Overcoming boredom

[The Voice of Time]

Do you think the longer a person lives, the more likely that person can get bored at some point? Would the only solution then be to erase some memories to make life more interesting?

PhilX

I think boredom is more to do with disorientation in life. If you have a heading in life, you have something for which you can explore. The world is a massive place, so is the web, so you're bound to always find new things if you keep looking. But if you stop looking, you're gonna get stuck with the same old, same old, and that's going to be boring.

The best defence against boredom though, is being the creator of your own life, because it widens the horizon, and gives you access to deeper and deeper truths about said life. For instance, choosing to become your own technician, will allow you to front problems uniquely, with the full responsibility and therefore the full ability to test, try and find out new things.

There's always going to be things you can do, you just need to master your own mind so that you can keep them in sight, and not loose sight of the library of opportunity.

[Dalek Prime]

Love exploring and learning new things, and you'll not be bored for the most part. But not having the opportunity or time, due to obligations, can wreak that.

[Obvious Leo]

Love exploring and learning new things, and you'll not be bored for the most part. But not having the opportunity or time, due to obligations, can wreak that.

Too many people paint themselves into a corner by defining their own lives in such narrow terms that they can't see the wood for the trees. Cook your own dinner, fix your own car, work in your own garden, walk your own dog, build your own house, educate your own children etc etc etc. If we weren't always paying others to do things which we are perfectly capable of doing for ourselves then we wouldn't need to work so hard doing things we don't particularly like doing.

This was the conclusion I came to over thirty years ago, Dalek, and I've never looked back. I've never made much money but on the other hand I've always made a lot more than I ever needed, for the simple reason that I've never needed much. If my roof leaks I get my ladder out of the shed rather than my phone off the desk and I approach every one of life's obstacles with the same mindset. There are no limits to the possible depths of the human experience but nobody's going to come knocking at your door to offer you an exciting brand-new life. You have to make it happen and the first rule is that if you don't like what you're doing then you should stop doing it.

[Dalek Prime]

I concur completely, Leo.

An on line acquaintance once said there are three things to avoid financial ruin; I'll leave the first out, but the other two are avoiding credit cards like the plague, and not living an ostentatious lifestyle, aka consumerism.

We have one life. Live it fully, and as stress free as possible.

[Obvious Leo]

We have one life. Live it fully, and as stress free as possible.

To me this is such an obvious truth that I truly don't understand people who can't see it. Life is a one-off experience and as we age we realise this simple truth ever more poignantly. Since we only get one crack at it it makes perfect sense to me to make bloody sure that I'm getting my money's worth and not wasting my journey by doing things that give me the shits. At the same time I'm vain enough to derive some satisfaction if other people think well of me and this is enough to give my life an overall sense of purpose. If I can leave the world a better place than I found it through even a single useful achievement then the world has become a better place as a consequence of my own existence. What more is there and what more does there need to be?

This will do me for an epitaph:

"Here lies Leo. He gave it his best shot."

[Dubious]

An on line acquaintance once said there are three things to avoid financial ruin; I'll leave the first out, but the other two are avoiding credit cards like the plague, and not living an ostentatious lifestyle, aka consumerism.

We have one life. Live it fully, and as stress free as possible.

Don't know why some people are so adamant against using credit cards. I only have one, never had more, paid it off every month with not a penny paid in interest. At the same time I get a statement online itemizing the charges allowing one to review past purchases and therefore greater control than paying everything in cash.

It will still take a while but I'm willing to bet, not as long as imagined, cash will be a thing of the past. Everything will be paid electronically. Governments - especially in the advanced economies - are desperate to accomplish precisely that...for insidious reasons which are not hard to fathom.

[Obvious Leo]

I've never owned or used a credit card because I've always worked on the simple principle that if you haven't got any money then you can't buy anything. However since the convenience of them is undeniable I've always had a debit card. A debit card operates in exactly the same way as a credit card except that you're spending only your own money from a designated account which you simply top up as required by direct bank transfer. If anything a debit card is even simpler than a credit card when it comes to buying stuff online, which I tend to do a lot.

[thedoc]

Cook your own dinner, fix your own car, work in your own garden, walk your own dog, build your own house, educate your own children etc etc etc. If we weren't always paying others to do things which we are perfectly capable of doing for ourselves then we wouldn't need to work so hard doing things we don't particularly like doing.

Up until 7 years ago I was doing just that, the old house was in the process of being rebuilt and I was doing the work myself, but I was slowing down with a long way to go. I was 62 years old and had been diagnosed 2 years before that with congestive heart failure. Then the old house burned down, a total loss, and my family told me I wasn't allowed to try to build this one myself. A builder built our new house and now we have a finished house to live in. Sometimes you have no choice but to step back and let someone else do it for you.

[Obvious Leo]

Cook your own dinner, fix your own car, work in your own garden, walk your own dog, build your own house, educate your own children etc etc etc. If we weren't always paying others to do things which we are perfectly capable of doing for ourselves then we wouldn't need to work so hard doing things we don't particularly like doing.

