Can you die of boredom

There was a good article in the Saturday Times this week about how the lack of stimulation is switching our brains off. Because we’re doing the same thing day after day our brains are no longer ‘noticing’ what happens. People are finding they are very forgetful (more than usual and at all ages). Apparently it will come back when we get going again. Fingers crossed!!! I loved walking around our area last Spring but agree it’s now boring and yes very muddy on the paths. I read someone said Hampstead Heath was like the Somme it was so churned up and muddy ? I don’t think the weather helps of course. Just have to find bits to do and keep chins up. Not always easy though but accepting bad days will happen seems to help. Good luck out there ?

Trouble is that we have got Februayitis on top of nothing to do!

NellG

GillT57 - and what exactly is it we're all supposed to be achieving in the middle of the worst crisis most of us have ever lived through? I'd say getting through a day moderately sane by the end of it is a pretty good achievement. This is hard beyond hard - nobody had a crib sheet. At least your plants are surviving, mine take one look at me and wither on sight! You are doing just fine, please don't hate yourself - you're surviving in a global pandemic, there really is no shame to be had. Hate the situation, hate the limitations, but please don't hate yourself.

Good post???

I think most people are feeling the same way Gill as this second lockdown is so much harder than the first one was.
It’s all gone on for so very long now.
We don’t need to do anything ‘improving’ just to do ( or not do) whatever gets us through the day.
At least there’s some hope now, and Spring and warmer weather to come.

Just wondering which wall to climb up today.

I try to keep upbeat and positive, but it is getting harder by the day.

Spilt blueberries over the floor yesterday, which caused me to scream, shout,and throw nearest thing to hand in frustration, and the tears followed.

I'm bored of walking the same walks day, after day, after day. Different routes, different times of the day, but effectively the same walks, the same scenery, passing the same people doing their same walks. And because everyone else is walking the same routes, the footpaths have become muddy and eroded and difficult to keep upright on. Oh for a change of scenery.

I was happy to hear that a vaccination centre has opened in a theatre 20 miles away.
I don’t expect that we will be sent there but I would love a drive out so ?
That will be a nice outing, take up a morning or afternoon, give me something to look forward to.
Otherwise all is done in the house, can’t bake because then we’d eat it and get fat.
I can’t be bothered to start taking up hobbies that have never interested me before.
My sister has taken up painting by numbers. There are companies that print your photos onto canvas and you paint them.
Whoever knew that?
Can’t think of anything much more boring than spending hours painting something you don’t want when you’ve finished it.

PS none of the replies on this thread indicate clinical neurosis.

Pathological boredom is usually called ennui and is a symptom of clinical depression. So yes you can die of it by suicide if it is a bad enough neurosis.

I have felt a bit guilty as well when I read about all the new skills and hobbies people are taking up. I just seem to be plodding on doing what is necessary. I have read more, done more word puzzles. Just keep on plodding I suppose.

Polomint - so I guess I'm just a little sod ?

Very true nellG. It's hard on us all at different levels and we dont know everyone else's personal problems over and above this virus going around. Best not to dwell on the news too often. I've managed to fall into a routine of sorts which keeps boredom at bay. Just a small routine gives a sense of order and control

GillT57 - and what exactly is it we're all supposed to be achieving in the middle of the worst crisis most of us have ever lived through? I'd say getting through a day moderately sane by the end of it is a pretty good achievement. This is hard beyond hard - nobody had a crib sheet. At least your plants are surviving, mine take one look at me and wither on sight! You are doing just fine, please don't hate yourself - you're surviving in a global pandemic, there really is no shame to be had. Hate the situation, hate the limitations, but please don't hate yourself.

I've still got my kids at home two are working ones at school. Some days I wish I could just stay in bed

Try not to worry over that gillt57. We are all different. Some are wee busy bees that cant sit still and some are wee lazy sods but most of us are somewhere in between. Our body tells us to chill out and we should, but it's our minds who put us on the guilt trip comparing ourselves to others

I was doing ok until the post Christmas dip which I always find deadening anyway. No foreign trip to look forward to and plan for. I achieve very little, then feel guilty about it and know that I will be cross with myself for not having cleared the loft/sorted the paperwork/painted the wall in the kitchen......I wake in the early hours, thinking what I could or should do the next day and know that I will do none of it and will hate myself even more. I do the laundry, tend the house plants, shove the vacuum around but that is the total of my efforts and reading of other people's achievements just makes me hate myself even more.

Floradora9 I can honestly say I have not felt bored this past 10 months. I have spent it researching my family tree and have uncovered so much and documented it for future generations.
Spot on! Researching your family history is all consuming and takes over all your time. It also keeps your brain incredibly active. Someone once told me that to be bored you need a full stomach and an empty mind and I'm inclined to agree.

I don't mind my own company and I don't mind staying at home. But not all the time! I am absolutely fed up with it.

No I'm not bored but as another lady said, I have been sad and very worried about the future. Some days I dont do much around the house but my thoughts are always busy. Thoughts about what we will do, where we will go, planning the garden etc. I dont feel guilty on those days either as I feel I just cant get motivated so just take each day as it comes. I've also carried on researching my family tree and i can get really absorbed in it for hours. Fascinating but unfortunately my husband is not that interested but give him his due, he does listen when i excitedly tell him i have found something interesting.
Sorry to have got off the track of the original question. I dont think you can die of boredom but if it goes on for a long while it would end up in depression

I haven't been bored either - nor have I done much to improve myself.

I've enjoyed not being stressed and being in control of my life. I have seen nobody except the people in the pharmacy, the GP and hospital when I had a diabetic eye test. I chat online to my children and loads of friends and have ditched the people who were obviously not real friends.

I make a list of things to do the next day, but I couldn't care less (most of the time) if I don't do them. I do what I want when I want.

I was never allowed to admit to boredom even as a child. It meant the devil makes work for idle hands etc.
A bored person is a boring person and so on.
I always have something to do and don't suffer boredom.
If I did I might die!

I think it's that every day is the same as the one before, that's what's getting to me now

I’m not bored and I honestly haven’t been bored all through this. I’ve been sad and worried at times but I’ve managed to keep myself busy. Fortunately I’m a bit of a butterfly and have lots of interests so if I get tired of something I put it down and pick up something else.

That’s not to say that I don’t miss things. I miss my people. obviously and I miss the things I enjoy doing away from my home but I can’t say I’m bored.

Probably stems from never having been allowed to moan about boredom as a child - I’d have been given a job to do.

I have not done anything “improving “ this whole time.
I have however kept hold of my sanity !!

The worst thing about being bored is feeling guilty for it or having people day how they are so busy doing improving things they haven't time to get bored. We probably all remember being told that only boring or stupid people get bored. Well if that's the case I am both.

I’ve had a lot of health problems over the years and so I’ve learned (with a few glitches along the way) to make the best of what I can do, rather than get fed up about what I can’t. Apart from not physically seeing people my life is ticking along much as it’s always done. I see family every day on FaceTime; I work; take part in training courses, workshops and conferences; attend committee meetings - and occasionally fantasise about taking more time off to do other things I enjoy (although I do love my job).

Part of me likes the idea of having so much free time that I could be bored, but in reality I know that I’d be filling every minute pretty much as I do now, but with all the things I’ve put off because I didn’t have the time before.