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Embrace Boredom

The Upside To Downtime

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By Mudit Jha | 16th February, 2023

How do we embrace boredom and use it as an opportunity to think, reflect, and explore new ideas? Discover the negative effects of constant stimulation and tips on how to cultivate creativity and engage in meaningful activities…

When we get to shut off from the world, we rise to the challenge by becoming creative. Quarantine boredom gave rise to the creative endeavor - Dreamers Abyss, you see today!

"The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it." - Neil deGrasse Tyson

Technology has integrated seamlessly into our lives, but we often get entangled between reality and the digital world. In an age where information is abundant (even overloaded), it's no coincidence that the rates of creative thinking have been on a steep decline recently.

Just think about it, when the brain is filled with noise, how can it think clearly enough to perform creative tasks that require outbox and curious thinking?  

CHALLENGE YOURSELF: Try staring at an empty wall or be in an undistracted state where you force yourself to be unstimulated. If you are a person who is constantly surrounded by phones, consuming fast-paced content like TikTok, Instagram, or other similar attention-grabbing media, this challenge will be a test of your attention span. For most people, who aren’t used to sitting in calmed and focused, relaxed states, spending 5 mins like this can prove quite challenging.

"The cure for boredom is curiosity there's no cure for curiosity" - Dorothy Parker, American Poet.

If you're one of those people, don’t get frustrated at yourself, social media is notorious for employing psychological tactics to take advantage of valuable time and attention.

The gradual decline of “outbox thinking.” Rates of change from 1990-2017 on the Research: Creativity Crisis, Prof. Kyung Hee Kim (2021)

🥱 It's All Fun, Until It's Not…

Go on to your youtube feed, and you’ll see personalized algorithms at their finest, videos hand-picked for you by, arguably, the most powerful website that knows you better than yourself.    


But, more than just collecting your interests and presenting them, youtube and other social platforms try to predict and guide your ideas into what it deems “marketable” and “valuable.” This brings me to my next point: unless you turn off the constant feed of targeted ideas, you’ll miss out on the beautiful process of crafting original, innovative ideas. The ideas that go beyond your weekly or daily feeds.

Control the monkey mind! 🐵

To truly open yourself, you need to go incognito, both figuratively and literally. If you use youtube to be inspired - use incognito mode, and don’t let your head be filled with more biases. And to take things to the next level- ignore social media altogether. 


The real world is filled with unexplored, novel,  ideas, so why is waste time focusing on the noise that the media keeps repeating?

Boredom has easy fixes, but they are short-lived; Dopamine signals in our brains come and go.

In order to be more productive and creative, it is important to embrace boredom and use it as an opportunity to think and reflect in silence: accompanied by the noise of your own mind, so to speak. 

Some Simple, Yet Effective Solutions:

  • One way to solve the problem of boredom is to take proactive steps to fill our time with activities that are meaningful and rewarding.

  • We can choose to spend our time learning new skills, exploring interests, and engaging in creative activities.

  • We can also use our free time to engage in meaningful conversations with friends and family, or to practice self-care activities such as meditation, yoga, or journaling.

  • By taking the time to explore and nourish our own interests and passions, we can create a more fulfilling life and find more joy in our day-to-day existence.

And don’t forget: Dreamers Abyss has a massive collection of self-improvement articles, so be sure to check them out!

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🔆 Conclusion

In conclusion, boredom is not something to be avoided but instead embraced. It can signify that our soul needs rest and nourishment, an opportunity to go inward, and a gateway to explore new ideas. When we are bored, we can choose how to respond. We can cultivate curiosity and take advantage of the potential for meaningful experiences and new perspectives. We can create something new or explore a different path by embracing boredom. 

📌 Key Takeaways

  • Boredom can be a signal that our soul needs rest and nourishment.
  • It is important to recognize boredom as an opportunity to go inward and reflect.
  • Embrace boredom as an opportunity to create something new or explore a different path.
  • When we are bored we can choose to cultivate curiosity and explore new ideas.
  • Boredom can be seen as a gateway to meaningful experiences and new perspectives.

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