How Do Psychedelics Change One's Relationship to Boredom

“All illegal narcotics are medicinal. Boredom is a disease worse than cancer. Drugs cure it, with little or no side effects if used as directed. Life's temporary for a reason. It gets boring after a while. You should be inventing new drugs is what you should be doing! Newer, crazier drugs…” - Doug Stanhope

Does boredom matter more than we think? It might even be more damaging compared to stress when it comes to certain aspects of our lives, such as creativity, wellbeing, and performance in the workplace. Perhaps boredom has become a defining feature of modern life, where we simultaneously look for ways to alleviate acute experiences of feeling bored via distracting activities and also deal with existential boredom, where we struggle with our sense of self. 

Modern life can feel constantly stimulating, and it doesn’t seem like our nervous systems have quite caught up with the demands of the 21st century. Our morning routines are often filled with things we need to pay attention to, but it could be that the constant stimulation is a sign of low satisfaction, where we often feel the need to stay busy in order to appear more valuable to ourselves and others in society. I have certainly been drawn into this, where I write about different topics and put myself out into the world – it’s enjoyable to not only be doing things, but also have people see that you’re doing things and offer you praise. We all want to belong and be involved in some way or another in whatever it is we’re passionate about, but can this desire feed into a sense of restless attention? 

We speak of “filling” our time with activities, as if to suggest that not having activities means our time (which really we mean our life) is empty – but what if being bored is more about disconnection rather than feelings of emptiness? It could be that our daily routines aren’t providing us with enough meaning in our lives, and so we might look towards ways in which we might be able to find this. Psychedelic plants and fungi might serve as technologies which can alter our attention, as well as our perception of meaning and time, allowing us to potentially be comfortable with not always having to fill our limited time with things to do.

Do psychedelics then have the power to reduce boredom over the long-term? Perhaps they reduce our resistance to not necessarily always needing things to do, but they could also heighten our experience of the more monotonous tasks in life and reduce our tolerance to them. If the activities we engage in after our psychedelic experiences seem repetitive and meaningless, then this could increase our sense of boredom from an existential point of view. The potential for psychedelics to increase meaning in certain areas of our lives might highlight the boredom we experience when we’re not engaged in those particular areas. 

But could the opposite also be true? What about the potential for psychedelics to allow us to appreciate the simpler tasks in life, such as doing the dishes or sweeping the floor? I’m fond of the Zen Buddhist saying:

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. 

After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water”

Interestingly, this implies that there is always something which needs attending to – even after you reach enlightenment, you still need wood for the fire and water to make the soup. So perhaps psychedelics can provide us with a new lens to view life through, rather than providing us with relief from the symptoms of boredom in a world which can often be quite boring. It’s no surprise that people report profound experiences when they have an experience which is in such stark contrast to a world which doesn’t feel meaningful, but perhaps psychedelics have the power to open new pathways to meaning and connection where we’re never truly bored.

Despite its prevalence in the world, the cognitive aspects of boredom remain poorly understood. Some research looking into adult diagnoses of ADHD has suggested that there might be a link between sustained attention and boredom. Individuals who are highly prone to boredom often report feelings of apathy towards certain activities or agitation, where an individual wants to engage in certain activities but encounters a lack of satisfaction despite repeated attempts. We might then think of boredom in this way as attentional dysregulation, which can also manifest in individuals who are depressed or anxious, and this can provide some more insight into understanding how psychedelics might potentially change our relationship to boredom. 

It could be that something such as an adult diagnosis of ADHD has its roots in traumatic life events, ultimately leading to the individual not feeling safe in their surroundings, and looking for something outside of that situation to focus their attention on. There is some evidence to suggest that microdosing psychedelics, such as LSD or psilocybin, can assist with bringing us more into the present moment and allow us to be more mindful of our surroundings. 

While boredom might be linked to attentional dysregulation among certain groups, it can also provide a motivational aspect to our lives. We might experience reduced agency as a result of feeling bored, and then seek out new challenges that move us towards engaging in pro-social behaviour as well as non-social activities. When we’re in a state of boredom, we might perceive time in a way where it seems to drag or stall – short tasks like waiting in line for 10 minutes at the Post Office, for example, might feel like an eternity, whereas time seems to pass quickly when hanging out with friends. This kind of boredom relates more to the situation or environment we find ourselves in, but the side which involves more existential exploration might allow us to understand boredom on a deeper level when it comes to the impact that psychedelics can have on our relationship with it. 

