Apparently I died of boredom

Back to blogging again! Joy. Well, I know it's been two weeks, but little Glenita is just the same as she was last time. As I went to visit Grandmother in the mountains and glue myself to my computer in an effort to finish my capstone, Glenita sat lonely here in Pocatello, still just with little stumps for her legs. I guess I could have taken her with me, but it's hard when you don't know what to do next and you're relying on another individual for the information to move forward. Our schedules just haven't meshed well lately and I'm stuck. We'll have to make it happen this week.


The topic for this week is boredom. The article never really did give a clear definition for what boredom was; it only said that it is a poorly understood phenomenon. So, that left me wondering what it means to be bored.  I found a quote by Leo Stein which says, "Boredom is an emptiness filled with insistance." This study on boredom related in the article stated that boredom for many people was "an extremely unpleasant feeling, possibly worse than any other." Really?? I found that interesting. Some said that it caused life to lose all meaning and purpose. I think we've got some extremists on our hands. However, I would agree with the description of boredom coming as a result of stress, agitation, restlessness, and entrapment, combined with lethargy. Along with these feelings, boredom was also described as an inability to attend or focus. This description perfectly describes my experience of working on my capstone this past week. But was I bored? I wouldn't have said so, but now I don't really know. 

The song, "Flowers on the Wall" by Dailey and Vincent is a good example of boredom. If you're interested, here are the lyrics:

I keep hearin' you're concerned about my happiness
But all that thought you're givin' me is conscience I guess
If I was walkin' in your shoes, I wouldn't worry none
While you 'n' your friends are worried about me I'm havin' lots of fun

[Chorus:]
Countin' flowers on the wall
That don't bother me at all
Playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo
Now don't tell me I've nothin' to do

Last night I dressed in tails, pretended I was on the town
As long as I can dream it's hard to slow this swinger down
So please don't give a thought to me. I'm really doin' fine
You can always find me here, I'm havin' quite a time
[Chorus]

It's good do see you, I must go. I know I look a fright

Anyway my yes are not accustomed to this light

And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete

So I must go back to my room and make my day complete

[Chorus]

This song most related to the portion of the article addressing strategies to overcome boredom. It states that the most common method used by people trying to overcome boredom was trying to find alternative things to do. Me? I tend to make food, clean, or dink around on my guitar when I'm bored. Not that I have any time to be bored. I'm in grad school for goodness sake. 

Out of sheer curiosity and because I had no idea what it was, I actually went and looked up Captain Kangaroo on YouTube. If I had to describe it, I would have said it was like the '70's version of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and I'd argue that one would have to be pretty blasted bored to sit and watch it. However, interestingly enough, the little clip I watched included a bunch of stuffed animal puppets riding on a bus singing a song which I felt could easily be related to boredom. Oh, the irony. The lyrics to the song were:

In a lopsided ramshackle bus 

we ride from day to day 

we bounce and we bump and we rattle a long 

we rattle along on our way 

Every year it’s a hassle for us

to get from June to May

but somehow or other, by hook or by crook

we rattle along on our way

Every time that we start to fall all apart

and we’re near the end of our rope

a screwball comes through with a gimmick that’s new

and our hearts go crazy with hope

We hop on our lopsided bus

and chase another day

as happy as candles that shine on a cake

as gay as the bells on a sleigh

We rattle a long, we rattle along, we rattle along on our way

We rattle a long, we rattle along, and try to find our way. 

Sometimes I wonder if we are too often bored with our lives, whatever your definition of bored may be. We just rattle along on a lopsided bus until something new comes along and we are entertained for a little while. But most of the time, we go through the hum drum monotony of our lives and restlessly "chase another day" as we "try to find our way." I know I get pretty bored with my life sometimes. Funny how just because you're busier than Satan and never seem to run out of things to do, you can still be bored.  The trick is learning to be "happy as candles that shine on a cake and gay as the bells on a sleigh" as we go through it all. The last sentence of the article really resonated with me. It says, "If we could learn to pay more attention both to ourselves and to our environment, learning to accept and appreciate the present moment, we might have richer lives." That is truth people, and it's something I need to do more. Appreciate the present moment.  Count your blessings, not your problems. Then you'll never get bored :)

Martin, M., Sadlo, G., & Stew, G. (2006) The phenomanon of boredom. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 193-211.