Becoming Aware: Why Do I Feel So Bored?

Being able to recognize a feeling and identify a problem is the first step towards solving it. What usually happens is that there comes a moment when you start feeling a bit uncomfortable with something in your life. This discomfort grows until you can no longer ignore it, and finally you start reflecting on it until you can flesh it out and put it into words.

In literature, this moment of realization is called epiphany. You have an epiphany when you suddenly understand a problem or a situation from a new perspective; when you can see the old in a new way. It is when this happens that you should take action.

Your boredom may come from different causes which can be mild or more severe, like depression. Two frequent roots are:

1. Unmet needs. These may well be the cause of many frustrations. You are bored now with your life because you are not doing what you want or need. However, there is a positive side: once these unmet needs are recognized, the question is posed: “what can we do to meet them?”, which will motivate you to chase them.

2. Relative experience. “As you gain more experience in life and as your knowledge base becomes wider, it becomes harder to impress you. Have you ever met someone who is easily impressed by anything? Most probably that person’s life wasn’t as experience-rich as yours and so everything seems new to him”, explains M.Farouk Radwan, MSc.

So the first thing you need to do is to identify the reason or origin of your boredom. Is it because your life is not interesting enough? Is it because of frustration or unmet needs? Is it because you lack goals? Or maybe you are stuck and have stopped learning or experiencing new stuff? This is why becoming mindful or aware of our life and feelings is so important: by being mindful, we turn into observers of our own selves.

Feelings are just messages sent to you by your brain in order to motivate you to take some kind of action. If you can understand the nature of those feelings, you will be able to get rid of them.

Feelings are just messages sent to you by your brain in order to motivate you to take some kind of action. If you can understand the nature of those feelings, you will be able to get rid of them.

But for this you need to pause and become aware. It is only by pausing and reflecting on our own life that we are able to better identify our inner devils and, in turn, get rid of them.

It may not be easy to figure out the roots of your boredom at the beginning, and you may not get it right at first. You may come and go with different hypotheses about its origin and change your mind frequently about them. Don’t worry or get desperate about it. You are on the right track.

4 ways of coping with boredom

Now, until you figure out the real cause of the problem, you need to do something, right? Something that keeps you moving and helps you find your moment of epiphany. Check out these tips intended to help you create a space in your mind and keep you motivated:

1. Always have something good to read. You can choose topics that may help you with your problems (life coaching, psychology, self-help, etc.) or not; that’s up to you. But reading is always good. Apart from the healthy distraction books offer, different stories may help you identify with characters or situations and look at things from a different perspective.

2. Go to a green area. Being in contact with nature will make you feel more alive; it will give you energy, open the door to creativity, and it will relieve the stress of your everyday life.

3. Keep moving. This one is probably the most important one of the three. Don’t go for the “I’m-bored-I-don’t-know-what-to-do-so-I’ll-lay-on-the-sofa” attitude. You are only going to get answers if you get out and look for them. It’s an effort for many, but as Pablo Picasso said: “inspiration exists, but it has to find you working”.

4. Engage in mindfulness meditation. Very in vogue today but for many good reasons; it helps you to become aware of yourself, your feelings and emotions, and the world around you.

What about you? Do you usually feel bored? What do you do when that happens?

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