Boredom: Maintaining Health & Wealth
Imagine this: you’re self-quarantined at home, watching “The Office” for the 25th time (one of Matt’s favorites). The characters and their jokes don’t make you laugh as hard, so you get up and decide to:
a. Find some comfort foods to snack on.
b. Indulge in your favorite alcoholic beverage.c. Find your vape/light a cigarette and smoke.d. Go to bed and sleep.
Regardless of your choice, there is a high chance you’ve run into your old friend boredom again.
Like it or not, our lives been placed on an indefinite time-out with no signs of ending anytime soon. Unfortunately, that means: no dates, sports, social gatherings with family and friends, springtime festivals and events – nothing. There are those who are fortunate to work remotely from home, attend to either online class work or household chores, but after that’s done, what’s left?
Boredom is a common response that’s experienced when we’re feeling restless. It makes us feel sluggish, tired, and puts us into this mindset where we need to do something to change our moods and become focused or satisfied. However, it’s also when we attempt turning to ineffective habits to cure ourselves of those experiences; namely, sleep, food and substances like alcohol, smoking or illicit drugs.
While seemingly harmless, it only takes a few instances before it starts to affect your health. Your e-cigarette, drink, or snack, while fun and/or tasty, exposes your lungs, digestive system, kidneys, etc. to harm due to consistent usage and lowered moderation because of boredom. You gain a few pounds, lose muscle tone and strength, your immune system becomes compromised – leading you to possible risk of contracting COVID-19, and who wants that?
Here are some tips to help with curving boredom:
1. Implement time management skills!
Schedule your boredom breaks; how long they’ll be, what you’ll do, and try balancing it with tasks you have to complete.
2. Start new hobbies!
Whether it be learning the basic of a new language, how to cook, new workouts, or how to even practice time management (future entry about this subject coming soon), find something to invest in and commit!
3. Monitor distractions!
There’s nothing wrong with indulging in your favorite vices, but they are vices for a reason – check in with yourself about why you may be indulging in certain distractions; initially, the answer is “Because, I’m bored…” but there may be something underlying that’s not being acknowledged as well.
