July is National Anti-Boredom Month. Anti-Boredom month was created in the 1980’s by Alan Caruba, who founded the Boring Institute to keep him from becoming, well, bored. Caruba sited boredom as the root of societal problems. We use the month of July to explore boredom and find new ways to be engaged with healthy activities that are meaningful and bring us joy.
Everyone experiences boredom from time to time in their life. Boredom can be explained as a restless, empty and dissatisfying feeling we get when we have a high level of motivation to engage and are unable to find something that fulfils this need. There are many instances where we might feel bored. This feeling might be present when we are not finding ourselves engaged or interested in an activity, when an activity does not feel meaningful or does not seem to align with your goals and values. Of course, there are also those moments where we are doing nothing and feel unfulfilled. Boredom also happens when we are feeling overwhelmed and unable to focus. We may look at the environment as the cause of boredom such as in a classroom listening to a lecture that does not feel engaging or waiting for anything such as an airport or the DMV. Basically, any situation where you cannot control the length of the wait.
Boredom has been linked to higher rates of depression and anxiety. Feeling bored may increase irritability, anger and frustrations. Boredom can cause us to worry about all the things in the world that we are unable to change. The saying “dying of boredom” is not a complete exaggeration, while we will not die from being bored, certain lifestyle choices we make when bord may decrease the lifespan. We might engage in activities that contribute to harming our health such as unhealthy eating, alcohol and substance use and engaging in risk taking behaviors as a way to cure our boredom and feel like we are doing something.
How can we combat boredom? Well, here are few ways to consider, read a new book, start to journal or scrapbook, try something new, cook a new recipe, join or team, engage with a friend or a loved one, volunteer or engage in a charity work in your community and/or adopt a mindfulness practice such as mediation. During the month of July, let’s get out, tr new things and cure any boredom you may be experiencing!
