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I feel like I experience two types of boredom. Regular boredom, which can foster creativity through daydreaming and finding new projects to work on, and what I

I feel like I experience two types of boredom. Regular boredom, which can foster creativity through daydreaming and finding new projects to work on, and what I usually call ennui, which is the type of boredom where I'm quite bored, but everything sounds terrible and I don't want to do anything. Ennui is not productive at all, and I hate it.

starbugs 8y ago
Yes, what you call ennui is really really bad. I'd love to find a reliable way to get out of it. But maybe it's just part of a natural human recreational cycle and needs to be an element of our lives.
- rhcom2 8y ago
  I know it's a cliche but forcing yourself to exercise when I feel that helps me. It distracts me from that feeling and afterwards I find if I'm "bored" it is much more likely to be the first type OP mentioned because I figured I did something productive (the exercise) so I don't beat myself up. Of course forcing yourself to do that can be a very big challenge. Just don't wait for when you "want" to do it, cause that won't happen.
  - Stryder 8y ago
    "Movement is life."
baldfat 8y ago
ennui sounds like depression to me? How is it different?
- canadianwriter 8y ago
  It's once in a while rather than chronic.
- cowpewter 8y ago
  I have depression, but it's currently fairly well controlled with medication. This ennui is not all the time, but occasional, and usually only for a period of a few hours. Depression is a different feeling to me. Depression is more feeling incapable of doing anything, where ennui feels more like I could do something, I desperately want to be doing something, but nothing sounds enjoyable. I don't feel bored when my depression is bad, because I'm incapable of even feeling boredom. Edit: I was also very recently diagnosed with ADHD, and am not being treated yet (dr appt in a few days!). It's possible maybe that my ennui is actually a combination of mild depression and the ADHD inability to focus? It will be interesting to see if I feel it less frequently once my ADHD is being properly treated.
- YinglingLight 8y ago
  You can tell people that the cure for ennui doesn't involve mind-altering drugs (just exercise, diet, social/community involvement) without being sneered at. That's the difference.
  - Jtsummers 8y ago
    To be clear, you can tell people that those things help clinical depression as well, without being sneered at. And for some people that is enough (over time, particularly as clinical depression is often a symptom of other things and not a condition on its own). The only reason they'd sneer at you is your "just" part. There's no "just" with a mental state that can leave people unable to even will themselves out of bed for days at a time (at my worst I could at least do that, but couldn't get out of the apartment without using up most of my mental and emotional strength). There are points where medication (mind-altering drugs) can be essential for people, and for others it may be something they need forever. Why? Because there are different causes. Mine is a consequence of anxiety, addressing that essentially eliminated my depression. For others, their anxiety is worse than mine and rather than medication for depression they need medication for anxiety, and not just coping techniques. For other people, the depression is a condition on its own, with no or no apparent causal factors. Others, it may be a consequence of physical health (lack of sunlight, exercise, poor diet) and so those precise things can eliminate or significantly reduce their experience of depression. It's all going to be case-by-case, and so there is no "just".
slothtrop 8y ago
I feel as though ennui/depression is often symptomatic of loneliness, health and lacking in sunshine, that sort of thing. Speaking for myself of course. I've had it follow me a long time, but for all my problems now, depression doesn't rank among them. I still get bored, but don't hate myself for it.
gowld 8y ago
That's putting boredom on a bipolar scale -- "manic" euphoric boredom, and "depressive" dysphoric boredom.
avcdsuia 8y ago
Boredom w/ and w/o motivation. I feel the same.
simonebrunozzi 8y ago
I am not a native English speaker, and it's the first time I see the world "ennui" (pronounced "An-we"). You have associated it with boredom, and you made me instantly realized that "ennui" is surely related to the Italian (my mother tongue) word "annoiato". Quick google search, and in fact it comes from the French equivalent of annoiato. This means that when I translate "bored" with "annoiato", I am actually doing a (super common) mistake. It's super interesting how words between languages have slightly different meanings, but sometimes these meanings are altered without us realizing it.

starbugs 8y ago

Yes, what you call ennui is really really bad. I'd love to find a reliable way to get out of it. But maybe it's just part of a natural human recreational cycle and needs to be an element of our lives.

rhcom2 8y ago
I know it's a cliche but forcing yourself to exercise when I feel that helps me. It distracts me from that feeling and afterwards I find if I'm "bored" it is much more likely to be the first type OP mentioned because I figured I did something productive (the exercise) so I don't beat myself up. Of course forcing yourself to do that can be a very big challenge. Just don't wait for when you "want" to do it, cause that won't happen.
- Stryder 8y ago
  "Movement is life."

baldfat 8y ago

ennui sounds like depression to me? How is it different?

canadianwriter 8y ago
It's once in a while rather than chronic.
cowpewter 8y ago
I have depression, but it's currently fairly well controlled with medication. This ennui is not all the time, but occasional, and usually only for a period of a few hours. Depression is a different feeling to me. Depression is more feeling incapable of doing anything, where ennui feels more like I could do something, I desperately want to be doing something, but nothing sounds enjoyable. I don't feel bored when my depression is bad, because I'm incapable of even feeling boredom. Edit: I was also very recently diagnosed with ADHD, and am not being treated yet (dr appt in a few days!). It's possible maybe that my ennui is actually a combination of mild depression and the ADHD inability to focus? It will be interesting to see if I feel it less frequently once my ADHD is being properly treated.
YinglingLight 8y ago
You can tell people that the cure for ennui doesn't involve mind-altering drugs (just exercise, diet, social/community involvement) without being sneered at. That's the difference.
- Jtsummers 8y ago
  To be clear, you can tell people that those things help clinical depression as well, without being sneered at. And for some people that is enough (over time, particularly as clinical depression is often a symptom of other things and not a condition on its own). The only reason they'd sneer at you is your "just" part. There's no "just" with a mental state that can leave people unable to even will themselves out of bed for days at a time (at my worst I could at least do that, but couldn't get out of the apartment without using up most of my mental and emotional strength). There are points where medication (mind-altering drugs) can be essential for people, and for others it may be something they need forever. Why? Because there are different causes. Mine is a consequence of anxiety, addressing that essentially eliminated my depression. For others, their anxiety is worse than mine and rather than medication for depression they need medication for anxiety, and not just coping techniques. For other people, the depression is a condition on its own, with no or no apparent causal factors. Others, it may be a consequence of physical health (lack of sunlight, exercise, poor diet) and so those precise things can eliminate or significantly reduce their experience of depression. It's all going to be case-by-case, and so there is no "just".

slothtrop 8y ago

I feel as though ennui/depression is often symptomatic of loneliness, health and lacking in sunshine, that sort of thing. Speaking for myself of course. I've had it follow me a long time, but for all my problems now, depression doesn't rank among them. I still get bored, but don't hate myself for it.

gowld 8y ago

That's putting boredom on a bipolar scale -- "manic" euphoric boredom, and "depressive" dysphoric boredom.

avcdsuia 8y ago

Boredom w/ and w/o motivation. I feel the same.

simonebrunozzi 8y ago

I am not a native English speaker, and it's the first time I see the world "ennui" (pronounced "An-we"). You have associated it with boredom, and you made me instantly realized that "ennui" is surely related to the Italian (my mother tongue) word "annoiato". Quick google search, and in fact it comes from the French equivalent of annoiato. This means that when I translate "bored" with "annoiato", I am actually doing a (super common) mistake. It's super interesting how words between languages have slightly different meanings, but sometimes these meanings are altered without us realizing it.