Why so boring

FutureLearn uses cookies to enhance your experience of the website. All but strictly necessary cookies are currently disabled for this browser. Turn on JavaScript to exercise your cookie preferences for all non-essential cookies. You can read FutureLearn's Cookie policy here. Category: Current Issues , Learning. Bored of being bored? Find out what boredom actually is, why it happens, and what you can do to channel it into new projects. Most of us will have experienced boredom at some point in our lives.

But the causes of boredom go far beyond this and, when properly channelled, boredom can be a powerful tool to motivate ourselves to achieve our goals.

However, this is hotly disputed with various sources citing the existence of the word many years before But this definition somewhat underplays the importance of boredom. If not properly addressed, research has shown that chronic boredom can have serious consequences, ranging from depression and feeling alone to problems with your physical health. Our natural curiosity, together with a desire for purpose and occupation has led us to discover new tools, develop different skills, and create new technologies.

Are you simply bored by the monotony of your life? Is your life boring because the people in your life bore you? Is there nothing in your future to get excited by? The more you can hone in on the cause s of your boredom with life, the more targeted you can be when you go out and engage with it.

Volunteer work is an excellent way to branch out, meet new people, and contribute something positive to the world. There are many organizations that need everything from casual to skilled labor. You might even be able to put your professional skills and knowledge to work for a meaningful cause. Another option is to join a professional organization related to your field.

It helps not only to break up the boredom and monotony, but to network with new individuals who you may be able to develop professional relationships with. There are a lot of ways to go about developing a new set of skills. The internet is packed with videos and guides on how to get started in different activities. College coursework provides structure, guidance, and access to someone who is knowledgeable about the skill you are learning about. Where do you find new friends?

There may be local activities going on where you can meet other people from your area or hobby groups that feature regular meet ups.

Religious individuals may want to attend regular services or activities hosted by their place of worship. It can be as simple as heading out of town to some function where you can have a good time and relax.

They may even find that they made the wrong choice in what career to pursue and need to look at other options. Some are simply too demanding of time or emotional energy.

Others may not provide enough stimulation or give you the room to grow that you really want. Doctors are calling a sedentary lifestyle the new smoking in regard to health risks. People need exercise to help boost feel good chemicals that your body produces when you engage in those activities. Start small and set some goals to get out and get active. And if you are already active, set some stronger goals — like finishing a marathon or improving your capabilities.

The artists of the world are often driven to create in some way or another. There are a lot of people who get derailed because of the opinions of others or because life simply denies them the appropriate time.

An artist who has stopped creating should consider getting back into it. Join a healthy community of artists who practice the same medium and work on improving and finishing your works. Very few people are. The important thing is to embrace your art if it brings you happiness. It is a well-known fact that spending more quality time with your loved ones causes the mind to produce several feel good chemicals like endorphins.

One must try to keep those relationships intact by making an effort to stay in touch with their friends and family. And do consider cutting toxic people out of your life if there are any. People like to belong. They also like to contribute to something bigger than themselves. Finding a purpose or cause to align yourself and your skills with can provide a sense of pride and happiness in making a difference in the world.

That may sound easier said than done, but really there are a lot of movements and groups out there that are trying to make positive changes in the world that you can be a part of. Goal setting is an essential part of self-improvement and feeling as though one is accomplishing things in their life. There are many approaches to goal setting, but generally one would want to set short, medium, and long-term goals for their life. But look at your life and at the things you do and ask yourself whether they really mean anything to you.

Please note: it is important that you speak to a professional to identify if you are suffering from depression before you give up on things that may have once brought you joy.

As stated earlier in the article, depression can be the reason you feel bored and joyless. Still not sure how to stop being so bored with life? Speak to a life coach today who can walk you through the process.

Simply click here to connect with one. There is nothing to say that life has to be boring, but most people will go through periods in their life that are considerably less exciting than other periods. It is difficult to maintain a high level of mentally stimulating activity over a prolonged period of time. Some people can manage it, but for others there will be times when there is not enough going on in life to provide the excitement they crave. Different phases of life have different elements that might make someone feel bored or energized.

With so many firsts to enjoy, life can feel very exciting in general. As you get older and you do things again and again, their novelty wears off and this can make some things less enjoyable. Your work may be repetitive and less varied than your time in education, which can make it quite dull. Based on these premises, the researchers argue that it is possible to find ways of coping with states of boredom so that they become less likely to affect mental health. But what might these strategies be?

Before they could find out, Perone and team had to solve another mystery, namely what boredom looks like in the brain. For their study, the researchers recruited 54 young adult participants. The researchers asked the volunteers to fill in a survey asking questions about boredom patterns and how they reacted to feeling bored. Then, after a baseline EEG test measuring normal brain activity, the researchers assigned the participants a tedious task: they had to turn eight virtual pegs on a screen as the computer highlighted them.

That was because these two regions become active for different reasons. The left frontal part, the researchers explain, becomes more active when an individual is looking for stimulation or distraction from a situation by thinking about something different. Conversely, the right frontal part of the brain becomes more active when an individual experiences negative emotions or states of anxiety.

The researchers found that participants who had reported being more prone to boredom on a daily basis displayed more activity in the right frontal brain area during the repetitive task, as they became increasingly bored. Clues have already emerged after asking participants in the current study how they dealt with the boring activity. These feelings control how I behaved around others, control my emotions and stress me out. These childhood struggles and worries left their mark on my life and scarred part of my soul, but they also helped shape who I am today.

A situation that was scary in and of itself but at the same time, I saw it as an opportunity to reinvent myself. My life started to change after that, and some of my fondest memories were during this period when I learned to feel better in my own skin. People who know me have a hard time believing I was ever a shy or insecure person who worried if other people thought I was boring.

By facing my fears and insecurities, I was facing my bully, acknowledging its presence but not letting it have power over me. I had to do a lot of things outside of my comfort zone. By doing so, I built courage and achieved personal growth. Conquering my fears gave me the courage to suck the marrow out of life. Without these experiences, I might not have moved to France, Eloped to Scotland , or moved to Japan when I was 18 years old and lived there for 3. I would love to tell you that I completely overcame my insecurities, but the truth is, I still feel remnants of those old childhoods and young adult pangs of shyness.

Why I Was Bored living in France! How I Beat Expat Boredom. The first step in overcoming some of your fears about being a boring person is recognizing that these are irrational fears. I ended up droning on and on, talking only for the sake of talking. It was both exhausting and unnatural.

Listen to them and genuinely be interested in what they have to say. Read books about being a magnificent storyteller. Your ability to have interesting and meaningful conversations will not only help develop your people skills; it will improve your life.

Improve your conversations and say goodbye to boring small talk and questions about the weather. Discover what's stopping you from saying what you want to say, Conversation starters and more.

I never considered myself a downer until I met someone who was and saw a little of myself in this other person. I think making someone laugh was a self-defence mechanism to admit to a flaw and make light of it through laughter before someone else could notice or say something. You may not even see yourself as a downer, but call yourself a realist. Solution: Sometimes, life can get you down, but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Fun people like to laugh, tell jokes and let loose once in a while, the total opposite of an uptight person.