Stopping Pleasures

Have you noticed that youth today don’t know how to get bored?  They can always fill their time with their phone or a tablet of some sort.  These fillers are called stopping pleasures.  However, there is really no pleasures about them.  These stopping pleasures are really hindrances to your everyday joy.

Stop flowing with life’s temporary pleasures that add no eternal value… Moroyei Ebiakpo Bayelsa

We live in a culture of abundance – everything is quick, easy, fast, and at our finger tips.  With abundance so easy to achieve, it’s easy to put aside our emotions, feel numb to the world, and just go through the motions.  Why is that?  

Feeling sad? There’s an app for that

Feeling bored? There’s a show for that

Feeling lonely? There’s a dessert for that (or an app for that)

We turn to many things (especially apps) to help us feel better and solve our stress.  They give us a big blast of dopamine in our brains which helps us feel happy.  If only for a moment.  A ‘pleasure’.

But, research has shown that if we continually solve our stress with pleasures, then we won’t know how to deal with our stress.  This inability to face our stress only strengthens our stressors.  We need to pause, breathe and practice being calm. Learn to solve our stress by our own power and prayer.  Doing this will increase our reliance on God and increase the ability to have true joy – not manufactured joy.  

We need to teach our youth to not rely on the ‘device’ to fill the boredom.   We need to teach our youth to be creative, to read, to play games, and to enjoy nature.  We need to teach our youth to use their own strength to combat stress and to calm their stressors – not rely on YouTube or snapchat.  

Sidenote:  I was amazed at a young mom I saw at the airport with her baby (under one year of age). The baby was a bit fussy – possibly teething, tired, or not feeling well – nonetheless, to ease this baby’s discomfort, she immediately pulled out her phone to a cartoon.  This was a baby. Now to be fair, we didn’t have devices when our children were young, but if or when this occurred, we would pull out a toy or a book or even simply talk or sing to them. Usually, one of these would be enough to settle.  To each their own on their ‘rules’, however a baby learning this distraction at an early stage will become even more difficult to break in their teenage years.  

If our youth – at a young age – can learn to not rely on their devices to calm their emotions, this will result in a stronger (mentally and physically), more adaptable, caring adult.  

Even if you – as an adult – are relying on these ‘apps’ to calm your stressors, begin today a new start.  

• Put down that device to fill your boredom
• Pick up a book
• Go for a hike, walk, or a run
• Go to the gym
• Start a puzzle
• Draw something
• Learn to knit
• Start learning how to woodwork
• Meet a friend for coffee or tea
• Clean your room or home

My husband and I have gotten quite into different puzzles – the standard type and a model type. They are quite challenging at times and stimulate the brain in a creative way.

The ideas are endless.  I challenge you this week to start a new hobby or activity to conquer that boredom in a different way.  Need help with finding something to do?  Click the link below. I’m always here to help.