Do you guys get bored to death on a regular basis?
 

I work four 12 hour days and then get 4 days off. During the 4 days I am at work I really hate the damn place and can't wait for the "weekend". So here it is, my first day off and I should be jumping up and down but after working all day (party at my house this weekend) I just sat down for a quick break and I am so bored I can't stand it. I feel like this every time I finish a project around the house. I kind of get in a depressed funk and it is hard to shake it. I spend a lot of time just moping around and looking for something to do. I actually have some stuff that really needs to get done but I don't feel like doing it. Anyone else feel like this on a weekly basis? Do I need to start smoking crack or something? I just bought a new Miata project car (will give details in 2 weeks when I pick it up) and even though I am psyched as hell over it I still have the blues.

Drink more beer, then begin the festivities.

Start shooting heroin. Those four days will fly by way faster.

hookers and blow

oh and MOAR BOOST

Same shit happens to me. Weekend gets here then I sit around the house during they day, then I regret not making better use of it.

I hate to be the Debbie Downer of the group, but you might want to take a serious look at clinical depression being a possibility. It doesn't always manifest the way you think it would, but chronic boredom, disinterest in your hobbies, and lack of motivation sound a little suspect to me.

Maybe think about talking to your doctor or a clinical psychologist and seeing what they have to say. Just my :2cents:

(Disclaimer: My wife is a clinical psychologist, so I might just be primed to see depression where it might not exist.)

I'm pretty sure it is a more of a certainty than a possibility.

Hmmm, is this thread a subconscious cry for help <G>...

I work a fucked up shift, and have sleep issues, so almost nightly I find myself bored to death. I either sit and stare at the wall while listening to music, browse here and the rest of the web, look at porn or play video games. Hard to do much else in the early a.m. hours. Then when I do have the time, or the right time of the day to do something useful, I find myself too out of the mood to be productive. So basically nothing ever gets done lately. It took me over a month to get around to changing my oil, which used to be something I did religiously.

Maybe we just need to hit up the gun range soon?

do drugs, have sex, play sc2.

all the typical things. I go on trips across the state. i'm about to do a 250mile trip in about 30 minutes.

I feel the same way. If you are like me then it comes from a lack of ability to seperate mentally from what you need to do and being able to truly relax. I feel guilty for relaxing to where I feel I am bored and not really enjoy it as I should. Everyone should be able to sitdown and have a beer/glass O' lemonade/whatever your vice is, and enjoy the moment.

Part of my problem is I have projects all around the house to work on, a school bus I am almost done converting to an RV, 7 miatas that are all projects of their own of varying degrees, and a classic mini I am restoring. I truly have too much to do and just add on to it. I have learned to seperate from that and have stopped taking on projects until the others are done. With my current pace, I will be able to take on another project in 2038.

Try this. Sit down and lean back in your favorite chair with your eyes closed but don't go to sleep. Meditate and clear your mind of any thought. Allow yourself to forget about what needs to be done next or what you have just done and truly relax. You will start to relax your entire body and your muscles will become loose. Do this for about 15 minutes a couple times a week and it really will help out if you are like me. Don't look at the clock though, just let yourself relax and whenever you feel you are done, just stop. It may be 5 minutes or an hour. I have had both. Giggity.

I started doing that a couple months ago and I have noticed that I don't get as anxious as much and I am able to enjoy things much more, as I live more in the moment.

If you're wide awake and really bored...excercise hard core. Go buy P90X or something. If you're getting close to bed time, work on a relaxing project, maybe drink some beer. That's usually what I do, so it helps me focus my mind on less depressing things. Don't be a pussy and go cry to some counselor and then take sone bullshit anti-depessants. Grow a sack and find a positive way to focus, whether it's doing a hobby, or keeping yourself fit.

Agree with above... cry for help? fuck that get off your ass and force yourself to do something. Damn wtf is wrong with society these days, so lazy.

Then again I work 14 hours a day sometimes 6-7 days a week. So I envy people with enough free time to get depressed about it.

OMG it's not just me.

So I've started always thinking, "what can I do now to make my life better?",. and "action is always better than inaction". Then I go work on my car or some shit like that.

250 miles in 30 minutes? Thats like 500 mph!! How much boost you running?

