Boring vs. Tedious

There is a fine distinction between the meanings of "boring" and "tedious", which doesn't even show up obviously in the dictionary definitions. For me, it is a significant distinction; put most simply, boring things put you into a soporific state, while tedious things you get tired of. The reason this is a meaningful distinction for me is that my brain reacts very differently to the two.

If I am working towards a goal I care about, I can handle a great deal of tedium. Repetitive or painstaking tasks don't bother me, as long as there's a point to them. Data entry so that I won't have to look things up manually again, building elaborate excel sheets, painstakingly building webpages; none of these bother me, as long as the output is useful to me.

On the other hand, boredom... just shuts me down. If I try to focus on something that doesn't provide a sense of purpose or meaning, even one as minor as entertainment, my brain just shuts down. My eyes glaze over, my mind flails to find a train of thought that is more stimulating, and if I don't find something interesting, I simply zone out until something happens. Waiting with nothing to work on, watching informational videos that aren't paced well for how I learn, listening to explanations of things I already understand, are all torment for me.

With regard to tedious tasks, I can be patient as a stone as long as I see the point of what I am doing. As for boredom, I am almost useless when I lack engaging input. So, if you see me taking care of a useful but tedious task, I look like one of the most patient people on the planet. If you see me trying to deal with a lack of input to keep my brain active, I look like there is something seriously wrong with me; depending on how far through the process I have gotten, I am either fidgety and distracted or simply stupefied.

Given that I know many knitters who took up the hobby as a way to always have something to do while waiting, I suspect there is some common ground there. Given the highly repetitive nature of many tasks involved in period or other elaborate costuming, I suspect many costumers share my tolerance for tedium. Given the massive attention to detail required for almost any kind of programming, I have seen many examples that show a similar pattern in coders.

Boredom and Tedium may be synonyms in the dictionary, but I see many indications that, in practice, they can be very different. Kinda weird.