Existential boredom is more complex, where we can see boredom as revealing key aspects of the human condition, such as meaning, ontological freedom, and our sense of finitude. The Roman philosopher Seneca spoke of tedium vitae, which relates to the tiredness of life or a feeling of general restlessness. We might also experience this as weariness or annoyance, with a life marked by a sense of unease or senseless attitudes. Boredom can be more than just a fleeting sensation, as it has the potential to transform into a state where we are faced with the potential to either explore our authentic self or evade this exploration and escape the responsibility for our own being. The potential of psychedelics to create more of a state of openness can bring us to this point where the reduction in our ego state leads us to what philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch referred to as ‘unselfing’, which creates space for us to attribute meaning to the world around us outside of an egocentric lens. 

We can look at boredom in this sense as a search for meaning, where it acts as a psychological signal to disengage us from what we’re already doing and move us towards new possibilities. I’ve had jobs in the past which felt totally soulless and devoid of meaning, but I was always struck by how bored I was. The lack of meaning in these jobs was almost painfully felt when I was so bored, rather than just me recognising that there was a lack of meaning. 

I would often be in shock when I worked in an office and met people who had been there for 20+ years – I always wanted to ask, “But how?? Don’t you get bored of coming into the same place every day for that long?” Maybe they didn’t, and they were just comfortably living a life which they didn’t give much thought to. I never managed to stay in these jobs for very long (my record length of time in an office environment was just over a year), as the boredom became overwhelming at times, where I just thought “this can’t be it”. Even with this recognition, it’s still taken many years to shift my mindset to the point where I can’t endure the boredom any longer, and I credit my experience with psychedelics for allowing me to recognise the boredom and discomfort.

The ability for psychedelics to enhance our perception of meaning can potentially allow us to create a life which we don’t ever find boring. The disruption of the Default Mode Network under the influence of psychedelics can provide us with new insights and pathways to explore, often putting us into states where nothing ever feels boring. My experiences on something such as LSD, for example, have always been interesting, even if they’ve been difficult or challenging, and perhaps psychedelics such as this have a certain quality which takes away the possibility of being bored.

I’m not sure about anyone else, but one of the big things which attracted me to psychedelics was the fun aspect of the experience. I didn’t try mushrooms for the first time in the hope of trying to work through any trauma or figuring out the mysteries of the universe – I was curious because I wanted to change my state of consciousness towards something which felt more interesting and exciting than my regular waking state. This isn’t to say that the state we experience under the influence of psychedelics such as magic mushrooms is always fun, or that the waking state is inherently boring. It’s more so that it feels like the chances of being bored while tripping are dramatically reduced, as different aspects of our reality take on new shape and meaning to keep us thoroughly engaged. 

The increases in subjective sensory vividness that we experience in this state can allow us to appreciate the richness of our surroundings, such as colour, light, or different shapes and sounds. This can be felt in a joyful and stimulating way, where we’re enthralled at what we’re taking in from all our different senses and experience exemplified meaning in everyday stimuli. Psychedelics have also been linked to an increased sense of curiosity, as well as providing the potential for novelty to emerge from the changes in our perception during these kinds of experiences. 

Psychedelics can allow us to return to something of a childlike state, where we can rediscover fun and playfulness in a way which really seems to grab our attention. LSD in particular seems to make adult brains more integrated or unified, similar to the unconstrained and hyper-emotional infant brain, which is more imaginative. I often speak about LSD in this way, where I find myself being totally captivated by different stimuli (mostly visual) in a way where it feels like I’ve never seen it before. 

It often feels like I’m experiencing this world in a totally fresh new way, like a newborn taking in its surroundings for the first time. The pleasure we derive from intense observation during an LSD experience can show us how joy can come from reframed attention, where it might feel like it’s almost impossible to be bored, because there’s always something which can captivate us. There have been times when I feel a real sense of wonder during LSD experiences at the visual effects, and how such a small amount of a substance can have such a great impact, particularly when it comes to observing visual phenomena, such as clouds, for example, which seem to have an amazing ability to contort into a wide variety of shapes.

Psychedelics might then provide a natural antidote to attentional fatigue, where instead of feeling like we’re exhausted from always trying to find something to grab our attention, we’re able to be in a state which naturally makes us prone to having our attention grabbed. But does this mean that boredom reappears when we’re not tripping, or is there a way to continue the interest, joy, fun, or engagement throughout our lives?

