Prevent Long Term Boredom
Sitting at home, night after night, with nothing to do? Or maybe that summer freedom wore off as you finished off everything. Here are some tips on avoiding boredom.
Steps
- Make yourself interesting to others. You'll make yourself interesting to yourself, in the process. This can be accomplished by avoiding sitting around playing one video game over and over (which limits the topics you can talk about with others) or sitting in your room staring. Read books or articles on the internet. Watch the History Channel, or a special on the Discovery Network. See a movie. DO something.
- Play board games. Don't just think Monopoly, Clue or Snakes and Ladders. Try German-style board games like Agricola, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, or Settlers of Catan.]]
- Play mental games such as Pente, Blokus, Chess, Quoridor.
- Play card games such as Bohnanza, Tichu or Pit.
- Get a job that keeps you up and going.
- Call or text a friend that you have not talked to in a while. Most of the time this can lead to a very engaging conversation!
- Take an extra class at school or college, and actually learn the subject.
- Write down things you want to achieve over the longterm. For example: Improve my fitness and body, Get involved and good at a sport, Acquire wealth, Make myself smarter, Create a popular website....there are many things. Plan how best you can achieve these goals (use wikiHow to get started). Make a list of everything you have to do, and all the things you will need to do it. Then, take one step at a time toward your goal. If you want to become proficient in a certain sport, pay attention to your eating habits, technique, and so on.
- Find new friends.
- Plan great altruistic endeavors which will also allow you to experience different places, cultures and people, like working in a foreign country for a while.
- Look in the wikiHow sport section for things to learn that interest you and keep practicing.
- Become good at something else: Painting, singing, playing an instrument, etc.
- If you're bored online and use the computer a lot, bookmark funny, interesting or strange websites to visit later when you are really bored.
- Ask yourself if the feeling of 'boredom' is not really a cover for a different feeling, one of inadequacy. Start by asking your these questions: 1. Why am I bored?, 2. Why don't I have anything to do?, 3. Why am I not good at things? Asking yourself these sorts of questions will make it easier for you to confront the core issue of your likely depression.
Tips
- Another helpful point - make a list of the things you enjoy most, such as reading, socializing. Then, when ever you catch yourself thinking "I'm bored", just look over you list and decide what to do.
- Use affirmations to keep you going. The comedy character Stuart Smalley used to look in the mirror and say, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, doggone it, people like me!" It sounds silly, but if you can find a quote or something that makes you feel strong, or is amusing and reminds you of your goal, it really will help spur you on to keep up the good work you started.
- It can be really hard getting started, especially if you've had a rough patch recently (your girlfriend dumped you, your boyfriend seems to like his buddies better than you). Get yourself a bracelet with WW?D on it - substitute the ? for the initial of someone you want to emulate in this endeavor. For example, if you decide you will go work out three times a week to improve your fitness level, you might choose to have a bracelet that says WWJWD - What Would Jackie Warner Do? (She's the owner of a shi -shi bodybuilding gym in Beverly Hills ). You get the idea.
- Being bored is not pleasant. Most of the time, people who are really bored are also really boring or their surroundings are!. Avoid being boring by getting up and out, and sticking with your goals to learn something new - the first weeks may be difficult, but practice makes perfect. Stick with it!
Warnings
- Taking no action will be a waste of your perfectly good (and only) life.
Things You'll Need
- A friend to do things with, if you wish and you probably don't.
