I'm curious about boredom, how do you deal with it.

My daughter, never has a bored moment, she has plenty of things on hand to entertain herself. She brings her gameboy everywhere.

My son, if he doesn't have another person to entertain with he goes absolutely crazy with boredom.

As for me, If I am in a bored moment I don't care.. its a vedge time. ;)

Originally posted by Keppig
I'm curious about boredom, how do you deal with it.

My daughter, never has a bored moment, she has plenty of things on hand to entertain herself. She brings her gameboy everywhere.

My son, if he doesn't have another person to entertain with he goes absolutely crazy with boredom.

As for me, If I am in a bored moment I don't care.. its a vedge time. ;)

I keep myself busy ripping the house apart and rebuilding it to keep from getting bored.

except for the expence I love rebuilding rooms and making a house more user frendly.

I also enjoy veg time when I do sit down ussually on the deck looking at the stars

I have hundreds of things to keep me occupied... lots of projects in the works at any moment... deadlines to be late for... Satellite TV and books to keep me from getting a decent night's sleep.

It seems I was bored constantly as a child. Now? Well, I got old enough to make my own decision about whether or not to fidget through church. :D

The ADD Forums are a great new obsession for me now too...

Me too, the Forums..and doing professional reading on my computer list-serves...and I always have SOMETHING to read with me....and my cell phone is always a good thing to have with me too....When I'm REALLY bored, call a friend...And hanging out at bookstores is a good one too....or the library....

I always say at work that I would rather be over worked than bored. When I'm bored I act like a pain in the neck.

I'm not really sure what to put here.

I had TERRIBLE problems with boredom as a child.

Nowadays I am only bored when I am forced by circumstance to focus on something that bores me. I never have any trouble if left to my own devices.

Trouble is, the things that interest me for the most part don't interest my wife and vice versa. I have more in common with my 10 year old son than with her sometimes!

Paul: your son might actually appreciate you for that.....

Okay here's one I like: shut my bedroom door and put on some favorite music and dance in my underwear......NOONE can interrupt me:).....OR jump in the swimming pool and swim 100 laps...OR grab last Sunday's crossword puzzle or find someone to play Scrabble/chess or backgammon....or whatever....

I don't usually get bored, but when I do, it is terrible. I guess it is more a matter of finding things to do. A while back I was complaining that I was bored at work, it was terrible. I would rather be dancing on chaos than be bored. I think it is a choice. As a person with ADD, it is easy to lose interest in things, but it is also easy to take on new interests--Sometimes too many interests. In the times when I was miserable at work, because I was bored, I let that happen to me. There is always something I can be learning, something left undone, even if it is as simple as sweeping up in the Phone Room. I wasted about 6 months in negativity because I was bored. Outwardly not many knew how I was feeling because I was in my "Work Role," really like the person I feel at work, like the post I started about feeling like a "phony at work"

Boredom really boils down to a choice, somewhat, I think. You may be bored in a certain situation, maybe somewhat disengaged, but to stay that way really ends up being a choice. I choose to stay that way, by not choosing to engage in something else that is stimulating.

By the way, I chose the "Boredom is agonizing" choice even though I really most the time I have more than enough to occupy myself: Reading, work, kids, writing......honeydo list around the house :) etc. When I let myself get to that boredom state, it is agonizing for me. So I am choosing to flee boredom.

Originally posted by jimmmaaa
I think it is a choice. As a person with ADD, it is easy to lose interest in things, but it is also easy to take on new interests--Sometimes too many interests. In the times when I was miserable at work, because I was bored, I let that happen to me. There is always something I can be learning, something left undone, .... Outwardly not many knew how I was feeling because I was in my "Work Role," really like the person I feel at work, like the post I started about feeling like a "phony at work"

Boredom really boils down to a choice, somewhat, I think. You may be bored in a certain situation, maybe somewhat disengaged, but to stay that way really ends up being a choice. I choose to stay that way, by not choosing to engage in something else that is stimulating.

