Dealing With Monotony

Do you have any tips for dealing with the monotony of day-to-day survival? When we hiked the Appalachian Trail, that was the hardest part. Once the conversations had been exhausted, there was just putting one foot in front of the other and continuing to move.

I think one of the reasons I knew I could never be entirely a stay at home mom was that I knew I would go nuts if I was doing the same things all of the time and didn't have anyone to talk to other than the kids. When I think about a situation that would have us bugging in, I see that drudgery and boredom coming fast. Sure, there is work to tend the critters, basic cleaning, and setting fish/crab traps but it would be the same things over and over again. No new people. Nothing to do beyond what we already have stored. How many games of Yahtzee can we really play before going insane? People talk about the struggle just to survive but I guess I don't really see it in a bug-in scenario. Sure, we'd have to work a little harder but we wouldn't be going to an outside job either. We have what we need and if the government is down, we wouldn't be worried about earning money to pay for car insurance or taxes.

 

When I was stationed with the US Air Force at Keflavik Iceland...I hated it there the first six months. Not much to do on the job...and even less off the job. Boredom to the max... Went to the movies a lot.

I got to crying about it so much one of the guys took me aside and told me I ought to shut the H--l Up....I could be in Greenland instead of Iceland.

And I knew he was right.

After that I did not complain that much.

The second six months were a breeze.


In a place like that ..you learn a lot about yourself and the people around you..

You watch some people falling apart day by day when separated from the things and people they know.

I can handle it better now days than in the days of my youth.

Keflavik, Iceland turned out to be good for me in a strange way. I learned to appreciate more of what I had here back home.
I can take aloneness better than in my youth. I was never the soial butterfly type..even in the days of my youth.

I came to prefer the graveyard shifts...less people around..more Indians and less chiefs. I prefer it that way.


Thanks,
Watcherchris

Not an Ishmaelite

 

I have very little problem dealing with boredom. I am interested in almost everything and can find things to occupy my mind in almost any situation. I think that it is easier for me to sort of go into myself and daydream than it is for most people. I'm never the person that sees something that I don't understand and just shrug and move on. I am endlessly curious about almost everything. My wife says that collecting hobbies is my favorite hobbie and she is probably right. If I see something that I like I don't want to buy it as much as I want to know how to make it myself.

I can sit down anywhere and find a piece of wood to whittle on. I love bird and wildlife watching. When I am walking there is an almost zin state of peace that will come over me. I used to walk many miles almost every night. Sleep has always been something that I didn't do as much of as most people. I worked at night and back then there was no TV after midnight and nothing was open to do so I walked.

 

There is an art to realising what it is that makes you happy and allowing yourself the luxury of letting your mind roam free...it sounds like you have got it sussed TexDanm.

 

LOL, I have often said that my biggest blessing is that I have beer tastes and am not the least bothered because I don't like champagne anyway. I like a lot of very simple things. I've never been the most ambitious soul in the world. I think that I was probably one of the last persons in Texas to own a color TV. I love to sit and watch the clouds or best of all a big storm. When I go solo camping I can spend a morning preparing the fire for that night so that it is a one spark or match fire that will burn all night. I can spend hours looking at a fire and remembering and thinking.

After rereading this I wondered if the statement to which I allude might not be common elsewhere. Someone that is perpetually broke and never happy with what they have is said to have Champagne tastes and a Beer pocketbook. They don't usually live within their means.

 

This, I totally agree with.

 

What I wouldn't give to have a moment of boredom.