Is there anything meaningful you can say to bored people who don't have hobbies?

I understand being bored if you are disabled or in an isolated area in the middle of nowhere

I also understand people being content doing not much, if that suits them - but then they wouldn't be complaining of boredom.

But lots of opportunities to volunteer if you don't do hobbies or sports.
 

I used to get bored of being bored, but I discovered that I was happier being happy..... like when I wink at the girl on the checkout and she smiles back at me, then I smile, and she smiles again, then she calls me a daft old bugger.... šŸ˜Š

See, it's easy. šŸ˜Š
 
Murrmurr said:
It's fine to ask an old bored person if they have a hobby, but don't make suggestions unless they ask you for some.

Being old and bored is awful. Really, really awful. You put pressure on yourself every single day because you feel like you have to do something about it, and like you've failed somewhere along the line, and you constantly question your usefulness. Someone telling you that you should take up knitting or whatever just adds to the pressure. Plus, it sounds like a dumb solution to a major personal crisis.
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I agree whole heartedly. I will admit I had a bit of trouble after retiring. You do something for so long and in the case of my career so regimented, that you feel like you are missing something. I always had sports and hobbies but when you take something that occupied 8 hours a day for most of your adult life, it can be challenging.

Even 8 years later my clothes are folded the same, the shirts in my closet are 3 fingers apart, shoes lined up etc. Lol. Habits are hard to break after 23 years.

I think a major problem is that our identity was tied to what we did and how we did it, not who we really were.

There were studies I read that pretty much proved there is no such thing as a child. All they are, are little versions of you, their teachers, aunts and uncles. After all we taught them essentially how to be mini 'us'. Everything they know and learnt was from their parents, teachers and so on.

I think that as adults we are exactly the same. I was not the same person after high school as I am now, nor the same person I was in the military. As humans we adapt and become what is required at the time. Of course within reason. We all maintain our inner persona, so to speak. But that is life. What would it be if we were all the same! Lol.
 

January said:
understand being bored if you are disabled or in an isolated area in the middle of nowhere
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Thatā€™s me most of the time; Iā€™m unable to drive most of the time, have a heriditary illness that makes it undesirable to be around others most of the time, and live in the middle of nowhere. So thank goodness for my dog, books, the internet, and cable tv.
 
And now I will introduce my very long time friend Gary Elliott. This coming Saturday, August the 10th, Gary will be driving in his 900th CONSECUTIVE RACE. Yes he has not missed a single oval track racing event since June the 5th of 1987. At age 78, Gary is still racing 25 times each summer in the Late Model series in Nova Scotia. He races against 20 year olds, and manages to be competitive. He is a member of the Canadian Motor Sports Hall of Fame, and 2024 is his 50th consecutive year of being sponsored by Quaker State Motor Oil. No other driver in ANY type of motor racing in the world has had such a continual sponsorship agreement.

And now the connection to this thread. Gary's original form of racing back in 1974 was with The Hobby Club, a southern Ontario based oval track club that raced six cylinder powered pre war coupes and coaches. Now known as the Canadian Vintage Modifieds club, those cars are still racing every Saturday night at Flamboro Speedway, which is near Hamilton Ontario.

JIMB.
 
I think boredom is a symptom. I admit I am often bored. I get mentally tired. Nothing is interesting, not even thinking. There are hundreds of things I could watch on Roku or books to read on my Kindle. But I don't want to watch or read any of them. I have a garage full of woodworking tools and machines that sit idle. I have model kits that are half built. And, there is plenty I could do around the house.

In the last two years I have lost my wife and oldest son. I am learning to live alone. It's not fun. I'm an introvert and marginal Asperger's, so social mixing is not something I am good at. I know I'm suffering from depression, but I don't like taking drugs. I have to work it out and I am getting better. Right now I'm doing some experimenting with a loop antenna for shortwave.

When someone tells you they are bored, they may have problems you don't know about.
 
My stepfather pulled this on me some time back. I made suggestions, get a card table, work on puzzles, get more books. We went to the kitten rescue to visit the kittens. Nothing seemed to work.

