The Cure For Boredom is a Context Shift

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As Eric Barker writes at TIME, one must undergo a context shift to cure boredom. It’s a simple enough tactic. If you’re bored alone, find someone to hang out with. If you’re tired of how you look, go get a haircut. If the same ol’ day-to-day routine has got you down, take a new route to work or pick up a hobby. Learn to juggle. Go jogging. Whatever. Tersely put, the thing that keeps you bored is staticity. The chronically blasé are those who are afraid to inject a little dynamism in their lives.

But since the above on its own doesn’t make a particularly compelling post, Barker’s piece delves deeper into specific types of boredom that require more fastidious approaches. For example, the cure to a boring relationship doesn’t have to be “go find a new girl-/boyfriend.” It’s important to make sure the focus of a relationship context shift is on injecting excitement into what has become a humdrum pairing. Most failed long-term relationships go under due to a lost sense of adventure. Barker suggests roller coasters as a treatment, but anything that gets one’s heart rate up will do.

Other examples include how to not be bored at work (find meaning in what you do) and how to deal with doing boring chores (don’t take breaks between tasks). Barker’s article is very well-sourced so every point he makes is linked to one of his previous posts about a study or some other sort of evidence that supports his advice. His personal blog, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, comes with the tagline “How to be awesome at life.” If you want to be awesome at not being bored, I recommend reading his entire piece, linked again below.