Unending boredom

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I know that we have our obsessions. But inbetween them does anyone have mind crushing boredom that cannot be alleviated.

For instance, I love my languages and they are the cure for boredom, but there are long spates when I can do darn near nothing- get frozen, stuck- and NOTHING can alleviate the boredom.

It is like a physical pain that crushes the brain. I COULD do something, but everything bores me and frustrates me when I get like that.

When I was a kid and this hit to where I was aware of it, the one thing that I noticed and wrote of in my diary more than anything else was BOREDOM at EVERYTHING!


Now this is NOT a boring world. Like I said, I could at any moment grab anything to entertain myself.

So I am wondering


Is anyones' stimming to to stimulate away from this horrific boredom? Could that be why we stim?

Am I the only one who has trouble with this?

Well I seem to lack the obsessions, but the rest..... yeah I get that way a lot. I'll try to read or watch TV, anything, but nothing will entertain me. Then I want to do something else, but nothing else is any better. Those days suck.

i have spent many a night a day with the So easily beatable, but at the same time, impossible to beat boredom. Yes, there are things that are greatly enjoyable, but even they can get boring.


I think my obsession over wanting to skydive is a result of this. I can imagine no thrill greater then skydiving, everything else seems so boring in comparison. White water rafting was still Awesome! (Even with the banged up bloody knees )

No, you aren’t alone. I’ve suffered through this my entire life. When I get into something of interest to me I feel happy and content but once I start to loose interest my whole world falls apart. For a period it seems nothing can get my interest back up and it hurts like you describe. The emptiness is almost frightening.

I don’t know what this particular symptom is attributed to. Clearly only a minority of people on the autism spectrum report it, and it doesn’t appear to be that common a symptom in depression. It doesn’t exactly fit the bipolar profile either as it comes on much too suddenly.

I’ve heard that marijuana helps alleviate boredom. Too bad it’s illegal.

Maybe it's not even boredom. Maybe it is over stimulation that I am interrupting as boredom. It's just so painful and crushing...

Because when I am TOTALLY alone, I rarely feel it. I can sit for hours doing nada and do not feel lonley or bored.

I see you are in grad school...how have you made it through school? I applaud you.

I am making it through but at a snail's pace. I set a world record for the longest freshman "year" ever...heh. I won't even say how long it was..........

I'd probably be bored without the Internet, Simpsons and especially SpongeBob.
When bored I do stim and if bored on my own I may do really weird stims and stuff.

Maybe powerful boredom just means that you are a person who needs activities that are very creative or stimulating. And you have a strong craving for more but until you get more experience doing a variety of things, you don't know what specific sports, arts, games or special will satisfy those cravings yet.

Boredom does get to me sometimes. Not so much as it used to when I was younger, and I tend to recognise it these days. Sometimes it's just the environment I need to change, other times it's more inside me, even stuff that normally interests me will lose its edge. Possibly linked to mind depression. It usually props me up if I can establish a new skill. Of course there are always drugs, though I don't really bother these days, it's hard to be bored on hallucinogens but they're not really sustainable. Amphetamines I never tried, they'd probably be great for a while but I wouldn't like the heart strain, and what's the point if I've got to come down again? Dope used to alleviate boredom wonderfully, but kind of lost its effect and I don't like the new skunk weed, it's not just too strong, it feels different to me.

It always brings me to life if I perform some music. Also taking reasonable risks - I tend to make myself too safe, so if I notice I'm bored I might look round for some part of my life that might benefit from taking a chance.

I think in a way it's like they say about relationships, if a relationship stops developing it gets boring and collapses. Ditto for the individual's mental journey, if that stops developing, boredom sets in. Got to keep dreaming up exciting new ventures. Nothing too earth shattering, it's enoigh for me to invent some little way to make my life a little easier. Sometimes I just need to push myself into taking a few pains to get some reward or other.

Sometimes I can do nothing for ages and all I feel is slightly concerned that nothing's getting done.

I do find that there are long periods where I am so mentally and emotionally fatigued that I cannot be bothered getting into anything. These are lonely and boring times, but still they happen. Sometimes, it's just a day or two, but other times it can last for months. It generally has worsened over time. I suspect that this is a decompression mechanism of some sort, and the accumulated effect of trying to fit in and function at ever-higher professional levels is finally taking its toll.

@Sorenna : Do you like music?

This might just be my thing but listening to music and watching the screen savers of a music player (called audiovisualizations) stimulates my mind out of boredom and I often feel inspired sometimes even with euphoria and intense imagination. Moving in response to the music in some way helps me even more (like dancing, jumping, "headbanging"=what some people do with Metal music, aerobics, "conducting", or whatever).

... IF I REMEMBER to put music on when I'm that bored. I'm not very often that bored though.

Also, maybe your brain is tired and either a nap or
a little snack with a cup of Cola/Tea/Coffee might help.

Yes, I love music. And yes, it has indeed popped me out of a trance at times.

I love all kinds, classical (Bach) but I do like metal at times. That old crap from teh 80's really can stir a serotonin molecule from time to time. Thanks for the tip!

I think part of it is being disabled in America is a dead end. It doesn't pay to do anything. If you lose health care because you go back to work, there is no point in going back to work. People can talk all the smack they want about living without health care. But if you have a chronic illness and you also have anyone at all in the whole world who loves you and would miss you if you decided to please Sean Hannity by refusing to take a gov't handout and buck up and work when you are disabled and lose your health care- well, how stupid is that?????

Most likely it is a mixture of brain chemicals and the dismal situation.

In any other coutry I could at least try and not be punished by loss of health care. In USA you cannot even marry or you lose health care, but you can't be on the spouses because you have a pre-existing condition. So there is no point in even dating.

So I can stare at the wall and be bored.

There is comedy in this somewhere. Someone please point it out......

Yeah, that happens to me too. I usually read or watch TV, but sometimes I can't even read. So, it's either the TV or I'll sit outside and do literally nothing.

I have had that rather often. It is often a sign that I am not taking good care of myself--if I'm eating junk, or I'm not fighting off my depressive tendencies like I ought to, I end up with boredom issues. (I should note that actual depression is quite impossible to "fight off" because you lack fight. I think it's possible to raise the odds that you won't have it in the first place, though.)