.

If you are new to the emotional exploration series, then let me explain what this series is all about. I started this series because I all too often encountered people who couldn't express themselves because they lacked the emotional language and understanding to do so. So while some posts in the series will be light-hearted and others a bit heavier, they all add to our emotional understanding and ask us questions about how we experience certain emotions.

This time round, as mentioned, we are exploring our relationship with the feeling of boredom. Boredom is the state of being bored, which in itself is a feeling of being unhappy because you are lacking anything interesting to occupy your thoughts. Therefore, boredom was considered a passing thing, something to make us want to do something else, a motivation if you will.

However, I have noticed more and more that it is the last part of the definition of being bored that people seem to struggle with, the occupation of their thoughts. More often than not, these days boredom seems to bring up anxiety in people, not because their thoughts are not being occupied, but because when they are bored, they are alone with their thoughts and that in itself is uncomfortable. Which always makes me want to ask, when are those thoughts going to be managed, if not when we are bored?

It's not that I think we should all allow ourselves to be bored more often, but more so that we should allow ourselves to be alone with our own thoughts more often. If that means being bored for a little bit, then is that such a bad problem? With an always online world, it is good to disconnect sometimes, and be present and with our thoughts.

So make some time for some boredom in your life, and ask yourself if it's the lack of distraction that feels uncomfortable, or the space to think and feel?