Taking sides: stress vs boredom

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I wish I knew the answer to this right now.

Interpret this how you may - work, relationships, lifestyle, whatever. But especially work.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

oh boredom, definitely.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

For context's sake, this is the sequel to Fear of growing up

I've gone from an incredibly easy but utterly tedious and demoralising job that gave me the freedom to do more or less what I wanted to a more interesting but immensely high-pressure one that feels like its eating my life. I'm not sure which situation is best. Why is there never a happy medium?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

you can feel stressed and bored at the same time. i think they call it nervous energy.

― cindy margolis holocaust (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 9 May 2005 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Boredom is always counter-revolutionary. Always." -- Guy DeBord

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 9 May 2005 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Stress is classic in the short-term because it makes your job more interesting and gives it a buzz. In the longer-term, you can freak yourself out by thinking could I work another 20 years plus in this job?

Boredom at work messes with your self-confidence in the long-term.

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Monday, 9 May 2005 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure what boredom is like, really.

I am megastressed now and it is fucking shit.

(Obv actual answer depends on relative degree of both but new job = CASHMONEY also, right?)

(Stressed is better in relationships I think?)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Monday, 9 May 2005 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

you're forgetting that for some (primarily Mercury-influenced) people, boredom _is_ stress....any sort of busy activity, movement, noisy environment and pressuring/challenging situation is highly preferable to a stagnant or sterile state of inertia. I believe some of these people are believed to have "ADD," if they still call it that these days? They're not mutually exclusive...J0dy otm.

― Vichitravirya XI, Monday, 9 May 2005 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i prefer boredom, but that's because i never have time to be bored.

― Maria (Maria), Monday, 9 May 2005 22:12 (twenty-one years ago)

boredom is classic from about 5-7 pm, dud from 9pm to 1am

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 9 May 2005 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

stress. i can't deal with boredom, and i'm always stressed regardless.

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Monday, 9 May 2005 22:33 (twenty-one years ago)

stress, always.

― 57 7th (calstars), Monday, 9 May 2005 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

With stress, at least you can entertain your friends with all the causes of it and endless delimmas and drama. Boredom just leads to mischief resulting in said dilemmas and drama. Rinse. Repeat.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm always bored and stressed so I'd rather have neither :(

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

boredom, i love it.

i wonder what debord meant (above)?

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, boredom is a form of stress in and of itself.

Though at the moment, until I get my Anger Managed I'm having to make do with boredom because stress has fairly unpredictable results.

― The Square Root Of Negative Two (kate), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:49 (twenty-one years ago)

boredom is totally stressing me out lately.

― JuliaA (j_bdules), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Stress, for sure.

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 12:12 (twenty-one years ago)

boredom is classic from about 5-7 pm, dud from 9pm to 1am

Gear oTm!

I would rather be stressed (to a certain degree) at work than bored, somehow I would feel better going home that I'd actually earned my wage.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 12:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Being bored all the time can get stressful, I think. Feeling guilty about spending too much time on the internet, quickly minimizing solitaire, sorting out drawers just coz. It can be soul-destroying.

Stress is okay in small doses, I'm liable to just flake out in highly stressful situations.

― jel, Thursday, 12 May 2005 07:21 (twenty-one years ago)

boredom and stress are the yin and yang of life: they cannot be separated. at least, that's what i tell myself to keep myself sane.

it doesn't really work.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 12 May 2005 07:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Gear! OTM, and also: stress (as long as you mean frantic busyness, rather than, say, wondering if your girlfriend loves you or whether you can pay off your debts, that kind of stress).

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 12 May 2005 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I am currently experiencing both. If I were to go for one without the other, I'd pick boredom. I can amuse myself with a televisionful of crap for a few days, no problem.

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 12 May 2005 09:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Ste makes a good point - I dont mind stress if its because I'm busy, at least that means I'm getting things done and the day goes quick, and I get a bit of adrenaline out of it.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 12 May 2005 09:43 (twenty-one years ago)

boredom is tempting but when you get through a stressful day it makes everything you do with your freetime a bit sweeter.

I say this as someone who did practically nothing, all day, every day from 2001-2004.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 12 May 2005 09:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Boredom. I've done both, and whilst boredom is soul-destroying, you can recover from it and move on. Stress is soul-life-spirit-mind-relationship-destroying and very difficult to recover from. The negative impacts of stress do real harm.

― miele kitty (miele), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:01 (twenty-one years ago)

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