Boredom is Good for You and Your Mental Health

Have you heard? Boredom is good for you.

Yes, truly, I mean it: boredom is good for you. Really.

Not only does it improve mental health, it also opens up space within you for creativity and self-compassion to emerge. In fact, boredom can be a way to step back from the noise and the grind of daily life.

In the 21st century, boredom has almost been eradicated.

Think about it: when you have nothing to do, what usually happens? Most of us reach for our phones. Since there’s always something to do with your phone there may never be a time when you have nothing to do.

Maybe it even seems like something to celebrate, that boredom is a thing of the past. (We’ll get back to that in a minute.)

Contrary to popular opinion, boredom is not a problem to be fixed.

That said, encouraging you to embrace boredom might be a tough sell. When you consider all the negative press that boredom gets from those who should know better, why would you want to invite it in?

Take these quotes, for example. None of these people have (or had) any particular knowledge about boredom, so take their words with a grain of salt.

Never be bored, and you will never be boring.

–Eleanor Roosevelt

Boredom is one of the greatest tortures. If I were to imagine Hell, it would be the place where you were continually bored.  

–Erich Fromm

Boredom is the root of all evil – the despairing refusal to be oneself.

-Soren Kierkegaard

No wonder you might want to run from boredom.

You’re not alone. Many women dislike the word, and particularly the prospect of either feeling bored or being perceived as being boring. Even the word itself carries a lot of baggage.

You may associate it with depression, dissatisfaction, apathy or a lack of drive and purpose. So it makes a lot of sense if you dislike boredom.

How you feel about boredom usually begins with early life experiences and deep seated beliefs you’ve adopted to protect yourself from being judged or criticized. Parents have been known to criticize their children for being bored, unknowingly damaging their sense of self worth and resilience. (Hopefully, no one tells their child these days: Only boring people get bored.)

Unfortunately, few of us had a parent like a long-ago former client whose father, when she felt bored as a child, would tell her, “Sometimes it’s good to be bored. Could you try to accept it?”

If the prospect of being bored provokes discomfort, be gentle with yourself.

At the same time, try to leave room to consider that there is some every day magic to be had from the experience. Boredom might even be a kind of elixir.

This is especially true where information overload is concerned. Turning toward boredom can literally save the day when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the onslaught of information that is continually pushed your way.

Because the thing is, information overload depletes your creative wisdom. And strangely enough, the antidote could be boredom.

In fact, feeling bored might be like catnip for your creative wisdom.

When you step away from the world’s 24-7 distractions and give yourself space to be bored, a door opens within you. Imagination and daydreaming are on the other side of it.

When you allow yourself to walk through that door, your creative wisdom eventually kicks in because you can only tolerate the boredom for so long.

Alternately, when you cut off entry to that door, you run the risk of thwarting your creative wisdom, losing the benefit of its elixir-like qualities.

Pausing, being still, and allowing some discomfort in is important here. Because in that in-between space is the potential for insight and relief, where you can see things you couldn’t see before.

You might start by allowing the discomfort to open you up to the paradox.

One of the reasons boredom is good for you is because in its emptiness there’s a unique form of fullness too. And in that paradoxical space, boredom helps you find your way back to yourself, sometimes quickly and surprisingly.

You might even feel reconnected to your sense of belonging: to a deeper sense of life and self-knowing.

Sometimes, there are even aha moments and epiphanies to be had.

Here’s a boredom ritual to help you ease your way into accepting and benefitting from it.

It’s quick and easy, and a little tongue in cheek. But it actually works. For some people it provides a bit of relief, a moment of rest, and a way to fill the tank.

• First, say aloud: I am so bored! Declare it with a bit of drama because that keeps you from taking yourself too seriously.
• Step away from the distractions of technology: all of it.
• Say “no” to the boredom relieving properties of food: all of it.
• Walk around the house aimlessly for a few minutes. Drag your feet. Stop. Stare out a window. 
• Sprawl sideways across a bed, fully clothed. You must be sideways and preferably dressed in at least casual clothes, otherwise your body may become confused and think it’s time to sleep. 
• Allow the boredom in. Feel its weight: apathetic, detached, indifferent, lethargic, listless. (Whatever.)
• Sink into it. Sigh, (a big sigh). Yawn, (a big yawn). Stretch, (a big stretch).
• Stare at the ceiling. Look at the walls. Glance out the window, if there is one.
• Let your mind wander. Unleash it. Watch it unfurl in a disinterested way.
• Right about now you may experience a click and start to daydream. Let it happen. Give yourself over to it. Allow whatever fresh ideas arrive, let them bubble up.  (Trust me, they will.)
• When it feels right, stop. Get up. Go about your day with renewed vigor, feeling reconnected to the power of your creativity, imagination, and wisdom.

When you pay attention to boredom it gets unbelievably interesting.

—Jon Kabat-Zinn