'Borecore': Why the mundane could be the key to happiness

It’s the little things

If you’ve caught yourself getting excited over embarrassingly boring things, you’re not alone. ‘Borecore’ is in, and it’s actually very good for us.

From making our beds to a hotel-level standard to bringing a dead pot plant back to life, we’re finding ourselves getting overly excited about more and more mundane things.

We’re not alone either, ‘borecore’ is as popular as ever.

No matter how exciting, risk-taking or spontaneous you are or how you spend your weekends, it’s easy to find yourself becoming someone who gets excited about bin collection day.

Once you lean into it, it’s quite nice really. You don’t have to wait for good things to happen to you or pay for events and experiences to guarantee a hit of dopamine, you can feel the high of all highs from peeling the sticker off of a new appliance, giving yourself a pedicure or beating Gooogle Maps’ ETA while walking somewhere.

The popularity of borecore content

It’s got to a point where if we’re not getting inexplicably happy about mundane things, we’re watching other people get inexplicably happy about mundane things

Social media is full of creators filming themselves tidying up messy rooms, reorganising wardrobes, deep cleaning kitchens, pressure washing driveways and organising the contents of their fridges.

And regardless of whether we like undertaking these tasks ourselves, it’s satisfying as hell to watch someone else do them.

So where did our acceptance of deriving joy from boring things come from? 

“Borecore can probably be traced back to the explosion of TikTok during the pandemic, when enforced isolation and idleness for many (but not for everyone) turned the mundanity of the everyday into our social currency online, as well as our entertainment,” Annie Corser, senior trends editor at Stylus, told Stylist.

“The content creation habits formed during that strange time persist today in much of what we’d consider borecore: detailing our takeaways, organising fridges and filming how we do laundry.”

Social media is full of creators filming themselves tidying up messy rooms, reorganising wardrobes, deep cleaning kitchens, pressure washing driveways and organising the contents of their fridges. Image: iStock

Focusing on finding reasons to feel joy

There are so many things that rapidly bring our mood down and anxiety levels up – the state of global politics, our ever-growing workloads, our friends being too busy to make plans, basically anything we see on the news. Sometimes you need to go out of your way to seek out joy just to maintain a somewhat positive outlook on the world.

It’s great to plan to go to concerts, lookouts, beaches and objectively beautiful places that you know will make you happy, but shifting your view of mundane things and exaggerating how great they are can also be a helpful way to train your brain to find happiness every day.

“Simple is not simplistic and the little basic details of life can be pleasant and consoling when so much is difficult,” notes psychotherapist Charlotte Fox Weber. “There is constant uncertainty and indecision about big life issues and we can enjoy enriching our personal lives in whatever small way possible. It might be a piece of fruit, the scent of fresh rosemary or wrapping a gift in a certain way, but everyday chores and activities can be comforting, reliable and self-expressive without demanding that we uproot our lives and do something drastic.”

Simple is not simplistic and the little basic details of life can be pleasant and consoling when so much is difficult. Image: iStock

"Ritualising and noticing ordinary details can go a long way for enhancing experiences. Without spending wildly or making tough decisions, we can appreciate what’s unremarkable but still beautiful in life. I once heard someone describe the musicality of a washing machine as something they loved listening to; I love this and hadn’t ever bothered to pay attention to the sounds of washing unless it was about a problem. Listening and looking at daily life can be meaningful and utterly worthwhile.”

Many of us are falling for the allure of the mundane without even realising it. I explicitly remember hearing my friend excitedly talking about recipes at a party when we were 22, and thinking, “God, how boring”, yet here I am beaming when my Nan hands me a cut out of a new recipe she found in a magazine. Asking my colleagues if they regularly get over-excited about embarrassingly boring things, they were all quick to list off their favourites. From unstacking the dishwasher and flipping a pancake that’s perfectly golden, to cleaning the little triangle of glass that windscreen wipers can’t quite reach, we all seem to be living for the small things.

From unstacking the dishwasher, flipping a pancake that’s perfectly golden, to cleaning the little triangle of glass that windscreen wipers can’t quite reach, we all seem to be living for the small things. Image: iStock

Trading FOMO for JOMO

We’re leaning into borecore to the point where we’re just accepting that we’re kind of boring. The fear of missing out (FOMO) has been swapped for the joy of missing out (JOMO) for many of us who are chasing peak wellness, as we prioritise relaxation time and bettering our sleep schedules over a night out, weekend away or even just a dinner with friends. 

While we used to feel the need to make excuses as to why we couldn’t stay out until midnight at a packed event, the social pressure has subsided for many of us, who can simply say “no, I’m excited for a night in this weekend” shame-free, without argument or teasing from our friends.

Weber supports the shift, saying “Embracing ordinary life – allowing yourself to appreciate the everyday – can be life-enhancing and real.” 

“I think a lot of us have resisted being boring for so long or made an apology for boring chat, so I’m fascinated by what it might do if we were to just say screw it, I like boring things and that’s fine”.

Originally published as 'Borecore': Why the mundane could be the key to happiness