Everyone gets bored. Waiting to be called for the doctor, or dentist, and I’ve even heard seniors get bored, while waiting for death. It’s a human response, but most folks have a different take on it.
“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” was said by Andy Warhol.
The other notable people said:
I know when I’m working I seldom get into trouble. My educated guess is that boredom has caused most of the problems with Hollywood celebrities. – Hedy Lamas
Marilyn Monroe’s quote is one of the best.
“It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
The presidency has many problems, but boredom is the least of them. — Richard Nixon
For myself, boredom quite often blends into depression, or else my depression seems to lead to boredom. One does not equate to the other. For instance I can be depressed while being busy going to work.
I’d wager that about a third of my depressed days fall within boredom and depression. I hate what I’m doing and have no idea what I want to do.
I keep a stockpile of comedy DVDs for these depressed days just to get my mind off what is stagnant in my head.
I hate what I’m doing and have no idea what I want to do. Plus the future looks as dreadful as today.
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
I’m planning an autumn trip to invade Washington DC. I’ve already made it a tenth of the way across Mid-Missouri.
I’ve totaled every car I’ve owned, which inspired me to give up driving. My insurance bill was another inspiration also. I then started walking to most places around town.
The one positive aspect to my lack of driving and being forced to walk is my loss of weight. I’ve also wondered.
I live in mid-Missouri. 1st I would bike 20 or 30 miles on local trails. Then I would speed up the Katy Trail to Kansas City or St Louis before trying to go to out-of-state relatives. Eventially I plan on invading Washington D.C. if Biden or Trump get elected. I’m actually voting for Nikki and Hillary, while insisting to be their Vice.
Much of the Katy Trail in Missouri runs along the Missouri River. It’s beautifully breathtaking. It makes me stop to enjoy the scenery, while chugging down some Kool Aid laced H20.
Okay enough with all those shenanigans in 25 words or more, whizzes with websites say that all exercising is good but exercising outdoors is better. It’s the cherry on top of the steak.
For example, I had a coworker, Bennie, who was a real dingbat, annoyed me to no end. Well Dingbat Bennie says we had to bag the shoppers groceries in paper bags, and I wanted to scream, “Ever hear, ‘the customer’s always right?’ moron! Customers get a choice! Plastic or Paper!”
I held my anger inside, instead, and my rage was volcanic by the time I clocked out.
Oh, the drama is stagnating, I know. See here, Bennie was NOT management. He was a just a skinny, little weasel. How dare he try to tell me how to behave.
Once on my bike, I cranked up Metallica and exploded at top spreed. I lived eight tenths of a mile from Schmukers Groceries, but I erupted all the way home and zipped around red lights and past essentially parked cars.
Yeah I was hot. My sweat was sparkling but oddly by the time I hit the homestead no thought of Bennie bounced inside my brain.
However, don’t take my word on it. I’m no pro. I’m just offering my experience. What follows are chunks of all my Googling with links to their contributions. They’re from National Library of Health, Mind, Nature, WebMD, and Michagen State University. They chit-chat about numerous physical and mental health benefits for folks with mild and moderate depression, such as anxiety, mental clarity, motivation, attention, memory, concentration, and may decrease depressive symptoms in those with clinical depression.