I'm not responsible that he married my mother and let her isolate him from his family and interests. He didn't care when I was alone in my room, not allowed to leave the house/yard for weeks at a time.

I'm isolated and I've had to find things to do and I do so.
 
papa tiger said:
Why should I care, stick my nose. Mental problems are theirs.
I spent my working years very physical, and slept hard when I had a chance.
Especially Sunday and Monday nights. You know you can still exercise even
if confined to a Power Chair. Count to 4 - 6000 reps at least. Even slowly at
first till you have perty much full movement. If ya can't just do them slowly.
But count. You use a lot of mental energy to. Keep a journal of what yo do
So you remember them. Toe Rubs to the bottom of the feet does great stuff.

How can anyone feel depressed when they know all the stuff they can do.

I didn't say go hang gliding with a motor and prop hanging on shoulders. ... :coffee: ...
Sure 10,000 mt coffee mugs lifts that can occupy a mental for days.
We don't need to be cruel to ourselves to respect how much we still can do if we can remember it.
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3.9MB
Grampa Don said:
I think boredom is a symptom. I admit I am often bored. I get mentally tired. Nothing is interesting, not even thinking. There are hundreds of things I could watch on Roku or books to read on my Kindle. But I don't want to watch or read any of them. I have a garage full of woodworking tools and machines that sit idle. I have model kits that are half built. And, there is plenty I could do around the house.

In the last two years I have lost my wife and oldest son. I am learning to live alone. It's not fun. I'm an introvert and marginal Asperger's, so social mixing is not something I am good at. I know I'm suffering from depression, but I don't like taking drugs. I have to work it out and I am getting better. Right now I'm doing some experimenting with a loop antenna for shortwave.

When someone tells you they are bored, they may have problems you don't know about.
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I can relate. Being honest with yourself and experiencing the pain is a start. You are not alone.
 
Grampa Don said:
I think boredom is a symptom. I admit I am often bored. I get mentally tired. Nothing is interesting, not even thinking. There are hundreds of things I could watch on Roku or books to read on my Kindle. But I don't want to watch or read any of them. I have a garage full of woodworking tools and machines that sit idle. I have model kits that are half built. And, there is plenty I could do around the house.

In the last two years I have lost my wife and oldest son. I am learning to live alone. It's not fun. I'm an introvert and marginal Asperger's, so social mixing is not something I am good at. I know I'm suffering from depression, but I don't like taking drugs. I have to work it out and I am getting better. Right now I'm doing some experimenting with a loop antenna for shortwave.

When someone tells you they are bored, they may have problems you don't know about.
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About short wave. What stations are you getting on S/W ? I thought that was something that had died out a long time ago ? I see some old broadcast radios for sale on Face Book Market Place that have multiple S/W and L/W bands, but I was under the impression that in today's world, short wave stations were rare. JIM.
 
Tazx said:
I agree whole heartedly. I will admit I had a bit of trouble after retiring. You do something for so long and in the case of my career so regimented, that you feel like you are missing something. I always had sports and hobbies but when you take something that occupied 8 hours a day for most of your adult life, it can be challenging.

Even 8 years later my clothes are folded the same, the shirts in my closet are 3 fingers apart, shoes lined up etc. Lol. Habits are hard to break after 23 years.

I think a major problem is that our identity was tied to what we did and how we did it, not who we really were.

There were studies I read that pretty much proved there is no such thing as a child. All they are, are little versions of you, their teachers, aunts and uncles. After all we taught them essentially how to be mini 'us'. Everything they know and learnt was from their parents, teachers and so on.

I think that as adults we are exactly the same. I was not the same person after high school as I am now, nor the same person I was in the military. As humans we adapt and become what is required at the time. Of course within reason. We all maintain our inner persona, so to speak. But that is life. What would it be if we were all the same! Lol.
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I'm surprised at the callousness of some of the comments in this thread. Our opinions aren't as universal as I expected. I suppose the influences you pointed out - the impact our work life has on our retirement years and the people in our childhood who ultimately shape our characters - vary more widely than I could imagine.
 
