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Most people do not bode well with boredom. Amid a time where there are so many handy outlets such as phones to keep you entertained, just having to wait for even a couple of minutes can feel like an eternity. Therefore, most downtime becomes an opportunity to check emails or scroll shopping sites. While it might feel productive to order pillowcases in between meetings, such constant stimuli may be short-sighted.
While boredom can be the number one enemy of recovery, productivity, and success, there might be some merit to being bored from time to time. Boredom can help create space in your life to allow your ideas room to grow. Research suggests that the best ideas come when you disengage your brain. Let's take a look at some ways in which you can create spaces to be bored productively.
ASSESS YOUR NEEDS
While it is great to dream big, many of your desires can be broad and not practical to your needs or goals. Creating space in your life is crucial to understanding what belongs in your life and what doesn't. Preparing a sort-of mission statement can offer you insight to better understanding which of your "wants" justify the means to get where you want to go. Therefore, you can say no to things that don't foster the mission statement. Such things can create clutter in your schedule and are usually not worth the fuss they take.
TAKE PART IN A SCREEN-FREE HOBBY
The screen can take up a large portion of your free time. However, you need to ask: "At what point does all this screen time become a detriment to my productivity?" Too much screen time is an addiction in itself and can be used as a coping mechanism that leads to other addictions such as shopping and gambling. If you are spending all your free time or "bored" time on your phone or computer, then it is time to break free.
Start by thinking about what you loved before you started spending all your time in front of a screen. Did you enjoy music, dancing, or painting? Partaking in activities that engage your mental and physical helps you feel a sense of progress. Activities that include exercise can also promote creative thoughts because your body will be producing feel-good hormones such as dopamine that put your mind more at ease to wander without distraction.
To help with screen-free time, you can also get outside. Running, walking, and gardening are great places to start. The open space of the outdoors creates space in the mind and allows your imagination to run free. Much like exercise, daylight helps your brain produce dopamine and gives you a good energy amount. The next time you are bored, you don't need to find a specific thing to do; go outside, even to sit and sip coffee or tea.
MAKE TIME FOR NOTHING
It might sound counterproductive, but taking the time to do nothing can have a profound impact on your brain. Since we live in a time where there are so many distractions, taking just ten minutes to sit and look out a window helps rebuild patience and resiliency, which also helps with focus, memory, and other cognitive abilities. It is also a great time to separate yourself from your work and other pressing affairs. You can spend this time meditating, drawing, or staring at the floor. Think of it as stretching and massaging your mind.
Most of what you do on the phone garners reactionary responses, such as having to reply to emails and texts; therefore, your brain is fixed into a task-oriented state and always looking to find a solution or respond. When you continually send your brain to go looking for something or react to something, it creates stress, anxiety, and even depression over time. None of which are suitable for your mental or physical health. Sometimes taking the time to do nothing is doing something.
UNTETHER YOURSELF
It is not likely that you will give up your smartphone or TV, nor should you. You're also not going to leave your phone behind when going out. Finding time to untether yourself is not about protesting technology; however, if you have your devices with you, you can reduce their distraction. Taking advantage of appropriate times -- i.e., when you're not at work -- to hide or disable social media apps on your phone is a terrific way to ween yourself off the knee-jerk reaction to keep checking such devices. Over time it will also create a habit of not looking to your devices for entertainment and company. Therefore, you might at first feel bored, but if you utilize your time effectively, you will begin to think and create in ways that perhaps you have not considered since childhood.
Boredom does not have to be an enemy. Boredom is your mind reacting to the fact that you are not participating in habitual behavior and, therefore, is bored. At START UP RECOVERY, we help you curate a lifestyle in a way that can manage and regulate your needs and desires. Success happens when you create a lifestyle that consists of balance and feel just as happy taking the journey to meet a goal as you do when you finally meet a goal. If you are currently using boredom as an excuse to self-medicate with substances or online addictions, it is time to seek help and reassess how to change your priorities. With a sunny SoCal location, START UP RECOVERY provides a safe, comfortable and inspiring space where you can connect with others to help you feel motivated to take back your recovery and success. To find out more, call START UP RECOVERY today at 310-773-3809.