The most consistent finding suggests that walks in natural environments may decrease depressive symptoms in patients with clinical depression. Less researched interventions, such as psychotherapy delivered in a forest or access to natural environments via virtual reality, may also be effective. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9104582/
Spending time in nature has been found to help with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. For example, research into ecotherapy (a type of formal treatment which involves doing activities outside in nature) has shown it can help with mild to moderate depression. This might be due to combining regular physical activity and social contact with being outside in nature. https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/nature-and-mental-health/how-nature-benefits-mental-health/
It is well known that exercise increases cognitive function. However, the environment in which the exercise is performed may be just as important as the exercise itself. Time spent in natural outdoor environments has been found to lead to increases in cognition similar to those resulting from acute exercise. Therefore, the benefits of both exercise and nature exposure suggest an additive impact on brain function when both factors are combined. This raises the question: what is the interaction between acute exercise and environment on cognition? Our results demonstrate improved performance and an increase in the amplitude of the P300, an event-related neural response commonly associated with attention and working memory, following a 15-min walk outside; a result not seen following a 15-min walk inside. Importantly, this finding indicates that the environment may play a more substantial role in increasing cognitive function such as attention than exercise, at least in terms of acute exercise (i.e., a brief walk). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26093-2
Take exercise outside to nature if you want greater benefits, including mental clarity and motivation, new research into “green exercise” suggests. One study, published in Nature, says the neurological effects of physical activity in nature include better working memory and concentration. College students performed better after outdoor study breaks than indoor versions, said Katherine Boere, a neuroscience doctoral candidate at the University of Victoria, who worked on that study. The natural world calms people and can quiet distracting chatter of the mind. https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20230412/exercise-is-even-better-in-nature-research-says
Michigan State University Extension acknowledges that even simple physical activity like walking can help keep you healthy. Studies show that participating in regular physical activity reduces blood pressure, blood sugar levels and helps with maintaining a healthy weight. In addition, interacting with nature on a daily basis has been shown improve mental health by reducing levels of stress, anxiety and even improving symptoms of depression. Green exercise, which is considered as any physical activity that takes place outside, has been shown to improve both physical and mental health. Green exercise can include a variety of activities such as gardening, cycling, walking, flying kites, walking a pet, hiking local trails or participating in a neighborhood project like planting flowers. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/green_exercise_can_improve_physical_and_mental_health
If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?
Actual meme, I didn’t steal the line, but I can’t claim it as my own.
Yeah, I came up with that great line! Unfortunately, some other person beat me to it and others claim that this axiom is in the Bible.
I looked up the cited biblical verses that were referred to. The cites alluded to that concept. However, nowhere was it penned out easily enough for a billboard.
Yes I successfully penned a phrase that has basically been around for a number of centuries. I could have gotten down on myself due my delusions of grandeur pounding to the ground. No I wasn’t that wise of a guy
(I only thought I would get a lot of “likes”, and I would be seen as a hell of a wise guy ~ ‘yeah right.’)
Then, I remembered something a college professor said . It was that all of the ideas, concepts, etc., have already been devised. He added that all inventions are built upon or evolve from previous works. In the end, I was happy enough to have thought of a nice slogan.
My biggest goal became a huge challenge and towering fear.
My inner dialogue forced me to put my future outcome in perspective.
I told myself, “Ted don’t worry! If this thing sucks and no one sees it, no one will care. There is nothing that you’ll lose. At least, you’ll learn about the Net.
This is about my political-know+it-all video site. It is dubbed with Ted Michael O’Donnell . Using my middle name so I might sound slightly more intelligent. While I’m just doing this on my phone and trying to make a YouTube channel, I know it is highly unlikely anything will happen. Why am I stressed.
It’s simply voters making promises to elected officials. If the politicians don’t request an open IRS audit then they will not receive a vote from them.
Some details of my scheme will be at the end, for anyone who cares.
Anyway, just making a simple video for myself terrified me because I had only done it a couple of times. (I’m sure most teenagers on TicToc would be laughing their ass off at me. Well I’m 57 and trying something new.)
My videos had only been seen by a couple of people. I feared I would just look like an idiot. After some disastrous clips, I learned a few things that I should not do. I also realized that practice grows confidence, which evolves into quality.
This blog deals with my depression and anxiety. The point to this post is just how I went about wrangling in my squireling negative thoughts. Those visualizations almost sent my anxious brain spiralling into a pit of depression.
I was successful. I stopped my erratic thoughts by evaluating the possible outcomes of my planned videos. I came to two conclusions in pursuing my goal.
First: It would go viral and I would become some kind of hero.
