Planet Boredom: What Four Months on Mars Taught Me About Boredom

[arebelspy]

http://aeon.co/magazine/psychology/what-four-months-on-mars-taught-me-about-boredom/

An interesting article about a person working for NASA spending 4 months in semi-isolation as a mars simulation, and thoughts on boredom, especially as it's coming from someone who thought they never got bored.

Interesting to think about in the context of ER.

[Beric01]

I have to agree with the top comment - jail is the first thing I think of when I hear of long-term boredom. I was thinking the other day that I'd be willing to be cooped up in jail for a year if I could FIRE immediately after, but then I thought of what 1 year of jail can do to a person (as I've seen in other people's experiences) and I wasn't so sure.

Boredom really is a modern luxury, though (as of course is early retirement). And as I have so little time these days to be bored, with all of the electronic activities available, and of course my job, that I occasionally actually seek boredom. I'm looking for time - free of obligations where I can really think through things. As an INTJ, I definitely internalize a lot of things, but often don't give myself the chance to sort everything out. This is why I like my family's annual fishing trip to rural Montana, or even just riding the bus/train while NOT using any electronic devices or listening to music. When you don't have anything distracting you, you come to realizations about yourself.

To summarize, I'm looking forward to early retirement as an opportunity to have the chance to be bored, without feeling I should be doing something else. I also plan to keep active, but IMO having some time that is free from any obligations or set activities is a good thing.

[Jon_Snow]

I'd be lying if I said I haven't been bored in ER (a whopping 1.5 months in). The thing is, when I am bored it is because I choose to be. Sometimes I enjoy doing absolutely nothing productive. This phase eventually passes and it is on to all the stuff I love to do - but damn, it is strangely empowering to have the ability to piss away an hour or two.

[dragoncar]

Not even joking when I say I got bored reading that article.  It was... lengthy

[Neustache]

This article just reminded me of work.  Ha!  I'm a SAHM, and my day can be as varied as I want to make it.  We can visit the library, or a museum, or a new park.  But the same scenery, same tasks, day in, and day out - that was my job.  Blech.  I was bored at work, that's for sure.  I'm rarely bored at home.  Even when I'm doing boring tasks, there's no real deadline so I can tackle them as I want to, with whatever distractions during and in between as I see fit.  I love being home and having the maximum autonomy I can have given my necessary duties as a mom and wife.

Ha!  ETA:

This quote in the article describes me to a T:  "And indeed, I had experienced it before. After doing some reading around on the topic, I discovered that certain behaviours – imagining oneself in the future, making new plans, learning new skills, setting goals, trying to refresh and start anew – are typical of someone who feels bored. I could check all of these off. For as long as I can remember, I’ve responded to an ill-defined niggling inside that propels me to try new things."

But I don't chalk that up to boredom, per se, I see that as the inevitable outcome of having the mental energy to devote to future thinking.  Maybe I'm just bored and don't realize it! Ha!

[arebelspy]

Not even joking when I say I got bored reading that article.  It was... lengthy

There's probably a link between boredom and attention span.  ;)

[dragoncar]

Not even joking when I say I got bored reading that article.  It was... lengthy

There's probably a link between boredom and attention span.  ;)

I made it to "link," then I saw a squirrel