How to deal with boredom

How+to+deal+with+boredom

Daryl Andrada, WHS Reporter

Boredom is an emotional and occasionally psychological state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, is not interested in their surroundings, or feels that a day or period is dull or tedious. Is boredom a problem? According to Dr. John Eastwood, a psychologist at York University, Toronto that boredom is common,it is neither trivial nor benign. 

Boredom, he stressed,  has been associated with increased drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, depression and anxiety, and an increased risk of making mistakes. Mistakes at might not be a matter of life and death for most of us. 

There are ways to avoid boredom. Figuring out what you really want to do is one of the ways to avoid boredom. Boredom often masks a problem where you want to do a particular activity but something is preventing you. This could happen when you want to watch your favorite show, but the cable is out, or Netflix is not working. When this happens, the first step to kill boredom is to simply recognize the activity that you truly want to be doing. Second way to avoid boredom is to  socialize. Boredom is often mistaken as a lack of social energy. Get out and meet some friends, or make some new friends. Even if you can’t see how to meet new people in your area and your friends are busy, go to an online forum that shares one of your interests or pick up the phone. Another way to deal with boredom is to learn something new. Perhaps what you need is some mental stimulation. These things include, writing a story/poem, learn how to play instruments, and many more. Challenge yourself to avoid boredom by doing something new. 

Boredom is a huge problem, especially for us students. We need to know our interests to keep ourselves busy, to avoid boredom.