An idle mind is dangerous
An idle mind can eventually die.
Yes I know the phrase is “an idle mind is the devil’s playground”. Essentially this means someone with too much time on their hands may find themselves in sticky situations. (I’m paraphrasing.)
Boredom can spark curiosity
Boredom makes people do things they normally wouldn’t do. Sometimes I wonder whether if it’s boredom that sparks a person’s curiosity as to the outcome of an action. “What would happen if I did this…?” Sometimes I even question whether it was boredom that made the first person ever decide to milk a cow and then drink it because they were curious!
Similarly, maybe it was boredom that made a person put a battery on their tongue to test if it still had power. Either way, boredom in itself can spark curiosity and maybe even creativity.
I’m sure there has been many examples of how boredom (and curiosity) have caused stupid and ridiculous accidents that we shall not go into that.
Exercise the mind
From personal experience, I’ve allowed myself to dissolve into a state where I found myself incapable of thinking and solving simple problems.
I had taken a couple of months off work to allow myself to rest. I had been on adrenaline mode for years leading up to the break, hustling to climb the corporate ladder. My brain was on overdrive exercising critical thinking, problem solving and creativity with every business juncture. I was a high performer.
For the first couple of weeks, I occupied my time with endless scrolling through social media, attempted meditation while using smartphone apps, and taking on the role of a housewife – cooking and cleaning. My mind was slowly decompressing and removing the need for constant agility as I reconfigured it to do mindless house chores and less than efficient social interactions through a screen.
By week three, it was like my brain decided to finally break down. I’m not sure if it happens to everyone but have you noticed that when you’re high on adrenaline during a really busy time at work, and you’re just pushing and pushing through… but when it’s over you suddenly fall ill? No? Just me? Well, that’s what my brain did, it just shut down.
I went from being a high performer with quick thinking on my feet to zilch. Ask me what I ate the night before… no idea. Ask me if I remembered to put laundry detergent before pressing start… no idea.
I attributed that to burn out and it was my body’s way of telling me to stop and let it recover. But after another 2–3 weeks, I had gotten used to not having to think. I stopped making decisions. I refused to use my brain. I’d rather mindlessly scroll through Tik Tok than decide what to cook for dinner, even if I was hungry.
Eventually, this mindlessness turned into boredom. But boredom without the desire to do anything to fix it. I wasn’t even interested in doing something fun.
The devil’s playground
I’m twisting the meaning of the phrase a little. I believe boredom also can lead to more detrimental mental defects than simply being bored.
The mind, even in it’s dormant state, is actually working harder than you notice. The mind can trick you into believing things about yourself that isn’t true. But when you’re bored, you allow yourself to entertain those thoughts. It’s like YouTube and the rabbit hole but in your mind.
First your mind tells you that you’re bored. Next it tells you that you’re bored because you have nothing to do. Then it tells you that you have nothing to do because you chose to go on leave. It convinced you to feel guilty and useless for needing to take leave. It builds up the paranoia that every one is doubting your ability to be resilient. And that mental health was a thing you made up. You’re believing that you’ve taken leave because you were never good enough in your job so you needed an escape. And now you’re escaping because you’re a coward… the rabbit hole.
You’ve eventually dug a hole so deep you’re not sure how to get out of it. So you burrow your way underground creating more and more paths that lead nowhere. Soon enough, you’re too tired to dig so you give up and just stop.
You stop wanting to do things. You stop feeling good about yourself. You stop feeling worthy. You’re moody all the time. You stop wanting anything from others. You become anti-social.
Overtime, people stop expecting things from you. People are pushed away. You allow yourself to slip further into isolation.
Some slip into depression. Others… worse.
Being stimulated is good
It’s hard to believe that people can be bored these days. With technology at our fingertips and the mobile device that connects you to anything and everything. There’s so much to do through your smart phone. On average, Americans spend upwards of 4 hours on their phones per day… which seems conservative in my opinion. With the way technology is changing the way we work, we’re on our phones all the time.
I mentioned scrolling aimlessly on social media earlier — this is not what was stimulating. Unless you’re doing research (rather you have a specific constructive reason), social media is a rabbit hole just waiting for you to jump right in.
I’ve found other useful things to do on the phone to keep my mind stimulated. Reading on medium, getting news and articles from other platforms, playing games that test your intellect and logic are all good ways to stay stimulated. Meditation and journaling can be useful too.
Sure, check what’s going on with your friends on their Instagram accounts. Or, see if there are new puppy pictures posted on Facebook. But don’t let yourself spend hours on end simply doing that. Social media’s main objective is to keep you engaged. The algorithms were written to learn your behaviours, preferences and how you like to consume content. It’s a losing battle if you give in to the algorithms.
The next time you see ‘suggested videos’ or ‘based on what you watched’ or ‘you might like this’ pop up on your feed, don’t click it. Use them as a reminder to put your phone down instead, and walk away. Do something physical. Cook. Pee. Drink water. Just stop using your phone.
(Watch Social Dilemma on Netflix. It really puts things into perspective for you.)
Our brain is a muscle. It’s design to be exercised, stretched, bent, squeezed, and used. I suffer from chronic pains in my neck, shoulders and upper back. The muscles in those areas are extremely tight and often contribute to the headaches I get regularly. On bad days, they become migraines.
Overtime those muscles get so tight that other parts of your body need to compensate. So eventually my lower back starts to hurt. Then my gluts tighten up and everything affects everything.
As much as I am saying this now, I will admit that I’m the worst at stretching and exercising to strengthen those muscles. One morning my body finally gave in. I woke up a shooting pain from my SI joint up my spine and down my left leg. Simply breathing was causing the pain. I went to the emergency room, was diagnosed with Sacroiliitis and prescribed physiotheraphy for up to 8 weeks — in order words, I was forced to exercise and stretch 2–3 times a day.
My point is, the brain, like all other muscles, needs to be worked.
Just like your body, if you stop exercising and moving about or using your muscles, they weaken and eventually become frail. Your stamina decreases and going up a small flight of stairs becomes your worst nightmare. (I’m exaggerating.) If you don’t stimulate your brain and allow it to get idle, overtime you’ll find yourself in ‘pain’. These could be mental pains which eventually contribute to physical pains — i.e. when your lack of motivation causes you to do nothing. And if by now you still don’t get what I’m saying, re-read from the top of this article.
“So it is with minds. Unless you keep them busy with some definite subject that will bridle and control them, they throw themselves in disorder hither and yon in the vague field of imagination… And there is no mad or idle fancy that they do not bring forth in the agitation.”
~Michel de Montaigne, French Philosopher
In the 2 months I spent off work, I allowed myself to seep deeper into the abyss of nothingness. My mind was so clouded I couldn’t differentiate between even my emotions. Everything was jumbled together like a ball of yarn intertwined with untreated wool — prickly and uncomfortable, messy and in disarray. My ability to remember things slowly dissipated. It was only when I had left the stove on and left the house that I started to realize how far gone I had gotten.
It wasn’t easy getting your brain to work again. Just like going for run after 5 years of being dormant. You’re going to hurt. But just like your body, your brain is resilient. If you keep working at it, your muscle memory will kick back in motion. You’ll build up the stamina you lost and you’ll find the strength that you gave up. Your brain will start to churn, the gears will oil itself and the clouds will fade away. Then it’s how you maintain it that will make all the difference.
Editor’s note: All opinions expressed are of my own and do not have affiliations with any corporate entity.
