Today’s guest post comes from Melinda Brennan of WAHM Biz Builder.
When Alex first asked me to write about Boredom my first thought was “Oh help!” Because boredom isn’t something I’m very familiar with. I’m one of those people whose minds are always going at over a hundred miles an hour, I try and pack more into one day than most people would attempt in three and never seem to stop moving until I fall over (I’m sure Alex is going to have something to say to me about that!).[ed. I'll let you talk about that next time, Mel.]
So boredom doesn’t really enter the picture too often for me. Please note that I don’t actually recommend living life at the speed that I do, while I may not get bored I do have to be careful of burnout, so yeah, do what I say and not what I do here, ok?
Since I’m always up for a challenge, I thought I’d look at what boredom is, and how you can use NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) to get yourself out of it.
Dictionary.com defines ‘Boredom’ as the state of being bored(weary by being dull, repetitive, or tedious); tedium; ennui, and includes the synonyms dullness, doldrums, weariness. It then states the opposite of boredom is excitement, diversion, amusement. Huh, interesting…..
All these definitions are emotional states – they’re feelings. Now I know some of you are going “Well duh!” However, how often have felt bored and decided to go and do something to stop the boredom and bring some excitement and interest back into life? But what do you do if you can’t do that? If you’re bored in a meeting, you can’t decide to break the boredom by getting up and doing something else – you’re stuck in there and you need a different tool in your toolbox to get out of the boredom. That’s where the NLP comes in.
Boredom is an emotional state, and your posture has a lot to do with how you feel emotionally.
I’d like you to do an exercise with me. Slouch down in your chair, stretch your legs out and slump your back. Let your shoulders sag and your chin come down to your chest. Breathe out deeply, sigh if you can. How do you feel? Relaxed? Dull? Unmotivated? Bored?
Now I want you to sit up straight and tuck your legs underneath you. Lean forwards slightly, raise your chin and tilt your head slightly to one side. Lift your shoulders and breathe deeply and slightly faster (without hyperventilating, that’s taking it too far). How do you feel now? Alert? Interested? Taking notice of things around you?
Now, I know that most of you just read through that and didn’t do the exercise. Please go back and do it. I’ll wait, really, now go and do it. 
Done the exercise? Great! Nothing changed in that exercise except for your posture. Yet by changing your posture your emotions changed. You can use that to your advantage. Next time you’re feeling bored, notice how you’re sitting or standing. Change it. Lean forward, stand taller if you’re standing, raise your chin.
One of the great bonuses of changing your emotional state like this is that if you are able to go and do something else to break the boredom, changing your state first will supercharge your brain cells for your next activity.
So next time you’re feeling bored, remember this and use it to change how you’re feeling. And you will, won’t you?
Melinda is a Business Coach who specialises in working with at-home mums. Her areas of expertise include developing business plans that really work, finding clarity and direction amongst the chaos of working at home, streamlining systems and processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness and developing profits. You can find her at WAHM Biz Builder
10 Responses to “Boredom is an Emotional State & You Can Change It”
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Love your post and really glad to see you posting on one of my fav blogs
I had the flu recently and the boredom was driving me nuts. I knew it was an emotional state but had trouble changing it because i was physically and mentally out of it.
Today i did a ridiculously long walk. It was hard, painful and I hated many parts of it. I wasn’t bored though. I learnt a lot. And I’m super pysched about repeating it next week in a different, better, location.
xx
Jade
Thanks Jade, it’s nice to see you here too!
Boredom with the flu is a lot different to ordinary boredom. When you’re sick it’s a lot harder to get yourself out of getting bored, simply because you need to rest and let your body recover. Your body isn’t going to respond in the normal way because it’s working on getting you healthy again.
Great work on the big walk. I love walking, it’s great thinking time. Have fun with your walk next week.
Melinda | WAHM Biz Builder´s last blog ..Statistics – Measuring What Matters 
Completely agree. Sometimes I find that boredom just creeps in because we really don’t know what we’re interested in or what our goals are - not in the big and large sense, but even in the day to day sense (I say this only from my experience). If life’s not working, do something different (like change your posture!)
Laura Cococcia´s last blog ..Famous New York Icons: Aunt Ellie’s Brownies 
Great post on boredom. It IS an emotional state and I’ve never really thought about it like that. Really, when you think about it, there is never a good reason to be bored. Not only are there so many things we could be doing, but there are so many things we could be THINKING too!
Positively Present´s last blog ..why i need other people to change myself
@ Laura, being bored with life is going to take a bit more than just changing your posture. If you’re bored on a daily basis then you really need to take stock of your life - why are you letting yourself drift like that. Everyone needs to have something in their life that they’re passionate about, if not several somethings.
@ Positively Present, Very few people really do think about boredom, or any other emotion, as being something they can change. People tend to accept the way the feel as being unchangeable and they’re not.
Melinda | WAHM Biz Builder´s last blog ..Statistics – Measuring What Matters
Great post, Melinda! It hadn’t occurred to me that a lot of people are bored on a regular basis–it’s just not part of my basic structure. And I take great pains to have distractions (great playlists on my IPod, plenty of reading material, a notebook for jotting down ideas) for doctor’s offices and pulling weeds and all of those other things which aren’t automatically interesting.
But I have a daughter (she’s five now) and the way that kids whine “I’m booooooooored” drives me crazy. (Stop me before I say “back in my day…”) I nipped it in the bud by answering “you’re confused…you’re not bored, you’re boring if you can’t find something to do that sounds like fun.” She has her own stuff to take to boring events–I dragged her to a local political caucus this week. But you gotta have inner recourses!
Lab Rat Lizzie´s last blog ..Let Me Introduce My Albatross
@ Lizzie, I only realised a few years ago how different it was for me NOT to be bored regularly. I also carry my ipod, a notebook, pretty pens, a reading book etc with me at all times. Or I can just sit and think.
I have an 11yo daughter… she’s learnt not to tell me she’s bored because I can always find something for her to do - housework, and she doesn’t get paid for it! Hehehehe. And I do the same when she has to go somewhere that probably wont’ interest her, although her entertainment of choice is the nintendo DS.
Melinda | WAHM Biz Builder´s last blog ..Statistics – Measuring What Matters
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