[Zebedee]

I've been realizing more and more that I can't handle monotony in any form. I've given up the most innocent of monotonous pleasures like watching sports on TV--Basketball: they go back and forth, you might see a dunk, a buzzer-beater, a game-winning shot, but really, there's nothing new. It's gotten so bad that I can't even read through a whole book without feeling anxious because i'm tired of being in one author's head for too long, now I'm just reading random quotes from multiple authors.

Lately it feels like I need randomness just to stay interested in life. My past few jobs were completely uncharacteristic for me, I enjoyed the novelty, then I had to move on once they became familiar. But since I don't want to repeat any of my past jobs, I'm running out of options. I'm living in fear that I'll have to return to sameness, starting back from the beginning.

Needless to say I change hobbies like underwear.

I feel like I've developed some form of adult ADD. Anybody else feel this way? How do you keep yourself interested?

 

[OrangeAppled]

I try and look at the same things from different perspectives, so that I can continually glean something new from it & it doesn't get old... or at least not as quickly. I look for the hidden potential that you miss if you move on too fast.

I have a restlessness about me too, a drive towards novelty, but I don't think it's this extreme. I think it might also help you to introspect a bit on what makes you happy, what you need to be fulfilled in the long term, over what is simply interesting & novel. That can help you develop more personal & deeper connections to things, so you can stick around to really explore their full potential.

 

[Marimeli]

By being an obsessive scholar. I Seek out new things to learn quite constantly.

 

[Vin The Dreamer]

Yes, I can't stand watching TV here too, especially sports. I like to play them, but not watching them. Series and comedy tend to interest me more, the humor is unpredicted (if it's done well), and the drama is always renewing itself and reaching higher levels.

Seeking novelty in life seems like a trait of Enneagram 7s, and their virtue is sobriety, learning to balance the desire for novelty and short-term pleasure. There really are things that are only interesting when their new (like most music singles... ughh :bored, but I think some things, like a good book, can really interest someone once you get past the initial pleasure of it being 'new'. Maybe hobbies and activities that have 'depth' to them may attract you? Where you learn better ways to do things, make new connections you wouldn't think of, and can 'immerse' yourself in them? Maybe anything that requires developing technique. Just making some suggestions here.

Edit: Just to include a more concrete example. My friend has a Guitar Hero game, and when he visits us we play together with some other friends. The attractiveness of this game is that you get to learn to play increasingly better, and the musics get tougher to match you. And once you mastered one difficulty level, you can turn up the ante even more. For my friend's game in particular, we can then even switch instruments for something newer. I started out perfecting my guitar-play, and now I'm getting good on the drums! (And for this game in particular, my friend can even download extra songs from the PlayStation Network)

 

[Luis Fuego]

I've been realizing more and more that I can't handle monotony in any form. I've given up the most innocent of monotonous pleasures like watching sports on TV--Basketball: they go back and forth, you might see a dunk, a buzzer-beater, a game-winning shot, but really, there's nothing new. It's gotten so bad that I can't even read through a whole book without feeling anxious because i'm tired of being in one author's head for too long, now I'm just reading random quotes from multiple authors.

Lately it feels like I need randomness just to stay interested in life. My past few jobs were completely uncharacteristic for me, I enjoyed the novelty, then I had to move on once they became familiar. But since I don't want to repeat any of my past jobs, I'm running out of options. I'm living in fear that I'll have to return to sameness, starting back from the beginning.

Needless to say I change hobbies like underwear.

I feel like I've developed some form of adult ADD. Anybody else feel this way? How do you keep yourself interested?

I'm with you 100% on this one. Actually, about 75%, I rarely change underwear. I can actually go... uh... wait, shit, i've said too much.

 

[neologismaker]

Needless to say I change hobbies like underwear.

... ^ I want a shirt.

I feel this way a lot, but I think I'm just in that age group. I don't know if this would work for you, (admittedly, most of the time I say it doesn't work for me, because I hate doing it) but when I force myself over and over again to stick with something, I start to begrudgingly enjoy it most of the time. As elementary as this example is, I hated brushing my teeth when I was a kid. Now, I like how my mouth feels fresh and clean afterwards. More of life is like that than even I like to admit, I think.

 

[infpblog]

We spend a good portion of our life fighting entropy/doing maintenance. Sleeping, doing laundry, washing dishes, exercising, eating, organizing and cleaning our house, etc. are some of the ways we fight entropy. I took a week and logged how much time, I spent fighting entropy and it's about 60% + and it's boring as hell unless you find another way to view those things.

Okay, now let's combine that with the research on Impact Bias. Basically, we misjudge how happy we predict we'll be when good things happen vs when bad things happen to us, getting dumped, getting unexpectedly pregnant etc - Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century - Wayne Weiten, Dana S. Dunn, Elizabeth Yost Hammer - Google Books

What I can conjecture is that even with bringing more and more novelty into our lives, after a year, we'll still have the same level of happiness then if we didn't.

All life is a balance of managing Certainty and Uncertainty. We want to be able to predict that we can eat tomorrow and that we'll be able to sleep somewhere without getting robbed. Creating that certainty in our life tends to move us away from uncertainty so we throw in a vacation or a skydive here and there and we think that helps.