Up until 7 years ago I was doing just that, the old house was in the process of being rebuilt and I was doing the work myself, but I was slowing down with a long way to go. I was 62 years old and had been diagnosed 2 years before that with congestive heart failure. Then the old house burned down, a total loss, and my family told me I wasn't allowed to try to build this one myself. A builder built our new house and now we have a finished house to live in. Sometimes you have no choice but to step back and let someone else do it for you.

I certainly get what you're saying, doc, because I would never even undertake another major renovation, let alone start a house from scratch again. I too am an old fart with my best years behind me so the point I was making was more a statement of general principle than a one-size-fits-all mantra for the masses. It's also the case that different people have different talents and interests, and this is not irrelevant to the subject, but it saddens me that so many people seem to just simply assume that they can't do something and the only basis for this assumption is the fact that they've never tried to. There's nothing we can't learn and we'll invariably be surprised at the amount of simple satisfaction and self-regard which derives from being able to say "I did that".

[Dalek Prime]

An on line acquaintance once said there are three things to avoid financial ruin; I'll leave the first out, but the other two are avoiding credit cards like the plague, and not living an ostentatious lifestyle, aka consumerism.

We have one life. Live it fully, and as stress free as possible.

Don't know why some people are so adamant against using credit cards. I only have one, never had more, paid it off every month with not a penny paid in interest. At the same time I get a statement online itemizing the charges allowing one to review past purchases and therefore greater control than paying everything in cash.

It will still take a while but I'm willing to bet, not as long as imagined, cash will be a thing of the past. Everything will be paid electronically. Governments - especially in the advanced economies - are desperate to accomplish precisely that...for insidious reasons which are not hard to fathom.

It's a general rule. Considering the number of bankruptcies that are often due to CC debt, its not a bad general rule. Clearly, if you pay it off every month before interest hits, it's a helpful item. But things happen. People aquire debt and plans go awry.

Your bank hates you for paying your CC on time. You're a lousy customer/consumer. And that's a good thing. But as Leo pointed out, there are debit cards and and PayPal-like systems. So there's less reason to have one.

[Obvious Leo]

It's only the interest rates on the credit cards which make them so deadly for careless consumers and not so much the debt itself. If you really MUST have something which you can't afford then at least take out a personal bank loan at an affordable rate rather than allow yourself to be exploited in such a transparently obvious way. At the moment money is dirt cheap to borrow in this country and I'm sure this is the case everywhere so there's really no excuse for running up a huge credit card debt.

[Dalek Prime]

It's only the interest rates on the credit cards which make them so deadly for careless consumers and not so much the debt itself. If you really MUST have something which you can't afford then at least take out a personal bank loan at an affordable rate rather than allow yourself to be exploited in such a transparently obvious way. At the moment money is dirt cheap to borrow in this country and I'm sure this is the case everywhere so there's really no excuse for running up a huge credit card debt.

Problem is, they give the things away, and keep raising the victim's limit, until they break them. Most of these people wouldn't be considered for the lower interest loans. Saw a show recently called The Super Rich and Us. They made and still make their fortunes off of our debt.

There are two types of "fuck you" money. One is lots of it, that you don't have to bother with people. But the other is not owing money, that you don't have to worry. Whilst the former would be nice, I'll settle for the latter, which is fairly simple to accomplish.

Worthwhile program, btw.

http://tvo.org/programs/the-super-rich-and-us

[Obvious Leo]

It's only the interest rates on the credit cards which make them so deadly for careless consumers and not so much the debt itself. If you really MUST have something which you can't afford then at least take out a personal bank loan at an affordable rate rather than allow yourself to be exploited in such a transparently obvious way. At the moment money is dirt cheap to borrow in this country and I'm sure this is the case everywhere so there's really no excuse for running up a huge credit card debt.

Problem is, they give the things away, and keep raising the victim's limit, until they break them. Most of these people wouldn't be considered for the lower interest loans.

The secret is to never let it get that bad, mate, because banks are the world's best standover merchants. Some people are their own worst enemies when it comes to financial management but it doesn't have to be that way if they could only get timely advice before the situation gets out of hand. I've seen it happen too many times to too many people and it appalls me that vulnerable people can be exploited in such a ruthless way. No doubt many will just say that it's their own stupid fault and that they're only getting what they deserve but in my view this is a very callous way to treat a serious social problem. More often than not the victims most directly affected are the children of these naive people and children are always blameless.

[Dalek Prime]

Leo, I don't know why financial.planning is not a course in school, because clearly no one taught these adults these simple lessons, which are of great import to everyone's life.

[Obvious Leo]

Leo, I don't know why financial.planning is not a course in school, because clearly no one taught these adults these simple lessons, which are of great import to everyone's life.

You're just a bleeding-heart neo-Bolshevik softie, Dalek. Schools are there to churn out factory fodder for the dark satanic mills, not to teach people life skills and responsible social behaviour. Next thing you'll be expecting us to teach kids how to think for themselves, which would clearly be the end of civilisation as we know it.