My experience of trees has never been the same since I first took LSD – I can’t quite put my finger on what it is exactly, but they have just seemed more ‘alive’ since the experience. It might seem obvious that trees are alive, but do we ever really stop to think about that? I have noticed the shape of them more, all the way from the branches to the leaves, and the texture of the bark. My engagement with them as entities is slower and calmer, often approaching them like I would an old, wise teacher who I hope will welcome me. There is some evidence to suggest that psychedelics in lower doses can increase baseline attention, and this might allow us to take more notice and have more awareness in the present moment. 

One of my favourite activities to do while tripping on LSD is to take myself off to the middle of some woodland, and just stop, listen, and look. To the outside observer, this might seem quite boring as I’m not really doing anything – I’m precisely trying not to do anything other than just be in the state of awareness. But it’s certainly not boring! The appreciation I have for the sound of the wind, the creaking of the trees, or the noise of birds or insects, as well as all the different smells and even possibly some sunshine to illuminate all the greenery, makes this an utterly exciting and lively experience. 

These kinds of moments are a testament to the gratitude we’re able to find through our experiences with psychedelics, where we can embrace enchantment and discover new connections with certain aspects of ourselves and with other people. This appreciation for ordinary moments can facilitate enthusiasm for life itself, as well as form greater relationships with the natural world. We might find ourselves less dissatisfied, where the idea of being bored doesn’t even come into the equation, as we feel so connected in a way which might be totally brand new. 

But does this connection and enchantment simply happen as a result of consuming different plants and fungi, or do we need to find ways to integrate these experiences so that these connections persist? Integration is crucial in promoting the long-lasting benefits of psychedelics, and it may encompass a different range of techniques. I haven’t personally had any psychedelic integration sessions, but I feel like I have carried the energy from my experiences into everyday waking life.

The joy, enthusiasm, and interest which I’ve felt while tripping have infused my sense of being, where I enjoy being playful and a bit cheeky – mainly for the reason that it’s fun, and I’m able to escape feelings of boredom through creative practices. As a musician, psychedelics have certainly allowed me to find the fun in my creativity and never feel bored because there’s always some new avenue to explore. Having a cultural container or some kind of community where joy and enthusiasm are fully welcomed can facilitate this integration and determine the extent to which the effects of psychedelics persist or fade.

Integration can be a difficult process, especially when returning to a life which feels less exciting than what we’ve experienced with psychedelics. Perhaps the salience we find through psychedelics is precisely because we’ve been taken out of our everyday waking lives, which can generally feel quite boring in comparison. In this state, we might find ourselves seeking novelty with different psychedelics or hopping from one retreat to another in order to recapture what we previously felt. Ordinary experiences can feel flat compared to the expansive nature of psychedelics, but does this mean that we always need to be in the psychedelic state in order to feel joy or enthusiasm? 

Could repeated psychedelic experiences in quick succession signal a desire to remove boredom altogether? I understand where people want to create intentional communities to remove themselves from a perceived life of boredom, but is this something which we always need to seek to alleviate? There’s even some suggestion that being bored is actually a good thing, as it forces us to grapple with the bigger issues in life related to purpose and meaning. Although boredom can force us to think about things which are uncomfortable, this can be a really important experience of figuring out what we actually want to do in our lives, so we don’t end up in a state of depression. Finding meaning in life seems to be a protective factor against depression, and it does seem that a lack of meaning and boredom go hand in hand.

Where psychedelics can be helpful in treating depression could also be a signifier of how they can alleviate boredom by providing the depressed individual with more sense of meaning in their lives. Psychedelics, in this way, can reveal the mechanisms behind being bored, rather than alleviating it altogether. After our psychedelic experiences, we might need to negotiate between this newfound increased perception and living in a world which exists in ordinary time. 

Could the real lesson from psychedelics be that we are able to remain in a state of presence when nothing dramatic is actually happening? This could be the real shift that psychedelics can facilitate, where boredom doesn’t even come into the situation because we’re enjoying the state of presence so much. In this sense, psychedelics can provide us with a sense of maturity and patience while learning to inhabit ordinary moments in the fullest way possible. Boredom could be seen as a signifier to stay in these moments rather than flee, and allow our consciousness to find sustained presence in whatever we encounter. It shows us how our sense of meaning is no longer related to what it is we’re doing, but more about how meaning, attentional, and emotional truth can emerge in a way which is slow and intentional. 

Oli is one of our community bloggers here at Chemical Collective. If you’re interested in joining our blogging team and getting paid to write about subjects you’re passionate about, please reach out to Sam via email at [email protected]