To fend off boredom or inactivity, before going to bed I make a mental list of things I plan to do and places I need to go to the following day. I then try to check things off the list. If I dont get the things done I just put them on the list for the next day. If I find that I have very few items on the list, I can always take a drive to the lake or park, unless weather shuts me down. And I make these plans for things I can do by myself, so other people bailing on me is not a factor. If a friend does call with something to do, I just put off my plan until the next day. Doing something, anything really, keeps me engaged and takes my mind off all the crap going on these days.

I'm currently drawing Social Security so I'm sort of retired. Knowing that I would end up getting really bored I still work 20 hours a week. A for the extra free time I started shooting 4 gun Skeet in 2021. One result of that is I'm still learning a new skill, so I do a lot of practicing to the tune of 10.000 rounds a year. Which means I do a lot of reloading. Have 2 matches in August and those alone will use up 500 rounds for each match. Between Practice, reloading, and catching up on projects that have been put off a bit too long I have plenty to keep my occupied. BTW I also exercise for 90 minutes every other day but that's not much of a time investment.

quote:

Originally posted by RogB:
I think boredom is a close cousin to depression.

That has occurred to me and, being as I've suffered mild depression in the past (so-claimed my Dr. at the time, anyway), I try not to let boredom become habitual--just in case it's not really plain old vanilla boredom

I was bored when I was working. Sigforum gave me short respites from that.

Ever since I've stopped working, I haven't been bored. I last worked April 2020. I'm got several personal projects I'm working - working on my own bible commentary, a portfolio strategy on Excel, a retirement tax plan on Excel, a study series on personal finances, finally will chrono my handgun ammo this week, zero them, start carrying, then do my rifles next.

This Saturday, I went to a Ham radio class. It was free and I plan on getting a license as my nephew wants me to so we can talk in case of emergencies. He's in Washington and I'm in Arizona. What was a realization for me is that I used to teach college courses on alternating weekends, Saturday and Sunday. This Saturday, just sitting in class, my brain shut down at 1 pm. I also want to plan on vacation trips for my wife and I after Covid and everything else. I would really like to visit Alaska. Then maybe Spain or Portugal for those small suckling pigs and calamari.

Then there's my two mini-poodles. They keep me occupied as they seem needy for my attention.

These things have taken me away from a primary diversion of yanking leftist liberal chains in Facebook groups.

As YooperSigs mention, having a to-do list keeps one busy. Except I don't keep a mental list, I use Microsoft OneNote to capture all the things I have to do whether it's one-time, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or even multi-years. I just don't want to get caught flat-footed and missed not doing something I was supposed to do. It's a fail-safe for me as I get older and not having a routine. One of the furthest dates I currently have on my to-do list is Jun 1, 2028 when I'm supposed to start the process of renewing my passport which expires Mar 2029 as I can renew 9 months prior to expiration.

I think this last part speaks to the things you know you need or should do. Just start scheduling them into time slots. And it's okay to push out dates; I've pushed out the date of when I'm supposed to start exercising after my retinal detachment.

So I'm not bored.

Re: radical changes

I’ll tell you, every day I’m inches closer to buying an an adventure bike and doing BDR.



Was nomadic before, not unhappy to do it again.

My cure for boredom was getting married and having 3 little ones: almost 2, 5 and 7 years old.

Chasing them around/playing with them/keeping them from killings themselves around the house and other areas plus the wife’s “Honey Do” lists have made boredom a distant memory

I just tell the wife "I'm bored, nothing to do, going to nap" As soon as my ass hits the chair, bingo, instant list of things to do....

Seriously though, its an issue for most of us, just as well have a hard time getting going on projects and things to do, once I'm doing them it's fine and hard to stop, it's getting that oomph to get up and do it..

I have been retired 3.5 years and I love not doing anything. Wake and decide to sit back and veg, tackle chores, or hobbies. No longer part of the rat race and don’t care what the rats are doing. I do like to try something I never was good at or had the time like drawing and sketching. I do like to draw. Might take up the guitar, banjo, or piano. Just haven’t decided yet.
A lot of people think that since you are retired you can devote time to their projects or looking after children or family members. Being a slovenly lazy retiree takes up all my time and I tell these people that I retired and that means I do not like to work. Took a while for people to get used to that. I love retirement.