When I let myself get to that boredom state, it is agonizing for me. So I am choosing to flee boredom.

Thank you so much for reminding me that the boredom from which I suffer (especially at work) is related to a choice I am making for myself. Your words really "got in my face," but in a very positive way! :)

My struggles against the Boredom Monster can also hit me at home...I have lots of things I've planned to do at home (painting walls, tending to flower gardens and the lawn, making the chaos in my office disappear, continuing to read even just one of the several books I've started....), but "paralysis of the will" sets in and overwhelms me. Since I live alone, it can be easy to get away with becoming a mucked up in boredom. Sometimes I'm successful at igniting a fire under my own behind...sometimes not. :(

Hey Smooch,

I hear you. I am thankful that I have a wife who does not have ADD, she pushes me in good way. There is a poem that describes what you are talking that I wrote in 1990, before I knew I was "gifted" with ADD, I just reposted in response to another poem, here's the Link:

http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1727

I sort of think of that poem as my ADD poem, in a way. It makes me laugh a little when I look back on peculiar things in my past that just didn't make sense, but now do.

Thanks, James. Yep, I recognized every sentiment associated with those verses...thank you for directing me to it, especially the prayer to God.

I've written a lot of poems since I was a child...I have yet to look back at them from my "new" ADD eyes. My most recent poems are from times over the past year when I was in a very dark state of mind. Haven't looked at those in a while.....

Sometimes, with enough distance, even the dark-state-of-mind-type-of-poems can shed new "light" on a situation. Don't be afraid to look pain in the face....There are really two types of people in the world, those have experienced some type of major pain in their lives, and those who haven't YET. Without trying to trivialize your pain, I have found that pain causes a person to really sort through things and really figure out what is important, what matters. No one ever really WANTS pain, but it can be, like a furnace that burns all the off all the dross, the crap and impurities, or unimportant things, in our lives. While I am sure there are pains no one ever wants to go through, there can be good that comes from pain....eventually.

A good book on the topic of pain is a book called "You Gotta Keep Dancing" by Tim Hansel. It is an excellent book on pain; I've read it a couple of times

Sometimes I think boredom is the only reason I ever get off my butt and do anything. :P

Yup, boredom is a gift of motivation to do something better. People who don't get bored are boring, people who get bored have the potential to do amazing things!

Sometimes I think boredom is the only reason I ever get off my butt and do anything. :P

I've never looked at it this way before. I don't like the feeling of being bored. But undoubtedly that's what drives me to do things.

I tease my youngest all the time. We are quite similar. She's just turning eleven. When we see something that looks boring to us we share a "Careful, I bore easily" sarcastic moment.
ian

Yup, being bored means the same thing as craving something more interesting.

wheezie is always reminding (gratefully) my of my self deprecating ways and here is yet another way I can put a positive spin on a previously negative outlook.
Mucho Gracias. It's added to the signature file. ;)
ian

Don't forget to view this related thread....
http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9622&highlight=boredom

I've always battled boredom, but it's not so bad nowadays as I've learned how to conquer it for myself....I'm now too busy to be bored! :p

I went through a very bad time a few years ago after a car accident where I'd gotten 2 broken bones...my upper right arm and my left ring finger. I was virtually helpless without the full use of my hands and arms for a few months till I fully recovered. I was in school at the time, but couldn't work and didn't have many friends and stayed couped up in the house all the time. I almost went crazy with boredom. I was in tears on a daily basis once I'd come home from school. I started BEGGING my mom for a computer just to have something to kill my boredom. I finally got one about 5 months after the accident...and BOY was it a relief! There was nothing I couldn't occupy my mind with once I had a computer, and it still goes to this day.

Thank GOD for the internet!!! :D

Everything bores me...

I once got to thinking, "Why would I ever want to go to Heaven? All ya do is sit up there on some boring clouds and sing with boring angels."

My mom replied, "In heaven you can do whatever you want."

