Managing emotional eating requires having an understanding of your internal emotional world. These experiences are often uncomfortable or challenging, and you may not even recognize that you are an emotional eaters if you’ve been soothing, numbing, avoiding, or suppressing your emotions with food for a long time. (You can take my quiz - Am I An Emotional Eater? here.) 

In my last blog post, I talked about the BLAST protocol as an entry point to emotional awareness. Today I’m going to talk specifically about boredom - the B of the BLAST protocol - to help break it down, cozy up to it, and offer strategies to approach boredom with curiosity versus numbing and avoidance.

Boredom craves stimulation, connection, engagement, and creativity; however, the opportunity to numb, distract, and check out has become all too easy with doom scrolling and quick and easy foods being super available—these go-to’s are often topping the list of how you might currently cope with boredom. I learned from a very early age to never claim that I felt bored; the few times I did my task list became long, arduous, and, well, in my opinion, quite boring. Cleaning is not at the top of my list of engaging, stimulating, or ways of connecting; however, it might be for you. And that is what we’re going to get curious about today, what tools and strategies work specifically for you.

In order to get in touch with any emotional experience, it is essential to practice the pause of the pause, reflect, and release protocol. During the pause, you can check inward and acknowledge that a craving may be driven by a desire to emotionally avoid or numb out. I recommend trying to practice the pause consistently, not just when noticing a craving, and to do an emotional check-in multiple times a day in order to grow emotional awareness. By doing so, you create presence and awareness of what is true right now. Without the pause, it is difficult to grow self-awareness. Ways you might practice the pause could be, prior to eating a meal and/or snack, prior to brushing your teeth, prior to opening up your phone to check social media, your email, the weather, the next video on YouTube… During the pause, you can go through the BLAST protocol (bored, lonely, angry stressed, sad, tired,) and if you indeed notice you’re bored, consider what else might give you a feeling of stimulation, connection, or engagement in your life.

Having a list of things you enjoy can be helpful. I call this the positive nourishment list. This is a list of 10-20 things you find pleasure in that are not food or tech-based that can create a connection to yourself or to others in a genuine way. First you can get curious about what your boredom really wants- and have options on your positive nourishment list that match the varying categories.

When you’re bored, doing something creative can tilt you into the eaves of your imagination. Examples for your positive nourishment list could include journaling, doodling, coloring, crafting, cooking, decorating, doing a puzzle, or reading; for you it could be cleaning if that is a creative outlet for you - really anything that is creatively engaging and enjoyable to you that can shift you into a more present moment experience.

Doing something movement-related may help to release some stagnant energy that boredom can produce as well. Examples for your positive nourishment list could include, taking a walk, doing some stretching or yoga, dancing, biking, or playing a sport. Movement can also help to get you into your body in a way that feels pleasurable and connected, and supports the process of releasing boredom.

If you notice within the boredom that you are procrastinating doing something that you don’t really want to do, maybe give yourself a time limit to do something you’d enjoy as a reward for after you complete that task for that period of time. That way, what you perceive as boring can be rewarded with something pleasurable, and the anticipation of knowing something you enjoy is on the way can create motivation.

If you notice your boredom is driven by lack of connection, some examples for your positive nourishment list could include calling a friend, going to a cafe and strike up a conversation with the barista, researching meetups or clubs in your area, or seeking volunteer opportunities in your area. If you notice that your boredom is driven by a lack of connection with yourself, examples for your positive nourishment list could include journaling, meditating, or finding a therapist or coach who can support you in getting curious about what you want and why you may be experiencing emptiness or constant boredom in your life at this time.

No matter what is driving the internal experience of boredom, it doesn’t feel good, and this is why you might find yourself numbing and avoiding things that only perpetuate feelings of emptiness, lack of connection, and lack of feeling stimulated or engaged with your life. The pause is where to begin; curiosity is part of reflecting, and the positive nourishment list is so helpful so that you can create new ways of engaging with your emotions, particularly that of boredom. The release is making the new choice, choosing another option other than numbing out with food or any other way so that you can create stimulation, connection, engagement, and fulfillment in your life today.