I have been home from State College for about 12 hours. Tedium has set in quickly.
The online dictionary defines tedium as the state of tediousness. Gee, how informative! (Sorry. Feeling snarky.) Tedious means monotonous, boring, SSDD (Same Stuff Different Day).
I have an inkling of what the problem is. State College was exciting when I hardly even got there. I was there last year. I was there in May. I will be there next month and hopefully again next year. Something I counted on to break up the monotony has become more monotonous.
In Never a dull moment by Kirsten Weir for the APA, John Eastwood described boredom as being “the unfulfilled desire for satisfying activity.” As I said before, it is not a lack of things to do, but a lack of things you want to do. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. In other words, sorting laundry, and mopping floors today has not improved my spirits.
James Danckert has discovered those who bore easily may be more susceptible to mental health problems. One of these problems is depression. Although boredom and depression are highly correlated, they are separate states. Eastman suggested boredom can lead to inner focus, negative rumination being a factor in depression.
Out in the “real world” most tedium comes to an end. But what about some of us who are homebound? Being underwhelmed, as it were, leads to some behaviors we should not have. Think alcohol abuse and overeating.
There is even some evidence the phrase “bored to death” is not hyperbole at all! In a longitudinal study of British (hi, guys!) civil servants, the ones who reported being chronically bored were more likely to die young. Yikes!
So what to do about this tedium issue? Another researcher, Van Tilburg suggested bored, meaningless activities lead to people trying to generate meaning in their lives for themselves. Sometimes this can lead to negative outcomes.
The idea seems to be to find a positive purpose. What can you do to give meaning to your existence? To your vision loss? Maybe you want to sign up to call other homebound folks to check on them and chat. If you are going to engage them in conversation, maybe you should listen to some news features. Maybe you can call some people losing their sight. You might have a common interest!
Are you still living in your hometown, the town your great-grandparents lived in, too? Remember some stories you heard and record them for the historical society.
Did you miss out on instrumental lessons as a child? Always want to be able to sing without sounding like a toad with laryngitis? It is not too late. I would suspect a few phone calls could find instruction at a reasonable rate. Even a kid in a middle school band could give beginners lessons. And just imagine hearing about life through the eyes of a 13-year old.
What do I do to increase purpose in my life? Oh, I write a blog. I thought you knew! I also walk puppygirls. Bye!
Written August 4, 2018
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