Blogger: Vincent L. Mach

Boredom. The very word strikes feelings of lethargy, restlessness, laziness, and even anxiety into the hearts of people everywhere. Especially in college, I have often heard my fellow students remark about how much they hate being bored, do not ever want to be bored, etc. After some thought I reached a rather interesting question: What is it about boredom that is particularly frightening? The state that one experiences during boredom is hardly painful. No one has ever died from boredom, at least as far as I know. Why exactly is being bored so incredibly repugnant?

After happening upon this interesting question, I promptly began searching for an answer, so as to possibly find a solution to the detestable state of boredom. I considered that perhaps my peers simply do not like being inactive. Immediately I dismissed this since most college students, including myself, spend at least some time just watching movies, television, or just "hanging out"- all of which involve inactivity, but are rather enjoyable pastimes. After eliminating the hatred of physical inactivity, I then thought that perhaps my fellow students abhor a lack of mental activity. I also threw this notion out because the same activities I just mentioned, such as watching TV, do not require a large amount of mental participation. I then came to the inevitable conclusion that perhaps those who detest boredom really detest a lack of mental stimulation. Whether they fear being alone with their own thoughts and contemplating the meaning of their existence, or just do not like being in a state that leads them away from new experiences, which they in turn perceive to be a waste of time, is immaterial. What matters are the ways that one can combat this feeling of boredom, which I determine to be caused by a lack of, or over-stimulation.

I would like to note that I hardly believe this hatred of boredom to be caused by anyone's conscious decision. I believe that since our economy is based on consumerism we the people of this nation are bred from day one to be good little consumers. Between our television shows we see for commercials for products we "simple can't do without". When we drive down the road we see signs for the hotels we should be sleeping in and the restaurants we should be eating at. We are encouraged from every angle to purchase new forms of stimulation and to indulge in them as much as possible. Therefore, when we run out of these stimulants, or we experience the same ones for too long, we run headlong into a quagmire of boredom. Like a fish pulled out of the river, we flounder about after being pulled out of the stream of constant stimulation.

Now that the problem and the cause of it are laid out, what can one do to overcome this dreaded feeling? I read an article when I was a senior in high school that talked about a solution to this very problem that henceforth changed the way I look at boredom. The author encouraged each person reading his article to relish the feeling of being bored. Submerge into the realm of boredom; wholly and utterly submit to the overwhelming feelings of restlessness and laziness. Let it permeate every fiber of your being. After some time, the activities you found boring and trite will become interesting again and seem even more stimulating than before.

"Why", you ask? The extreme fluctuations in our human emotions create a wonderful contrast between them. If you let yourself stay in a gray area of semi-boredom by trying to fight it with continual stimulation, or by trying to ignore the feeling altogether, you might find yourself in this horrible dead zone where nothing seems brilliant or interesting at all. On the other hand, if you allow yourself to feel a wide range of emotions that reach to the polar extremes, the rise out of a horrible pit of boredom will feel like being born again. I believe this idea of riding the wave of human emotions to be the crux of a healthy existence. If you allow yourself to truly experience all of the wonderful little nuances of feeling that come your way, you will find yourself feeling happier and more fulfilled in almost every instance, whether you are miserably sad or euphorically happy. Do not fight it; ride the feelings, even boredom, as they fluctuate your way and you will find a more fulfilling existence ahead of you.