Feeling bored usually happens when nothing in your environment captures your interest or attention. Boredom might start with your mind, but it can quickly affect your body and emotions too. For example, you might feel restless or fatigued and your mood can plummet.
Boredom is one of the things people with ADHD fear the most and will go to great lengths to avoid it. How many of these have you done?
- Hang up the phone if you are put on hold; even if you were in the middle are resolving an important issue.
- Eat something, even though you aren’t hungry.
- Phone a person you don’t like that much, just to have someone to talk to.
- Delay going to bed until you are completely exhausted to avoid the boredom of lying in bed waiting to fall asleep.
- Create an argument; with a service provider, or someone you love.
- Act in a potentially dangerous way. For example: overtake a slow driver even if it’s not completely safe because driving behind them is boring.
The opposite of bored is interested, energized and cheerful. Adults with ADHD are always looking for things that are new or stimulating because when they are interested in something, the executive functions of the brain click into gear and the brain works well.
When a task is dull or mundane, not only is it very hard to mentally stay engaged, there are other negative consequences too. For example, daytime sleepiness – where you fall asleep in the middle of an activity; even if you got plenty of sleep the night before.
Some people experience depression if their environment isn’t stimulating.
How to Avoid BoredomGet to know yourself and your favourite ways to avoid boredom
Here are some common boredom busters: Trying the new and different, spending time with people, doing adrenaline activities, taking risks, problem-solving, adding movement, being ‘hands on’, etc.
When you know your favourite ways, design your life around those things, so each day is interesting for you. This includes your job and how you approach the tasks in your job description, your hobbies, and as well as how you do the mundane tasks of life; such as housework.
Be prepared
Life is full of delays, so have a variety of activities on hand. For example, if you are flying, take a magazine which is visual, a book that you can get engrossed in, as well as a puzzle book. Don’t leave things to chance and hope there will be a good movie to watch or that you will be sitting next to someone entertaining.
Use a timer
Using a timer can make even the dullest things interesting, as it creates a sense of urgency and excitement. Play games with yourself. For example, see if you can do all the washing up in 15 minutes.
Balance
It is good to have self-awareness that you don’t like feeling bored and so you can do what is in your power to avoid it. However, don’t become too fearful of being bored that you will do anything to avoid it.
This is how accidents happen. If you are bored, it is empowering to know you can sit with it for a few moments. Meditation and exercise are 2 daily habits that help you to endure unexpected boring parts of your day.
Mindfulness training also helps with boredom. When you learn to meditate and become comfortable with it, moments of boredom can be filled with meditation that can also be calming. I just did it this morning at the gas pump because I HATE waiting for my tank to fill up.
My stimming gets worse the more bored I am (or stressed, but… boredom IS stressful lol). Rocking/spinning, hair twirling, cheek-chewing, pen-clicking, nail biting, skin-picking…
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