Then I thought, "Well if you're in Heaven for eternity, wouldn't everything you can fathom experiencing become boring eventually as you live for infinity?"

I thought this when I was a kid and it still bugs me to this day.

A while back I was telling my husband that I never get bored because I can always think of so many things to do. He said something like, well, yes you do get bored, that's why you're always thinking of more things to do...you're just always thinking ahead to the next task to avoid the feeling of boredom.

Thinking about it, he's right. I get bored very easily but I rarely actually think "man I'm so bored". I can always like of like 5 things to be doing, so I just head toward those things.

I wish I didn't bore so easily, then I'd actually be able to completely follow through with most things I start.

Boredome--NEVER!!!!!

I absolutly hate being bored it's been my experiance as a child that when boredom sets in so does trouble. I alway's have something to do or read. At home I clean or work on remodeling my house which happens a lot :rolleyes: I think I have repainted and re-decorated my bathroom twice in the three years we have owned our house and am about to start the third time, while I'm still working on my oldest son's room and we are also building a loft bed and an armoire for his room in the garage, there's the garden I can't get to look just right, the baby to play with, the computer. lol

At work I can clean there with little or no complaints but I have offended friends by cleaning their house's or at least until they get to know me and realize that I just have to be in motion at all times or will lose my mind.

I do get bored easily while riding in the car...but, I think it's because I am forced to sit still for long periods of time. :mad:

Everything bores me

Yes.....and sometimes I feel as though I am sinking in it. Sounds crazy, doesn't it. I don't know what to do about it. So I just read and read. Keeps my brain alive!

i get bored very easily, however its not as much a mental thing as a physical thing. i can think of 100 things to do, but i cant make up my mind and usually end up just lying on the couch and reading or watching tv, thats due to my physical laziness, and now that its getting colder i know ill use that as an excuse to not go for a jog or do anything outside, oh well, i guess ill start ANOTHER puzzle...

my whole life time i've heard "if you get bored you're a boring person" i remember actually thinking that also..its sort of like "those who use foul language should develop more vocabulary"(<which by the way is highly debatable but i'm not going to get into the arbitrary assignment of 'bad' and 'good')
i get bored easily. and i'm not ashamed of that nor will i apologize for it nor do i feel that there is anything i can 'do' about it. its inevitable.
lest you think i'm just lazy and unmotivated, i hold a full time job, i'm number one in my department, i'm a mother of a four year old boy, married w/ house, and i just started school again a month ago (making a's)
i space out when ppl's explanations get to long, when i'm the telephone with my clients all day even b/c i just cannot pay attention to what bores me. and even stuff that doesn't...it becomes a chore...
i'm on adderall and wellbutrin. they have helped me tremendously-i can now finish projects instead of a wake of good intentions, and i can now give up my moratorium of project initiation (i did that b/c i felt it would be better for me all the way around) b/c i can actually follow through
but here i am at work. at my desk. sitting here. i almost wish i was a smoker so i would have a reason to go on a break and smoke. if i go on a break there isn't much i can do...when i get upset or super bored i sleep. i crave sleep.
i get restless when i stay at home..but i always want to leave whereever i went..like parties..i get there -i'm all excited to get there and i've picked out the perfect outfit etc..and then ..i get bored. and i wonder what am i doing here?
waiting in lines i have to bring a book or a magazine or else i'll feel like i'm being tortured. having to wait or being bored is kind of agonizing. not only do i hate the act of cleaning for what it is- but its boring.
the one thing that dissuades my ennui is music. i'm an absolute music addict. its the one thing that also helps me concentrate in most situations...
but i'm not ashamed.
its just the way i am. once my best friend said: thats not fair of you to just say 'thats just the way i am' b/c you're being selfish and you won't even try to change
i think that would applicable if i COULD change.

f_wcomboadhd,
Are you the hyperactive type ADDer or inattentive? I'm just wondering if inattentive types are less likely to get bored because we do our hyperactivity internally. I totally understand about being who you are & no guilt here about any of that, just curious why.

