After all of the 4th of July festivities, the summer heat and structureless days can start to creep in with looming threats of boredom. After the 4th of July, many people like to think that the summer is done. Boredom is defined as, “feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one’s current activity”. Research has shown that chronic boredom can form serious consequences that can leave you feeling depressed and feeling alone. Humans have a natural desire to be a part of something and to create different skills.
You might wonder… Why do we get bored?
Boredom can be caused by many different factors but is mostly the outcome of becoming stuck in a repetitive cycle. Boredom is an emotional state of being disinterested. Being bored can cause you to tap into your negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, and frustration. Experiences that become predictable don’t keep our brain engaged as well and we become bored quickly. The lack of stimulation can trigger a negative reaction in our brains. This means that to occupy time, your brain needs to be stimulated and be put to work. This can be a challenge to those who have attention deficit issues. Boredom isn’t always a negative emotion but can become negative if you resist experiencing new environments. According to IQ Matrix, “In fact, letting go of resistance to boredom can often give you the space you need to generate insightful ideas, to make better decisions, and to take more purposeful action”.
The most common causes of boredom:
- Loneliness
- Lacking stimulation
- Inactivity
- Avoiding experiences
- Not moving your body
- Habit of procrastination
- Stuck in repetitive cycle
- Lack energy and focus
- You don’t feel challenged
- Indecisive
- Lacking motivation and inspiration
Two different types of boredom:
- You find the task or activity boring
With this type of boredom, you are missing the mental stimulation that your brain needs to feel fulfilled.
- You believe you have nothing to do with your time
Here you are lacking the motivation and desire to find purpose and value in what you are doing with your time and energy.
One of the biggest factors that can overcome boredom is to clarify objectives and goals. By doing this, you now have a clear understanding about what is blocking you from reaching your goals and aspirations. By doing this, you can now make better decisions moving forward to keep you and your body busy. Breakdown your goals and the benefits that they provide you once you accomplish them. If anything, this will open new doors allowing new possibilities and outcomes for yourself. If you find yourself having trouble focusing, break your task into small sections. This will make your task more manageable to accomplish as well as encourage you to take on tasks from a different point of view. Another reason why your task is becoming boring is that there is little to no motivation behind your actions. Putting a reward system in place is very important so that it can further motivate you next time you come across an obstacle. After you develop a reward system, you have to make sure that you don’t reward yourself before you have accomplished the task. This can create bad habits for your future. You also need to be aware that by rewarding yourself that you don’t create distractions.
What we do at Woodstone
Throughout the week, our residents have the option to have full schedules. The best thing about having all of these events that they can take part in is that they can be as involved as they want to be. We talk with our residents when they move in about the activities and events that they enjoy, and do our best to give our residents the variety they all enjoy. We believe that boredom is a state-of-mind that can easily be changed. We implement different events that allow our residents to tap into their creative mindset. Challenging their minds keeps them thinking and using the different parts of their brains. If you’re doing the same thing every day, you aren’t pushing yourself to learn new things.
Best,
Danielle Morrow
Marketing Specialist