Second: The videos will be ignored and go absolutely nowhere.
Oddly enough, I feel compelled to try to encourage citizens to make promises to their elected officials. The stress is being caused because I’m afraid of looking like an idiot. Big deal.
The point to this post is simple: When worried or anxious I have found a few questions helpful for myself and my state of mind.
Put things in perspective & lighten up.
THE POLITICAL SIDE TO THIS POST:
Entangling two phrases with the national political decision, I formed a very simple tactic for the U.S. voters who don’t trust Biden or Trump and most of their Federally Elected Officials.
Without question, “America Needs to be Great Again”. Plus if America is United it will stand, but if divided it will fall.
The registered voters need to join against federally (and possibly state) elected officials. This plan would demonstrate which politicians deserve to be supported.
I asked myself the greatest times in the U.S. history and found four answers. But my estimation, the best times would be the Revolutionary War, the 1930’s and the Great Depression/New Deal, Pearl Harbor and WW2, and briefly after 9/11. All in all, a common enemy unifies the U.S. bringing the country to its greatest.
Essentially, this plan is to try to force the elected officials to prove that they deserve to be. In fact, elected officials would prove how “legal” they are.
No Michael Meyers, only the 5th straight day doing the one job, cashiering, which I hate the most.
I was gritting my teeth while the wheels in my brain magnified my irritations. I was devising ways to get back at the ones who annoyed me and trying to learn why I was always getting stuck doing what I hate.
I could add details but this blog post would be 3x longer than needed. Suffice it to say, I had to be a cashier five days in a row when normally I only do it twice a week.
Then a fine regular customer moseyed up to the check out register, where I was stuck. She is a grandmother without any grey hair but is raising her grandson. She had plates, glasses, and porcelain ghosts and creeps. I automatically got a box for her and put it right next to her items. As I rang them up, she almost filled the box and didn’t use any paper or other padding between the glass items.
Earlier I noticed that we had bubble wrap that was rarely used, and I pulled out several small sheets of the plastic for the porcelain critters. She quickly said that she didn’t need anything for padding.
“Oh hell no, you need it, and if you don’t, your little grandson does. This will be the trick that he’s getting from me. He’ll just have the time off his life playing with these plastic bubbles with the trick being driving you insane in the process”, I quickly corrected her.
I knew this to be true from personal experience.
Now I wasn’t actually trying to be funny. In fact, I hadn’t planned my monologue. However after a few moments she started giggling to herself and grinning said “Okay”.
Throughout this whole interaction, I was in a great mood. I was basically zapped out of my angry state to a happier state.
When she left, I was in a much better place. I realized that she didn’t actually do n acting
Plus, just talking to someone you’re just friendly acquaintances can make a huge difference.
As soon as someone tells me: ‘You’re rather sexy,’ I wish I could disappear. If somebody says: ‘You were voted the world’s sexiest man,’ I have no idea what that means. How do I respond? ‘Thank you’ is the best you can do. George Clooney is the world’s sexiest man, anyway. Daniel Craig
It’s a Tim sandwich. The meat is fresh, but the bread is moldy.
Humor as a Coping Mechanism
There are sites from three different sources regarding different types of humor and how they help people cope with stress. One thing that stood out to me was the need to find a balance of the amount of humor used, as it could end up with a negative effect.
On a completely personal level, I find humor to be a great way to deflect social anxiety and deal with others with the butt of the joke aimed at myself most often.
PsychCentral detailed the various types of humor and coping mechanisms. The coping mechanisms are:
Problem-focused — behaviors that seek to address the problem causing the stress
Meaning-focused — attempts to understand the meaning of the stressful situation
Support seeking — calling upon family, friends, or medical professionals to help manage the stressful situation
Emotion-focused — behaviors that aim to manage or reduce stressful emotions.
Positive humor There are three types of positive humor, including:
Affiliative: You can think of this style as a good-natured, light-hearted, jolly humor. It includes things such as funny stories and clever or witty jokes that most people would find funny and take no offense to.