Grampa Don said:
I think boredom is a symptom. I admit I am often bored. I get mentally tired. Nothing is interesting, not even thinking. There are hundreds of things I could watch on Roku or books to read on my Kindle. But I don't want to watch or read any of them. I have a garage full of woodworking tools and machines that sit idle. I have model kits that are half built. And, there is plenty I could do around the house.

In the last two years I have lost my wife and oldest son. I am learning to live alone. It's not fun. I'm an introvert and marginal Asperger's, so social mixing is not something I am good at. I know I'm suffering from depression, but I don't like taking drugs. I have to work it out and I am getting better. Right now I'm doing some experimenting with a loop antenna for shortwave.

When someone tells you they are bored, they may have problems you don't know about.
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You make some good points, Don, and I can pretty well identify with what you say. There are of course dozens of causes and degrees of boredom. If someone doesn't feel good health-wise, very little is going to appeal to them. If one feels like the dickens, no amount of advice re getting a hobby or getting out and doing something is going to have the least bit of allure.

Some forms of boredom are indeed depression. In my own case, it's almost unlimited the types of things I could do, but I'm just not interested in much. I would love to have something I could point to that would cause me enjoyment. I do enough things (I still work self employed 3 afternoons a week), and I have chores, but if someone held a gun to my head and challenged me to say what I enjoy, I wouldn't know what to say.

I often think of the great English actor George Sanders, whose suicide note read in part, "I am leaving because I am bored." That's certainly boredom to the extreme, but yet I can understand what he was saying.

So if people feel reasonably good or healthy, they're not likely to be bored for long. But if major depression or health issues are a problem, that's a whole other matter.
 
Timewise 60+ said:
Some peoples hobby is to do nothing! They just 'hang out' and do as little as possible. If it works for them, it is ok as far as I am concerned!
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yes thats fine - if people dont want to do anything much, not a problem.

But OP was about people complaining they were bored - if you are happy doing not much you wouldn't be complaining about it.
 
carouselsilver said:
I had an acquaintance who would phone me and whine about being bored. Usually while I was in the middle of one of my hobbies. After encouraging her to find a hobby, she would list all the reasons why she couldn't find something to do. I stopped answering the phone.
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You may have missed the phone call to tell you she had taken up whining. :LOL:
 
officerripley said:
Thatā€™s me most of the time; Iā€™m unable to drive most of the time, have a heriditary illness that makes it undesirable to be around others most of the time, and live in the middle of nowhere. So thank goodness for my dog, books, the internet, and cable tv.
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The more I think about this, I guess I feel like John Waters does, who said, ā€œThe only insult Iā€™ve ever received in my adult life was when someone asked me, ā€˜Do you have a hobby?ā€™ A HOBBY?! DO I LOOK LIKE A F*CKING DABBLER?!ā€ šŸ¤£
 
Coming from a background in education, I often had kids respond to requested tasks by saying, ā€œthis is boring!ā€ I would smile to myself, and think of that child as an adult, working a routine job and being expected to do essentially the same thing, day after day, for the duration of their working lives. Then they would experience the real meaning of boredom!

For such as those, I see boredom as a high-class worry. There are things far worse than simple boredom, such as being in a job with such an unrealistic workload that you are forced to do some of it on your off-hours to complete the assignment and job expectations, or face bad reviews, disciplinary action, fears over job security, and so on. Been there, done that, and boredom would have been a delicious luxury at such times rather than a punishment!- -Ahh, to not know what to do with myself, how to fill the hours!

But not wishing to be insensitive, I know that boredom can be a real problem to some. Home maintenance is my solution to potential boredom. There is always something breaking down, or crying out for paint or other maintenance, With repairmen asking exorbitant fees just to enter your house, I have learned to do many things myself. Like to work outdoors?- -Weeds never rest.

Volunteers are needed in many fields, and such can be an effective remedy to boredom while giving the volunteer a sense of purpose. Everyone has a potential niche thatā€™s waiting to be filledā€¦
 

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