I hate, hate, hate being so board all the time. It's more restlessness than anything since there is always something that needs to be done, something always needs to be cleaned, or oraganized, and there are always a list of people I should be making a call to, writeing a letter to, or sending an e-mail to. But you know how that is, procrastination and all that...

I use to think it was because I was spoiled being an only child and expected to be entertained all the time. I have a terrible tendancy to need to get out of the house. Even when we have nothing planned or even after work, I do this weird thing where I have to be totally ready. I have to be freshly showered (average about 2 showers a day), have to shave everything on my body (arms etc) everyday, have to be totally lotioned, potioned, make-uped and hair done, fully dressed with high heels and all tap, tap, tapping around the house. Paseing.... For what? It's like I'm waiting for something to happen... I don't know, I have no fear of people seeing me with out my make up or anything like that, but I feel the need be ready to go! READY, READY, READY, READY (chants in spongebob like mantra...) And this adds to my boardum... the whole all dressed up with no place to go kind of thing.... I usually end up "visiting" and going over to friends houses, picking up something from the store we, getting the car washed.... I have to leave the house. On the weekends my husband is pretty good about taking me all the way into the big city 40 miles west from here even if it's just to grab some dinner, he knows that longer we are out "doing something" the more content I am when I am at home.

I write in my journal, blog, go on the internet, do a pedicure, do a facial, play dress up.... I end up doing pretty unimportant things, it's like when I feel that kind of boardum it's hard to do something constructive but rather I am looking for something that I get some type of pleasure from. I like going for walks too. Exercise and yoga is always a boardum stopper but it depends on how I feel about exercise that day..... Is it work or is it play kind of thing.

I have an erge to eat when I'm board too but then again I'm usually hungry anyway (because I can genetically easily be overweight and I have to watch what I eat to stay thin, which usually means going hungry more than not...) and I also have an erge to drink or use some sort of substance but I fight that erge too because it's not exceptable.

Bascially when I feel really restless, it's unbearable, I have an intense erge to go on an adventure, I feel suffocated, angry, and I want to scream and run away. (I sound like a teenager or something!) I feel caged and anxious. I want to be set free into the night life of the city. Which I usually can't, my friends don't want to go clubbing that often and my husband hates clubs and bars (funny we own one now) most of my friends and my husband are older than me too and kind of got they clubbing stuff out of their system.

I hate boardum and restlessness (hmmmm, being redundant here...) It's like I feel like there is nothing that will satisfy me, that there is no adventure with in my reach to fill that void, that no one I will ever meet will blow me or intrigue me, that there are no mysteries of life, no ghosts, no suprises. I want to be scared, I want to be fasinated by someone's knowleadge or philosophy, I want life to be a constant party, but it just doesn't work that way.

It's times like that, where I feel like I want to reinvent myself as another person, go far, far away from anyone and everything because of the challenge, the adventure and the solitude, the I think about all the things in my life I am greatful for, espcially my husband and I relize that I have exactly the life that I want.

Does anyone else get this intense feeling that they want to "run away" or go on some kind of adventure?

*blinks* whoa.

Word. That really makes me think... that probably has a lot to do with why I am atheist, I can conthemplate nothininess and not exsisting at all, but complete contentment? I can't imagein such a thing.


Everything bores me...

I once got to thinking, "Why would I ever want to go to Heaven? All ya do is sit up there on some boring clouds and sing with boring angels."

My mom replied, "In heaven you can do whatever you want."

Then I thought, "Well if you're in Heaven for eternity, wouldn't everything you can fathom experiencing become boring eventually as you live for infinity?"

I thought this when I was a kid and it still bugs me to this day.

f_wcomboadhd,
Are you the hyperactive type ADDer or inattentive? I'm just wondering if inattentive types are less likely to get bored because we do our hyperactivity internally. I totally understand about being who you are & no guilt here about any of that, just curious why.
Okay, I'm inattentative and I thought daydreaming non-stop to ward off boredom was a basic coping skill, is this not so?