Positive reappraisal: If you try to identify humorous aspects of a stressful situation, this is called positive reappraisal or reframing. It helps to shift your perspective of the situation from a threat to a positive challenge.
Self-enhancing: Similar to positive reappraisal, it generally refers to maintaining a funny outlook on life, laughing at yourself for small failures, or privately finding humor in the oddities of daily life.
Negative Humor
Self-defeating: This occurs when you make jokes about yourself to try and connect with others.
Then NAMI stated, “If used in the right way, humor is a way to take depression down a notch, a way to tell the truth and a way to cope. I use humor because I need every tool available to help me in recovery, and when I laugh at the irrationality of depression, I move my recovery along.” https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/January-2020/Using-Humor-as-a-Coping-Tool
A discussion of the therapeutic nature of humor.
Samuel Kahn identified five primary functions that humour serves for individuals and groups::
Coping. By using humour as a coping mechanism, people are able to bear the burden of suffering or misfortune. This is done by recognizing the incongruity of believing that one is the only person suffering, thus increasing one’s sense of shared humanity.
Reframing. This involves looking at things in a different way, a form of cognitive reappraisal with affective elements.
Communicating. Humour can be an unobtrusive way of seeking help. If a person moans and groans continually to potential helpers, they are in fact less likely to help and will avoid the complainer. Using humour disarms their defences and also conveys the message that while help is needed, the person seeking help is essentially able to cope and will not place unbearable burden upon the helpers. Of course, this can also work in the negative sense-if humour is used to excessively play down problems, then friends may assume that no help is needed.
Expressing hostility. Humour, particularly sarcasm and irony can be very sophisticated expressions of anger and criticism and are very hard to answer, since an attack is conveyed in such a way as to circumvent logic and rational discussion. Again, this can have positive and negative consequences, depending upon the basic level of under-standing and trust operating between speaker and interlocutor. Sarcasm and irony directed at oneself can be very harmful.
Constructing identities. By expressing a sense of humour, a person gives out the message that they are fun-loving, easy-going and are good company. Too much humour however may result in people forming the judgement that they are immature and shallow. Once again a balance needs to be struck.
Today, I learned that my father received last rights was like when I heard about 9/11, or Jan 6th. I don’t have to wait a few years to know that this second will never be forgotten.
Shock, sadness, and grief crashed into my brain. However, depression was not in the list of adjectives. My Dad and I became buddies once Mom passed. He was not in a good way, but I know he would want to go before he was comatose, laid up in bed, holding on by machines. With this consideration, all thoughts, feelings, or moods of depression vanished.
When I’m not working on something, I seem to go through periods of depression. It helps to keep busy.
Did Robin Williams, Whooping Goldberg, Richard Pryor, Gene Wilder, Brooke Shields, or Gilda Radner, say, “When I’m not working on something, I seem to go through periods of depression. It helps to keep busy.”
This quote is entirely true for me because when I get bored and have nothing to do I get depressed. This is when my hobbies and blogging are such a big deal to me. They keep me busy and out of that mental funk of depression.
Gene Wilder is the author of that quote. I read that many comedians have depression and use comedy to make others happy, which in turn makes them happy.
This is often referred to as the “Sad Clown Complex”. I’m no professional but the references for this post are listed below. Again I have personally found that to be true.
Example of tale: Today I had an outpatient surgery, and the procedure itself conjured up no stress or anxiety. I had it three times before, and with no complications.
I suffer from Epilepsy, depression, and anxiety. When I become stressed out, I am more prone to have a seizure. There was a whole laundry list of things I could or cannot do before the operation. Just the preparation for the operation caused the stress. I was really surprised that I accomplished all of them. I simply went down the list, picking out the most important and did them first.
All the while, I told myself to try my best. In the end I was successful. Everything went smoothly. I also have remembered a quote by St. Francis of Assisi, which I applied to the tasks at hand.
T Circled 