The “Secondary Signal” of Boredom

In a framework called Mickel Therapy, boredom isn’t just an emotion; it’s a physical message from the hypothalamus. It’s a signal that you are “under-creating.” Essentially, my body was telling me that my environment was no longer meeting my soul’s need for engagement.

​I found myself walking past a swing hanging over the ocean. In a moment of impulse, I hopped on. As I swung out over the water, it hit me: This is the feeling of me. I am a fun person. I am a “Yay” person. And I had accidentally starved my nervous system of excitement in the name of “safety.”

The move to “the vibey place” & the Boogie Board experiment 

 With this realization, Adam and I made another pivot. We moved to Hiriketiya—a vibey, happening coastal town. Even in the off-season, the energy here is different. I told Adam I needed a bit more “whoop whoop” and a little less “shhh.”

I even threatened him with a karaoke night (the ultimate healthy sympathetic activation!), but the real breakthrough happened in the water.

I’ve accepted I won’t be surfing until September at the earliest. But who says I can’t be in the green water now?

Every morning, I’ve been joining Adam at the backline—not on a surfboard, but on a boogie board. Using flippers with a “gammy leg” is hard work, and my physical tolerance is low, but the feeling of catching a wave—pretending, for a moment, that I’m surfing—is pure gold.

Expectancy Violation – the “monster” in the surf

  There is a massive psychological hurdle in chronic recovery: the fear of the flare-up. In ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), we talk about taking risks in service of our values. One of my values is “Vitality.”

This morning, the “what if” happened. I got dumped. A wave caught me off guard and tossed me around. For a split second, I froze, waiting for the familiar lightning bolt of pain to return.

But it didn’t.

My back was okay. This is what we call Expectancy Violation. My brain expected a catastrophe, but the reality was… I was fine. I tackled the monster of “What if I hurt myself again?” and I won. By taking that calculated risk, I showed my brain that I am more robust than the fear suggests.

 So many people hold back from life because they are terrified of a setback. I get it. I never want to feel that Nepal pain again. But we cannot heal in a vacuum of joy. Healing requires a dance:

Safety: Knowing your limits.

Desire: Knowing what makes you feel alive.

Risk: Being willing to get “dumped” occasionally to prove you are still here.

I’m not 100% yet. My foot still drops, and my glute is still sleepy. But my spirit is back online, and in the “Long Game” of recovery, that is the greatest “Yay” of all.

Tracy’s Clinical Note: the “Yay” state

​In clinical practice, we spend so much time teaching patients how to activate the Parasympathetic (Rest & Digest) system to lower pain. But a healthy nervous system isn’t just “still”—it’s flexible.

We need Healthy Sympathetic Activation. This is the same energy as “Fight or Flight,” but it’s directed toward play, creativity, and excitement. If we stay in “Rest” mode for too long, we enter Hypo-arousal—a state of numbness and boredom.

When we engage in “Yay” moments (like my boogie boarding), we retrain the brain to see high-energy states as safe rather than threatening. This “Expectancy Violation”—proving to the brain that we can move, fall, and even get dumped without breaking—is the key to breaking the cycle of persistent pain. Don’t just wait to be “better” to have fun. Use fun to get better.

Contact: Tracy Prowse at tracyprowsephysio.co.za