Saturday 16 July 2011

Boredom

 Whether I get bored easily or not is a complicated question to answer.  Ex girlfriends have commented on how annoying my habit of constantly flicking TV channels is - a channel will have been on for 10 minutes, and perhaps even be approaching an exciting reveal, and I'll get a sense of boredom and flick to another channel.
If I don't like a task, I simply can't concentrate on it; for example, when others were revising for final exams I simply stopped drinking and taking drugs, and went jogging (to ensure my mind was working), as I knew I would only be able to get the bare minimum of revision done.  I was lucky I was studying a subject that was more understanding than knowledge.  
I don't, however, have a problem concentrating on something to which I want to give my attention.

The sort of boredom I want to talk about now though is more of a life existentialist boredom.  Sometimes I feel like everything I do is simply a distraction from the banality of life.  I feel like I'm doing the same boring shit, and so I do something exciting.  I've taken up hang-gliding, rock climbing, and ju-jitsu to name a few of the more transient activities I've taken up; I've even flown a fighter-jet!  And then, of course there are the everyday distractions such as going out drinking, clubbing, having sex, going for middle-of-the-night walks with my lockpicks...

Unfortunately, on occasion I get meta-boredom - where I feel like even though the new exciting thing designed to distract and entertain me is still part of the same boring equation: feel life is boring + new thing = temporary respite.  That feeling I get knowing I am repeating that same loop again and again is the most boring of feelings of boredom.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you ever have depression because you get bored?

ResCogitans said...

short answer, yes. long answer, it's more complicated than that; the feeling that you are just in a loop is essentially a feeling that there is no point in continuing. that can easily lead to depression, but i'm always aware it is at least partly chemical (i can usually feel it coming) and will pass eventually. if i can always see that there is an end to it then is it true depression - i never feel completely despondent.

Comedian said...

I have a very similar problem. Unfortunately, nothing that is legal interests me so I envy you to the extent you found a few activities that you enjoy. I have to be careful when I'm writing because I'll often get bored and change the subject without realizing it.

Flying a jet is something I'd actually really like to do in that it might provide me with a modicum of excitement. If my linear thinking were better I would join the Air Force!

ResCogitans said...

i'd recommend the forces to anyone from what i've seen. only to be an officer though. and because i'd actually like to see battle that means being a pilot in the RAF - with them it's the officers who fly off to battle and the grunts who stay back behind the lines.

i agree with you that the most interesting things are usually not legal!