Because of the research, I don't actively search for Peak Experiences though I like them and do them. Last week, I flew to another city for one day to see Florence + the Machine in concert because it was on my Bucket List. That was novel, but in the long run because of Impact Bias, I know stuff like that doesn't really affect my overall level of happiness.

For me combating the monotony of fighting entropy really comes from perspective shift and pattern shifting. Change how I look at doing things and what they mean to my life. Change how, when and what things I do. I'll add new activities and remove old activities every once in awhile, but I like to get good at something I start so I tend to do things for years before I get bored.

Also, It's easier to do pattern shift if you simplify your life so there's less moving parts.

 

[perfectcircle]

One way of novelty is changing yourself.
That's fun.

 

[cloudcompeller]

I like changing. I've come up with a method is to do/learn something new every day, but I could easily exhaust the list of what I'd do. Never very successful with this plan...

 

[FIREICE]

I realised things become more predictable when I grew up. Guess it's time to try something new!

 

[refugee]

 

[frietfriet]

I have this need for change as well. Getting bored with things (and people :sad after a while. It scares me more than anything.

 

[The Purple Theory]

I'm exactly the same way. I can't stick to one thing for too long. The only thing that has stuck to me is playing football. Everything changes so often.

Four years ago, I was into photography. A year after that, skateboarding. Then, I studied playing the piano again. Then, wakeboarding. Now, writing.

I usually have a 'thinking place' near my house where I read or write. For the past years my choice has been cafes. I become a regular for about 4-6 months, then I look for another place. I'm running out of cafes to go.

Oh, I can't keep myself interested in anything for too long. So, I really can't help you there.

 

[Lachesis]

I never get bored with anything. I'm very jumpy with my concentration, but I tolerate monotony. Unpredictability spices up life, but I want it to be based on safety of predictability of the important stuff.

I guess, I'd be the perfect worker for some kind of repetitive tasks, but only if I can from time to time indulge myself in deep thinking. So, in that way I don't think I would ever get bored of anything really. It's my internal world that keeps the external world seem like a constantly changing flux, even if it weren't really.

So, in time to time, I escape into my thoughts. I'm not even really present in reality, when I'm there.

 

[Luis Fuego]

I have this need for change as well. Getting bored with things (and people :sad after a while. It scares me more than anything.

I get bored with people so easily. I am scared I will never have a long lasting meaningful relationship, or get married or anything because of this inability to get past that sometimes.

 

[Sily]

Not too much nervous energy here. Pretty laid back. I do like researching new, interesting subjects tho & learning new things. I have my routines of daily life that I do enjoy. Constant upheaval and change and travel isn't for me. Too much of a nester, love my life, current surroundings & home.

 

[refugee]

Feels like I'm either chasing a ghost or running away from one.

My wanderlust combined with vagabond proclivities make my life one hell of a ride.

The irony is that even though I hate the uncertainty of my life, it gave birth to my curiosity and wonder.

I suppose in a weird, fucked up way, pain is the mother of pleasure.

 

[niki]

it's all about mindset

A post from one INFP Facebook group said it right, and corrected my mindset about this particular 'dilemma',
and here I quote it:

"Perhaps you should rephrase that to say, "I have a GREAT imagination and I am creative beyond belief!!!"

although I know, that in reality (oh, don't you INFPs just 'hate' that word sometimes, lol!), I know it's often easier said than done.. well, I mean: to survive in this often 'cookie-cutter, fixed-rules' real-world, that is..

 

[niki]

I never get bored with anything. I'm very jumpy with my concentration, but I tolerate monotony. Unpredictability spices up life, but I want it to be based on safety of predictability of the important stuff.

I guess, I'd be the perfect worker for some kind of repetitive tasks, but only if I can from time to time indulge myself in deep thinking. So, in that way I don't think I would ever get bored of anything really. It's my internal world that keeps the external world seem like a constantly changing flux, even if it weren't really.

So, in time to time, I escape into my thoughts. I'm not even really present in reality, when I'm there.

hey @Lachesis , just want to say that I love what you wrote on that "reality (external world) and my rich, super-vivid internal world imaginations" thing.
I've always felt the same too,..that this Reality is often WAY too mundane for my vivid imaginations lol. you might want to check out my related 'old' thread here :

http://personalitycafe.com/infp-for...ans-imaginations-fantasy-creations-world.html

 

[telepariah]

I have to have uncertainty and ambiguity in my life. My attention span is short, but there are some things I have always loved to do and will never stop... well, one thing really.

I do think there is a whole spectrum of time scales on which different people cycle through this restless feeling of needing to break out and do something new. On a daily basis, and when it comes to small things that are not of great import, my time scale is very short. I'm like a freakin' crow or something. Can not sit still for more than a few minutes and am easily distracted by every shiny thing. But for major things like jobs, my time scale has grown longer over time. So where I would change jobs every few months or even weeks when I was in my 20s, I just spent 12 years in the same job before I quit last month. That was the longest I've ever done any job. At the end it was literally making me ill to remain in that role.

But I've been skiing for 50 years and I can never ever imagine getting tired or bored with that. Skiing is like breathing for me so it doesn't fit into this modality.

Couple of quotes about this...

The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.
Ursula K. Leguin

I'm always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning. Every day I find something creative to do with my life.
Miles Davis

God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road.
Isak Dinesen

Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow, you must not stay with it under any circumstances.
Carlos Casteneda