The lost skill of leisure: embracing stillness and boredom

KEY POINTS:

• We've grown accustomed to constant stimulation: fast, intense, and always available. Activities that once felt natural, like reading, creating, or simply resting, can start to feel too slow or dull by comparison.

• The problem isn't just screen time. It's that silence and stillness have become genuinely uncomfortable, and boredom has come to feel like a signal that something is wrong.

• Rather than focusing only on cutting out unhelpful habits, there's value in deliberately building new ones: practising stillness, allowing boredom, and gradually reconnecting with slower, more nourishing activities.

• This kind of change tends to be gradual, but many people find that with time, the nervous system adapts and stillness begins to feel like something to move toward rather than avoid.

If this resonates with something you're experiencing, therapy can be a useful space to explore your relationship with rest, attention, and how you spend your time.

The full article is available at: https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/articles/the-lost-skill-of-leisure-embracing-stillness-and-boredom