Beware, are you getting caught in the humdrum trap?

Today while I was travelling in the bus, I overheard one of the passengers saying that she was feeling too bored of her life, it seemed to her that there was no end to her daily routine, that she was just fed up of the monotonous chores of her life.

This is not very uncommon. Few days back while traveling by the local train, I observed the facial expressions of people waiting to board the train, of those alighting from the train, and of those simply passing by. I was sad to see that most of them were just plodding through wearing a straight face. As if it was the end of their world. There was lack of enthusiasm and zest in their demeanor.

Have you too ever felt such lack of passion and excitement from life? I am sure each one of us do.

While most of us may feel the brunt of it just occasionally, it is more of a concern for those who are totally getting caught into this humdrum trap day by day.

The Risk factor is higher if we don’t realize that we are getting dragged into such a monotony. The repercussion of it: Lack of self-motivation, depression, feeling of lifelessness etc.

So, is every individual a victim of it? The answer is Yes. In some way or the other, each one of us get caught into this humdrum trap.

The monotony that penetrates an individual’s life is influenced by the activities that contribute to majority of his/her time. Thus, you will find that most people cribbing about lack of motivation, or boredom are those who are involved in redundant activities or doing tasks which they do not enjoy at work or at home wherever they spend majority of their time.

For example, people in 9am-6pm jobs complain about lack of work-life balance and lack of time to pursue anything else that interests them. Housewives, who spend round the clock on household chores seek motivation to pursue tasks that will give them a sense of achievement at the end of the day

But do you really think getting into this ho-hum life is inevitable? Definitely not! Falling into this trap, to some extent, is our choice. It requires deliberation to pull oneself out of the routine life and add more spice and excitement to it.

But many would complain that their hectic schedules do not pave way for anything other than managing routine chores

Whilst it may be true for some depending on the unavoidable circumstances in which they are, but for the rest who are consciously wasting their precious time without doing anything productive for their own self, yet complaining about boredom, should remember the old adage, ‘where there is a will there is always a way!’ It just takes that first small step to pull oneself out of their mundane state of mind to adopt something new. So at least give it a try!

To go about it, as a first step set some non-materialistic targets for yourself. These could be based on your passion or hobbies. For example, you would have loved all your life to learn music or dance. You would have had a desire of driving on your own or learn a new sport. If you never had any passion, you may learn new skills which could be useful all your life like swimming, martial arts etc.   I have listed some of the options which you could explore.

          1)   Enroll to learn a new art form, music, dance or painting. Learn a new instrument, such as a guitar or a piano. Learn all your life and feel like a child.

2    2)     Some of you would have always wanted to drive on your own. Why only dream about it? You can still learn driving and accomplish that dream!

3    3)     Learn crosier and try your hands on knitting. Even stitching can be easily learnt these days. Electronic sewing machines can be purchased online at reasonable rates. With the help of  you tube the basics of these art can be easily learnt

4    4)     Make work-out fun by joining Zumba or swimming class rather than the regular gym or yoga class

5    5)     Those who love to paint can try their hands on different types of painting like charcoal painting, glass painting, cloth painting etc

6    6)     Join sports club and try different sports every six months.

7    7)     Trekking is one option which could be challenging and a motivation to focus on your fitness.

8    8)     Make a bucket list of movies/ books which you always wanted to watch or read. If you are not sure which ones, google the top 10 must watch movies or books to read. Target each of them every week as time permits

9    9)     Visit cultural events, live concerts, contemporary art exhibitions, plays and dramas rather than visiting movie theaters on weekends. Updates on such events are available on local newspapers, apps such as BookmyShow etc.

     10)  Try adventure sports such as wild river rafting, para gliding etc. rather than going on sightseeing always while on holidays

     11)  Visit the needy more frequently and help them. Something as simple as gifting your help or the watchman on special events or festivals can bring a lot of happiness to both the parties. The smile on their faces will be worth it all.

The list is endless! To make the above possible, once in a while identify cheat days when you could cheat on your responsibilities. Grab those opportunities to utilize doing things which interest you. Many of the above listed activities can be done on weekends as well.

The secret mantra to kill the redundancy of your life is to try new things and spice it up! Never restrict yourself within your self-created boundaries. Life is too short to waste and there are so many things in life to try and taste! So enjoy each moment and keep growing as you learn more and more!