Embracing "boredom"

“What would you say was the triggering event that led to this last bout of emotional eating?”

“Oh it wasn’t emotional, I think I was just bored.”

Does that sentiment sound familiar? So often I have clients who dismiss mindless eating as just a symptom of being bored but what does being bored mean? Is it not an emotional state?

If we are honest with ourselves, boredom is an impossible dream today. We are inundated by stimuli in every form. From online shopping to video games to our entire social circle contained in a little box in our pocket. No, boredom today is rather a feeling of unease. A difficulty in quiet. A fear of being alone.

We try to escape ourselves by finding something to do. We are in a constant state of doing, we can’t seem to just be. So we shop and play and scroll. But the nature of all this technology is that it leaves us wanting more.

So we turn to food. And emotional eating. Out of this discontent. What we think is an absence of emotion is rather an attempt to escape from emotion.

Embrace boredom. Embrace time alone. Embrace self reflection. Look at what makes us so uncomfortable with being in that quiet space confronting ourselves. And instead of turning to mindless activity, actively feel that moment. Be mindful. Be present. And you’ll never be bored again.