For me, unless, I make some sort of commitment which forces activity under time pressure / schedule pressure, I tend to procrastinate. This leads to unhappiness because there are thing I need / want to do but don't get to them. I need something to force me into action. It's this procrastination that leads to boredom and unhappiness - I don't want to do anything and yet there are things I want / need to do. Putting off until tomorrow what I should be doing today.

So, learning elementary <language> by X date when we leave for Y destination forces me. Buying season tickets to the symphony forces me to learn about music so that I can appreciate it as evidenced by being able to intelligently critique it.

I think for me, procrastination is the root cause; boredom and unhappiness are the symptoms.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I still possess curiosity about the world but it's nothing like it was when I was younger. When you get older, you've consumed much of the information about this world and- at least in my case- the satisfaction derived from discovering new things diminishes.

I'm your age, early 60s and I'm the same.

When I was younger, even 10 years ago, I would have intense involvement in different activities and hobbies (my company, guns, shooting, music, biking, wine, cigars,etc), spend lots of time and money on them, and then eventually lose that intense enthusiasm, turning into a slow simmer. Now I have basically run out of things to get intense about.

Right now I am basically semi-retired, I have set my hard date for full retirement this Oct. So I've had practice in being a recluse at times, and truthfully I don't mind, it seems to fit me nowadays. I'm extremely lucky my wife and I, after 40 years of marriage, still like each other as companions; there will be lengthy periods of time, weeks, when she is the only human I have contact with (other than store clerks). We have an empty nest, so no kids to fuss over.

I have come to accept that my daily life will not be a hard boil of activity, but a simmer, with spurts of busy activity. Once upon a time, it was my nose to the grind stone, running around with my head cut off 24/7 and it is simply not that life anymore. And I'm fine with that. But golf is on the horizon next year; one of my friends is insistent I join him for some rounds. Haven't played in 30 years, but it sounds like fun.

I'm on my second year of retirement and am getting to be bored too. Wife and I now make it a point to go out walking every morning. After that mostly hanging around on the porch till the sun drives us in. Internet was fun for a while but now is losing me. I refuse to watch television and don't do movies much. I have tons of projects that need doing but no drive to start them. Hopefully someone has the answer and we can all benefit.

For me, at 75, it's keeping active with friends; old and new. I do that on the pickleball court at least five days a week. That and voluntering as a USA Pickleball ambassador promoting the sport throughout central Texas. I get the exercise I need while meeting new people and having fun.

Fighting boredom has been a big battle for me over the past few years.

I have seen my circle of friends shrink drastically and my responsibility increase quite a bit. That doesn’t mean I haven’t found a great deal of boredom with my daily grind and the occasional free time it affords. I understand the mentality of having things to do but completely lacking the energy or motivation to do them.

I’ve found projects such as building an electric bike, learning how to disassemble and modify Seiko automatic watches and that has helped slay boredom quite a bit. It’s always fun for me to start a new project and learn how to build something. The feeling when I complete a project is quite satisfying.

I’ve also spent a lot of time recently learning about philosophy and stoicism on YouTube which has done wonders for slaying my boredom.

Taking on additional responsibility is a way to kill boredom but it has its ups and downs. A few years ago I became a soccer coach and have received tremendous joy from watching my team improve over the years. It’s mostly a thankless job but occasionally you do get recognized for your investment and that is a damn good feeling. It’s also a truly euphoric feeling when your hard work pays off and your team surpasses your highest expectations.

The only time I ever got bored was while waiting for something to happen while I was in the Army. Other than that, I'm never bored.

The people I know who get bored are the ones who have no hobbies, no interests and don't read. They have nothing to do and are bored all the time. I avoid them.