Oh, and look into "Getting things done" by David Allen. I find that if I make a list of things I need to do and actually get things done. I find that the more I get done the better I feel.

Some other tips somewhat related:
Don't start projects or hobbies you can't finish because it will feel like an albatros around your neck. Simplify and concentrate on finishing small tasks. Break big projects into small chunks and accomplish those small chunks.

Go learn something new.

Shut the fuck up and stop being a ******. Being de-motivated and chronically bored as a symptom of clinical depressed :ne: being lazy, and I will personally skull fuck any ignorant piece of shit who says otherwise.

Bullshit comments like yours are the reason that people who desperately need help often times don't seek it when necessary.

Like I said, I got up at 7AM and worked until 5:30. That makes me lazy? BTW, I finished this today:


http://www.lightweightmiata.com/proj...45guitar16.JPG

Minecraft!

Yeah, I am REALLY trying to find a weekend (I'm assuming that is when you are available). Too much stuff going on here. If we go to the outdoor range I will put my BMF Activator on the 10/22 (have never used it before) and load up some of the 30 round magazines. They frown on rapid fire (unless you rent one of the fully automatic weapons) at the indoor range. They also frown on shredding the hell out of a paper target with 25 rounds of 12GA birdshot <G>.

I do that all the time. It gets to the point of being obsessive. Hmmm, reminds me that I need to buy a new belt for my sewing machine <G>...

Just got an eliptical and a bowflex sport. I desperately need to drop 40 pounds.

I'm up a good 40 pounds from when I lost this weight:

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/beas...ultimate01.jpg

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/beas...ultimate02.jpg

Fat asses like me will always yo-yo.

robert, I know you're not a typical guy in terms of social life, but getting out of the house and being a social creature can really have a positive impact on your state of mind.

plan events with friends. go places where many people are.

of course if you can't stand your job, get one you like.

I'm gonna have to agree with this. When I don't feel like doing anything its not because I'm lazy.

And yes I do get bored. Weekends are miserable for me.

I can't relate to this being bored thing, but one day I did nothing and it was everything I thought it could be.

literally find people to go be social with. check meetup.com to see if there are any social groups in your area. Helped me to hang out with a group of people about once a week that I didn't know, and gave me something to look forward to all of the time. I also did new things that I had never tried before. The best part is, you are in a social setting with a group of people that WANT to be in a social setting with a group of people, so they're having fun just enjoying your company.

The other thing I did was start calling old friends/acquainances/etc. up and scheduling evenings with them. "hey, you wanna grab dinner at applebees on tuesday night?" works much better than you might think if you're calling someone you havent talked to in awhile. If it's a female companion, don't make it a 'date', make it a 'fun night out', and you don't really have to do anything more than happy hour + dinner at a restaurant. Again, it gave me something to look forward to on the evenings when I wasn't hanging out with people, and something to do when I was.

If you work on your car a lot when you're bored, this strategy will change your outlook from "well, i guess I'll spend the evening working on the car AGAIN...." to "oh shit, i've got a free evening to work on the car!"

I haven't felt bored for 20 years. I'm fucking serious--not even once. There is just too much cool shit to think about or do. I've thought hard about what you wrote. I want to help contribute to this thread. I forget what it feels like to be bored. You have Internet, right? I'm siding with Jeff C on this one.



EDIT: I work rotating 12 hour shifts.

How is that contributing??? Your life must be perfect.

I have my fair share of depression. It comes and goes.

Sometimes the boredom and feelings of guilt, or periods of dissatisfaction is what drive people to create, and be innovative. That is a quality not everyone has. Although painful, it is what makes you unique, and to do things that others are not motivated to do. Pain can be a blessing some times.

My impression of you is that you posess some of those qualities, and that in fact you get a lot done, and have the motivation to be innovative.

Edit: Just to be clear, I was refering to the OP.

I am amazed that you guys would tell me to find something to do. There is absolutely nothing in my house/life that I have not hacked/modified/taken apart. I'm currently learning to play guitar (I've got NINE of them right now), building a new Miata, modifying a Ruger 10/22, cooking a fresh batch of cigars, building a recording studio, parting out a Geo Metro, and "carving" a park bench out of metal with my plasma cutter. Tonight there is a party at my house where we will be playing games on my hacked Wii, my hacked XBox 360s, and the two arcade machines I built. As far as internet, I was running my own social network back in the early 90s before anyone had ever even though of Facebook when I was one of the first ISPs in the South East. It isn't about finding something to do. It is a mental funk I get the split second I take a break.

