Do you remember those rainy Sunday afternoons as a child when you felt defeated by boredom? Maybe you walked around your house aimlessly or searched through your bedroom for some toy or something that would capture your attention for the next hour. We all have had moments of boredom in our lives, but what if life itself becomes drab? Now I don’t mean the type of life boredom that can capture those who have sunk into a depression, but rather the “life seems just a bit unexciting” type of boredom. When it becomes somewhat hard to differentiate between one day and the next because they are all so similar (wake up, work, go home, take care of family, sleep, start over), or you have this sense of something needs to change but you don’t know what, or maybe that feeling of life is all work and no play, life boredom could be the culprit. This concept is actually quite common. Several fellow counselors and I were discussing the idea of self care and taking time out for ourselves after we all stumbled upon the realization that we had fallen into the routine trap and lacked variety in our lives. How did we get there? It seems like there isn’t enough time in the day to get things done, so we tend to cut out what seems to be least important. Often what gets cut out first is “me time.” We decided right then and there that we would have one activity per week for ourselves. My quest for variety led me to discover Hot Yoga. I was skeptical that a simple hour of self indulgence would cure me of that feeling of repetitiveness, but it sure did (at least for the moment!) I think we don’t realize how often we disregard our own needs until it becomes a problem. It’s time to take care of ourselves! What do you do to keep from being overwhelmed by work and home? How much time do you devote to yourself each week? If you do take time for yourself, was it a conscious effort to make or something you do naturally?
Maureen Werrbach is a counselor who works at a hospital and provides clinical assessments in the areas of mental health and substance abuse.