Ennui | Bored with life? | 5 tips to feel more excitement 🤩

Ennui Meaning

The meaning of ennui is,

“a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.” -Google via Oxford Dictionary

Ennui is not the optimal way to live your life.

Ennui may even begin to feel like an existential crisis.

If there were some grand survey, promised to be completely blind… 

A survey measuring ennui to determine who’s the most dissatisfied. 

To measure who’s not anxious about their next step. 

Who’s not one plane ticket away from their great escape, 

I’m sure we’d all feel right at home with the survey results that point to the listlessness hidden beneath our tough exteriors. 

You can Fight Ennui

I’ve only known one person who truly battled the demon of boredom face to face.

He stepped right into the ring and let reality batter him.

Hand-to-hand combat with ennui, he held the intuitive knowledge that a life of excitement is better than paralyzing boredom.

Even if he emerged as a beaten and bruised winner. 

Finally, he grew to be at peace with destiny.

He never gave up on adventure.

But realized that exchanging every expectation for God’s love is the ultimate antidote for wistful wandering. 

Now he sleeps at peace with God and man, having put ennui to rest. 

Forgiveness became his cloak of warmth, the cool breeze on a summer day when heat threatened exhaustion. 

There’s no turning back. 

And our roads diverged when all was finally well with his soul.

Ennui is a Lonely Road

I, however, held tightly to my disease of ennui, what I did not know that was hurting me. 

It’s lonely to be left behind. 

To know you’re on the wrong road while you continue to travel it. 

He watched me struggling with a suitcase too small for all my baggage. 

I watched him disappear like a mirage, maybe he was never even there. 

But when I knew him, I was never bored.

The story is vague but true.

In clearer terms, some people seem to be memorably charismatic and at peace with themselves.

But, we never see how much they struggled to conquer ennui, so they could finally experience a life of peace and excitement.

I’d met someone like that and they changed my life. I learned so much from them about how to resist ennui and settle down in peace with myself.

Here are 5 tips to feel more excitement in life based on my observations from a sage.

5 Tips to Eliminate Ennui

1. Don’t hyper focus on ennui

Sometimes we overthink our state of being.

The more we think about how bored we are, the more we feel bored.

If we constantly ruminate about our life’s lack of purpose, these thoughts will snowball into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The best way to stop hyper focusing on your sense of listlessness is to find a job to do.

Here, I’m not talking about a job where you get paid, though it could be that.

I’m referring to an act of productivity.

It is proven that completing chores can give you a hit of endorphins which feels like a burst of energy. Sweep the floors, water some plants, organize your drawers, or clean your dishes.

Lounging in your bed or on your couch is the perfect petri dish of circular self loathing.

So, get up and get busy to conquer ennui!

2. Turn your thoughts outward

A sure way to magnify your sense of ennui is to never stop thinking about yourself.

If you are constantly repeating thoughts like:

“I just feel so bored.”

“I’m so tired of my life.”

“I hate not having anything to do.”

You are too focused on you.

Instead of focusing on how bored you are, think about how you might enrich someone else’s life. Get your friend out of the house, take a loved one fresh flowers, or invite them over for tea.

Your friends and family may be feeling the same indifference to life!

Instead of obsessing about your misery, turn your thoughts outward and think about how you can proactively bring excitement to someone else’s life.

3. Observe nature

You don’t always need to be engaging in intense activity.

You can actually observe nature and feel satisfaction by noticing the bark on the tree, literally smelling the roses, and paying attention to fluffy cloud formations.

The feeling of listlessness is often connected to our inability to put away our phone and other electronic devices.

There is no way to overcome ennui if you hold onto your phone while also trying to observe nature.

Leave your phone inside. Go outside and sit in the swing. Close your eyes and really allow yourself to feel the breeze against your skin.

Listen to how many different sounds you can identify in nature.

When you do this, you’ll notice how your thoughts of boredom fade away.

Nature can be a calming source of enjoyment.

The more we’re able to separate from digital life, the greater sense of satisfaction we’ll attain.

4. Take care of God’s creatures

This sage was constantly noticing animals who’d been thrust into a polluted city environment outside of their natural habitat.

He took care to make sure they had food and shelter.

There’s something about caring for an animal that will put your blues at bay.

Our family recently took in a kitten. It’s been so heart warming to see how each child forms a unique relationship with God’s creatures.

Taking care of a pet, takes time. Whether you’re feeding the pigeons or adopting a dog — you are sure to feel more purpose and less ennui.

So, think about it. Once you’ve stopped hyper-focusing on ennui, turned your thoughts outward, and stepped outside to enjoy nature–consider how you can actively care for God’s creatures.

5. Love someone

I love this tip. After all, lovelifelinks.com is dedicated to helping you feel more love in your life. Love is such a wonderful feeling.

Its effect is magnified when you experience mutual love, two people equally committed to putting a fence around their union so ennui can’t creep in.

However, there is another type of love that requires you take the first step.

Have you stopped showing your parents love through acts of kindness, maybe even as simple as calling them to check-in?

Are you closed off to the possibility of love because you’ve been rejected and hurt so many times?

If you’ve experienced profound hurt and disappointment, there’s good news.

Now you have pain with which to compare a deep love that is comparatively profound. But the only way you can open yourself back up is to become vulnerable again.

There is a love that you choose and a love that chooses you.

Both can vanish your sense of ennui in a moment’s time.

Anytime you’re feeling like you’re smothered by ennui, turn on your favorite love songs, even if you don’t currently have a love.

Realize that love is accessible within.

In summary, there are several ways we can eliminate ennui from our lives without going out and buying fancy toys or spending ridiculous money on extravagant vacations.

I hope you’ll remember these 5 tips the next time ennui tries to steal your joy.

LoveLifeLinks.com hopes you’ll remember your power to overcome ennui and experience a life of contentment and joy.

Remember, you can feel love. Anytime. Anywhere. All the time.