Boredom is a horrible affliction and it can send us into a downward negative spiral, in which any suggested activity seems tedious or even less exciting. It is important to recognize the signs and symptoms of impending boredom and find something to do straight away, this is true for both children and adults!
Signs of Impending Boredom
Boredom generally means your mind is unoccupied. You will notice that you start to lose interest in things and may feel tired. Physically, your position will become more slumped. You may also become irritable and snappy at others, and generally have a feeling of impending doom and gloom. The key to combating boredom is to realize that it is a condition of an unoccupied mind, as stated earlier. Hence, you need to find something that will once again occupy it. Generally, reading or watching television are not cures for boredom, if anything, they may make it worse as these activities force us to remain still and only absorb information, rather than process.
Who to Take With You to Interesting Places
The expression that the world is your oyster is very true. If you find you are getting bored, get up off the sofa and simply walk out the door. Regardless of where you live, an adventure is waiting for you. Feeling bored is the perfect opportunity to get back in touch with your inner child and use your imagination to come up with all sorts of interesting scenarios. If you struggle with getting in touch with your inner child because you feel that it may be embarrassing, bring your own children (this is always a good idea anyway!), or ask if you could take the child of one of your friends for example. Of course, you could also bring friends or members of your family. And it is also perfectly acceptable to just go by yourself!
City Slicker
If you live in a large city, it is probably not as easy to just get up and go and discover things. However, cities have tremendous history and you could choose to go to a museum or interesting historical building. Of course, the benefits of living in a city are that you will have ample opportunity for shopping and dining, so you could go into the city centre and window shop, or you could invite some friends to try out a new restaurant or eatery somewhere.
However, you can also become an explorer in cities. Cities have interesting flora and fauna, and you could spend some time trying to find different species of birds, for example. Also, most cities will have parks and gardens that you can go visit, where you can go on all kinds of adventures. If you are feeling really adventurous, you could set up some sort of treasure hunt, this can even be done if you simply live in a block of flats. This is where getting back in touch with your inner child comes in handy. Remember when a walkway could magically turn into the plank of a pirate ship? Or when an alleyway could be the scene from a scary movie? Try to find back your imagination and have fun! Fun is not restricted to children.
In the home itself, why not get out a board game, for example? Or you could do some puzzles, or play solitaire card games for example. There is always plenty to do. Some people also find great solace in going into the kitchen and preparing a meal, or even preparing meals for the entire week.
The key is that you find some get up and go, regardless of how you do that.
Country Boy (Girl)
If you live in the country, there is a wealth of things you can do. One of the great things about the country is that you can come up with activities and name these yourself. They then become a part of your family. For example, you could go bluebelling – picking carrier bags full of bluebells.
A simple walk through the country is also an excellent cure for boredom, of course. The country offers all sorts of things you can do to release your sense of adventure. You could go hunting for creepy crawlies or try to find a bat’s nest, for example. Of course, nature offers many flowers and plants and you could spend forever trying to find different species that you could then take home and dry, to turn into interesting artworks at another time.
If you are really lucky, there will have been some recent rainfall, or maybe it is raining as you are getting bored. If so, the old saying is that you won’t melt as you are not made out of sugar, and this is very true. So long as you do not place yourself in any danger, such as during a hurricane or thunder storm, get in touch with that inner child and go for a walk in the rain. Of course, there is no greater fun than jumping up and down in muddy puddles! Children have even been known to make mud angels instead of snow angels and why not? Have a mud fight, or build interesting structures out of drying mud.
Stay at Home
Have a good look around your home and find what things you could do to relieve boredom. The key to relieving boredom, of course, is to do something that is fun. So cleaning your kitchen or catching up on your finances or ironing is probably not going to make it any better.
We already talked about cooking, puzzles and board games, but there are so many other things you could do. You would be surprised at the amount of things you have lying around the house that you can use as arts and crafts, and particularly if you have children this can lead to hours of fun. Why not use a cardboard box as a television, using some aluminum foil to make antennae and some bottle tops for buttons? This will be hilarious for children, who will suddenly think you were born in the Stone Age, as they will never have seen such a television in the past. Completing the construction of a cardboard telly will already take some time, but you could then make the children come up with programs that they need to play out on television, with you being the audience of course. Ask them to do a news segment, the weather and perhaps a movie or soap series. A cardboard television will make for hours and hours of fun and you will find that within a few minutes, you will have forgotten your were bored in the first place.
Recognizing the signs of boredom and addressing them before you find yourself in the negative spiral of boredom is very important. As you can see, there are many interesting places to go if you are bored, whether you live in a skyscraper in New York City or in a farm house in the English country side. Use your imagination and allow yourself to get back in touch with your inner child and you will never feel boredom again!