FWIW, I completed this project yesterday (the guitar, not the car). I started a thread about it a week or so ago but here is the finished project:

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/proj...45guitar16.JPG

Look up one post, I think that you and I posted nearly the same time.

Go to the gym.

BINGO

I am a teacher and in Grad School. I always have something to do and I feel guilty when I'm not either grading, planning, or doing my own homework. But I do have to get my own house chores done as well as take some time to relax. I end up not doing either well a lot of the time because I ususally am thinking of the other.

About the only thing I do is make time to run on the weekends.

Lots of good suggestions here...exercise, lists, possible help.

I battle with this a LOT. I never stop moving. My time is not my own between school, work, a long commute, and family life.

I stick with my projects and hobbies as I claim they are what keeps me sane, and my only true personal time...but I battle being content, relaxed, or happy out in the garage too. I often feel pressed to finish (not relaxing), that I'm not doing it right (not confidence inspiring), and that the results do not merit the cost/effort.

Other times when I finally have free time I end up not doing much of anything and regret it later...thinking of all the things I could have done with that time.

This is contrary to what I tell myself about my garage time. I claim that it is something I enjoy, that I am in control of, that I know the likely outcome of, and is my creative expression, as well as a mental challenge I feel confident tackling.

When I found myself getting bored and upset with it all...I discovered two things:

1. This was pretty much the last corner of my life finally being affected by depression. The only thing left after that was my relationship with my daughter, and the joy of spending time with her. That scared me...and things had to change.

Over the past year I've changed my outlook on things, built a lot of confidence, and learned how to keep the darker thoughts from building "bird's nests" in my head. My wife and I have greatly strengthened our relationship, after a year long period that came to the brink of divorce several times.

As Jeff has stated, depression has many forms, and shouldn't be ignored. It also has many causes, and none of them you should be ashamed of. Unhealthy relationships, chronic pain, feelings of helplessness or an unchanging situation can all drive people to exhibit the symptoms that let us know something isn't right. It should be viewed as an indicator, and not a descriptor, just as regret should be a marker for a lesson learned, and not a feeling that is dwelled upon.


2. I needed to remember why I do the things I enjoy. This is hard to explain, and even harder to detect and fix when going wrong. One thing I struggle with at times is tackling a project the way others would do it, instead of the way I want to do it. In the day and age of forums, internet write-ups, and youtube vids on nearly everything, it's often hard to disconnect from that. Remember that you are just a man with tools alone in your garage.

I've found myself several times knee deep into a hobby I didn't plan on getting that far into (the mustard forum comic comes to mind). It's easy to change the goals from your own to something you've been convinced is better. While this shared knowledge can be helpful, you have to continually compare these goals with your own original goals...not just for the project itself, but for your enjoyment of it.


I stepped away from the turbo Miata thing on a personal level because there really is no end to it. The whole point of a project like that is to optimize everything. Until you have the means to see it to the end you can't do it. In the case of the Red Beast it was labor intensive, and you got there. In JayL's case it's a ridiculous power chase...beset with broken parts...and lessons learned. I can only speculate on ya'll's goals, but I know I wouldn't have been able to chase them.


I'm back to simpler projects, and enjoying them more. I'm restoring an old metric bike, and turning my daily into a lightweight sport tourer that suits me and my riding perfectly. I'm not as bored anymore, and enjoy it much more, even when it's only a half hour before I have to set it down. Lists help here...as I can tell with a glance where I am, what I'm going to do, and don't get the frantic feeling of having it all in my head.



Feel free to email me on any of this. Personal motivation and satisfaction are tough matters. It usually takes a careful balance of challenge, interest, ability, effort and of course time to make it work. You need to find out which of these factors are missing in all aspects of life (hobbies, work, marriage, personal growth), and decide how to remedy them.

This. Get your swol on and start slaying women.

before:
http://seat42f.com/images/stories/tv...k-season-5.jpg
after:
http://www.bodyfreaks.com/photoplog/...rejudging2.jpg

GTL Motherfucker and you will never be bored.

seriously, there's a lot of the planet outside.