6 Reasons Why Your Life is So Boring

Ever wonder why life is sometimes so dull and boring?

Even without the pandemic locking many of us away from doing fun activities, chances are that life can still feel dull and boring.

In this article, we’ll shed some light on six reasons why you could be bored with life.

1) You live to impress others

Being a people-pleaser can lead to a damaging view of oneself, leading not just to boredom but self-esteem issues as well. (Healthline). Oftentimes you can’t help but hold this strong desire to feel validated by other people, even at the expense of your own happiness. Having your emotions in the hands of others is boring since it forces you to wear multiple different masks that aren’t even your own.

2) You have a short attention span

According to a study in Denmark, we are all collectively paying less attention to things. A trending Twitter hashtag that would normally stay in trending for 17 hours in 2013 now would just take 11 hours. With the ease of having immediate stimulation, your brain is constantly on the lookout for fast and easy entertainment. Social media plays a big role in influencing this and frequent consumption of it can make you feel bored very quickly.

3) You don’t get out of your comfort zone

Do you fear rejection and uncertainty? You are not alone. A comfort zone can be both encouraging and confining, but it can also inhibit growth (Walden University). If you stay too long in your comfort zone, you may end up becoming complacent and not learn anything that can help you grow. This lack of courage can lead to a boring life. We Bought a Zoo (2011) beautifully fleshes out this sentiment.

“You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.” – Benjamin Mee.

4) You glamourize the lives of other people

Kpop group BLACKPINK sang these lyrics, “Look at you, now look at me.” Did you ever take that to heart and feel a tiny bit ashamed in comparison?

Sometimes, we can’t help but compare ourselves to others. It’s one way on how we seek stability and define ourselves (Harbinger). Social psychologist Festinger pointed out that the more important we think some particular group of people is, the more pressure we’ll feel to conform to that group in our abilities and opinions. But by doing this, you will tend to watch the highlights of someone’s curated feed and compare it against your own normal routine. This is oftentimes very skewed and not the actual representation of your own life.

5) You are not where you want to be

Pixar’s Soul (2020) had a witty quote that is all too relatable to this point. ‘You can’t crush a soul here. That’s what life on Earth is for.’ – 22.

Many times, we find ourselves doing things we don’t like to do out of necessity, whether it’s working an unfulfilling job or studying the wrong course. Lots of people approach it by going through life like slogging through murky swamp water. And it’s hard. Although life is full of ups and downs, sometimes, it can seem as if it’s a long and never-ending down, which is pretty boring, to say the least.

6) You have a twisted view on a not-so-boring life

Do you find life boring because you feel that you should be aiming for better things, like a larger house or a better career trajectory?

If you tie your idea of success to a single benchmark or to someone else’s standard of career accomplishment, you will never experience satisfaction. (Torres) Life can sometimes feel boring or empty when you are searching for the wrong things.

Closing Thoughts

Conventionally dull colors can still make beautiful paintings in the hands of the right artist. We hope you have picked up on the things that make your life boring! To end, this quote from Pixar’s Soul is a nice point to ponder about when you feel that life isn’t going your way.

“I heard this story about a fish. He swims up to this older fish and says, ‘I’m trying to find this thing they call the ocean.’ ‘The ocean?’ says the older fish, ‘that’s what you’re in right now.’ ‘This,’ says the young fish, ‘this is water. What I want is the ocean.” – Dorothea Williams

That’s all for now, Psych2Goers!