I shoot twice a week with 2 completely different groups of people. One group is shotgun people, trap, sporting clays, skeet and 5 stand and the other is handguns and rifles. I've lost 4 good friends in the last 4 or 5 years and I'll be losing more because the average age is probably around 75 or so. It's part of life and while it depresses me for a while, I snap out of it and go on my way. Life goes on.

I struggle with bordom. Ive got 3 kids at home 11-17 so they keep me pretty busy. The honey do list is longer than I can manage but when I have some free time the last thing I want to do are chores. I push through it some of the time.

I've always enjoyed working with my hands but have had a desk job the last 20 yrs. Recently started dabbling in knife making and leatherwork. Knife making has been enjoyable but takes more time than I usually have available. Leatherwork has been great as I can pick it up and put it down just about whenever I want and really enjoy it and has helped with the boredom factor.

Not sure what to do about relationships. I've always had lots of very close relationships in my life. Lately I've grown increasingly tired of people and their bs. Cutting off some unhealthy relationships has been good but most people including my wife irritate me more than they should and I find myself distancing from them. I just dont care anymore even though I know I should.
I hadn't really thought much about it until now.

There are thousands of internet rabbit holes to go down to learn new things.

Any field you can think of.

There are also general science publications on every level.

Quanta and Science news daily are two.


I also read the original research on stuff the news just bullshits about.

If you read the actual studies, you see how much the news bullshit about the science in actual studies and how they distort conclusions.

There is always new stuff to learn.

I have a job that can be incredibly boring at times,

some days I search Algore's internet forward and backwards, walk around the store etc and am still bored,

but that is part of retail when you for a company that limits what you can do,


leaving that job soon, to work on my own,


however, back the OP,, sometimes when I am home and up late, wife gone to bed, I surf the net, surf the channels, read a book, have a drink or 2, until I am finally tired and can fall asleep,

those nights are thankfully rare,

Boredom is my worst enemy. My brother said boredom is just limitation. Seemed pretty accurate.

I think there's a dopamine component at play. It's the hormone of pursuit. I take Kratom daily now and it helps me in ways I cannot put enough emphasis on. It provides what I try to describe to people as "motivation" not energy like a stimulant. So that is massive for me. Dam near anything is fun after I take Kratom and everything seems like a good idea (exaggeration of course.) I almost talked myself into learning the piano after a dose. Wore off and came to my senses.

For me I have to always train with weights or do something physical since I can only lift 4 days a week. Even if it's just walk. That can burn an hour or 2 and makes me feel spectacular.

My main tools against boredom

1. Kratom
2. Beer on weekends
3. Physical training of some sort daily
4. Shoot - once a week if I get my way
5. Cigar or pipe puff here and there
6. Cook which falls in with the training
7. Coffee
8. Podcast, book on tape, etc. All day have an ear piece in listening to something. If I don't keep the mind busy I get negative and frustrated fast.
9. Go meat hunting at different stores for markdowns.



I smoked Cigs in high school and when I quit the hardest part was that I realized it was just something to do. Chewing tobacco same thing.

Here's an idea, Para. You are quite knowledgeable on various firearms, as well as how to run a very successful discussion forum for many years. Why don't you start writing your personal thoughts and memoirs on these 2 topics and consider publishing them? I have no doubt you have endless insights, wisdom, and extraordinary anecdotes to share!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chris17404,

Five years into retirement as of last month.

I have been working part time in a motorcycle dealership 2-3 days a week and 1%2 days in a Gun shop. All this changed this year, the owner of the Gun shop passed away in February and the decision was made by the family to close it. And the motorcycle shop, many reasons entered into leaving and being a 65 mile round trip at 5+ bucks a gallon sealed its fate.

Friends, yes Para, circle is getting smaller and smaller for the same reasons you cited.

I did volunteer to work with the local government in the next election. There also is an animal sanctuary/rehabilitation facility in the area, might go talk to them too. I had planned to volunteer at animal control but our dog does not play well with other dogs and I’m a softy when it comes to puppies.

We do watch the grandkids but they are soon off to school. Did have plans for a up north cottage but due to the uncertainty in the economy I just look at Zillow and dream for now.

I’m still searching myself for a happy balance.