Boredom: What If You Are Bored?

Boredom is a craving for something other than what is as it is right now. With boredom, one deals with what is perceived as unpleasant at the present moment. Boredom becomes useful when it is recognized and used as an initiator of originality by engaging in new thoughts and new activities.
To get out of boredom, steps must be taken. Walter Annenberg warned that “When we hold back out of laziness, that is when we tie ourselves into knots of boredom.” 

Is boredom good or bad? What is boredom anyway? My broad personal definition of boredom is it is a craving for something other than what is as it is right now. Almost anyone, if not all, who expresses a feeling of being bored is also expressing a need or even a desire to get out of his or her present condition. Leo Tolstoy perceived boredom as the “desire of desires”. With boredom, one deals with what is perceived as unpleasant at the present moment. With boredom, things have to be different than how they are. Though a person cannot control certain events in life, he or she can control his or her thoughts – thoughts that will dictate what he or she has to do with experiences of boredom. Whether feeling bored is good or bad depends almost entirely on how the bored person will deal with the experience.

Nearly everyone gets bored from time to time. The most common agent of boredom is any experience of waiting such as in line, for a task to be completed, for someone to arrive, or while traveling. In this case, boredom is the need or craving for something planned or expected to happen. The eager anticipation of a future event can bore people about the present condition. You can overcome the boredom inherent in waiting with patience.
Some people deal with this kind of boredom with aggression. I have witnessed people waiting in line yelling nasty remarks and hurling articles found nearby. Some bored motorists are causing road crashes by taking unnecessary risks behind the wheel. There are many reported incidents of aggressive behavior of impatient motorists ranging from traffic altercations to violent confrontations and destruction of property to extreme cases of beating, stabbing, and shooting.
We can fill the time of waiting with positive thoughts and possibly worthwhile moves like getting to know the person in line before or after you. A sincere smile can start a conversation going. Instead of complaining about the discomforts of waiting, take on topics that are entertaining and educational. Reading is also a good way to pass the time while waiting. Make a habit of carrying an interesting book with you whenever you can wherever you go.
For motorists, make an effort to maintain a happy disposition. Improve the comfort of your vehicle and allow plenty of time to get to your planned destination bearing in mind that you cannot control the traffic.
Think of your waiting experiences as a workshop in mastering the virtue called patience.

Most people get bored when they are forced, by circumstances or by people, to do something that they do not want to at that time. The qualities of the bored individual in relation to the current activity and/or the current environment can predict episodes of boredom. For instance, a hyperactive person needs stimulating activities while a liberated person gets bored when engaged in activities with lots of constraints and restraints.
In school, students get bored by extremes. One extreme is very easy, simple and predictable activity that students are not challenged enough. The other is incomprehensible, complicated and confusing activity that students are too challenged. In this case, boredom is a condition characterized by perception of one's present condition either as dull, monotonous, tedious, and lacking in stimulation or as uneventful and futile.
Some people may get bored when they are prevented from doing something that they really want to be doing more than anything else at that point in their life. Jobless people are prevented from earning money for services they can render. Boredom comes in the form of fear of being unproductive. Employed people get bored when they are not given the project or task that they are enthusiastic and passionate in doing. Boredom comes in the form of frustration.
Boredom in these cases will persist until the bored individual learn to see the present for what it is and then deal with it. There is sense in accepting that life may become boring at some point in time. Some people consider boredom as a problem of losers, and thus the frenzied efforts to avoid and ignore boredom gave rise to various entertainment gadgets and establishments. For Erich Fromm, the search for thrills and novelty that characterizes consumer culture are not solutions to boredom, but mere distractions from boredom which continues unconsciously. A similar mindset is upheld in the following quote from Gaston Pierre de Lévis: “Boredom is a sickness the cure for which is work; pleasure is only a palliative.”
Boredom must be acted upon and one can only do so by recognizing it. Boredom becomes useful when it is recognized and then used as an initiator of originality by engaging in new thoughts and new activities. Relentless avoidance and disregard of boredom prevents a person from clearing his or her mind long enough to recognize his or her capacity for understanding and creativity that can cultivate personal development. Boredom may ultimately yield a more flexible and resilient person. Anish Kapoor espressed that “It's precisely in those moments when I don't know what to do, boredom drives one to try a host of possibilities to either get somewhere or not get anywhere.”
To get out of boredom, steps must be taken. Walter Annenberg warned that “When we hold back out of laziness, that is when we tie ourselves into knots of boredom.”