Tedious, Repetitive Tasks Makes Me Want To Explode

I wonder how many others suffer (yes, suffer) from this, and I wonder if there is an actual name for the experience.

Often (usually? always?) when I am tasked with something repetitive that I find tedious my brain and body feels like I am going to completely come undone.

Literally, like I will explode if I do not get up and get as far away from it as possible.

A silly example: my wife asks me to finely chop up a whole bunch (I don't technically know what quantity is a bunch - but it was a bunch!) of cilantro. I want to do my part, so I begin the process. After an agonizing 30 seconds - which felt like an eternity - I had to vacate the kitchen and run some laps through the house and them come back to try again. After a couple of cycles just like this I was excused from the task.

Again, anything that is repetitive and tedious makes me want to climb the walls. This same feeling overpowers me sometimes when I'm typing, too. Like right now.

Please tell me there are others who experience this. What is it like for you?

Well, I don't *love* the tasks and chores and errands that have to be done every single day, but I recognize them as adult responsibilities that have to be taken care of. I'm not like you; I have no one to excuse me from the tasks. Either I do it or no one does it.

I can’t stand repetition too. I can’t stand doing repetitive exercises, for example, “lift the dumbbell with your right hand 5x and then with your left hand 5x and do it again”. It’s not about the exercise itself that stresses me out but the repetition. Chopping veggies can be stressful too as it requires a repetitive movement. Again, it’s not about cooking itself but the repetition. So I try to give some variations in things that I need to do. Like if I swim I’ll use one stroke for one lap then change to another stroke for the second lap. Cooking, I’ll chop the veggies only for one or two minutes then do something else before I go back to chop them again. I am guessing it has something to do with anxiety as it makes me anxious when I do repetitive things.

I don’t think it has anything to do with being irresponsible or not acting like an adult, that’s a completely different topic.

Thank you for the reply! It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one to experience this.

It does seem like it’s an anxiety thing, but it’s kind of weird that repetitive, tedious things would cause anxiety. Perhaps it’s a result of anxiety instead of a cause.

I apologize if my comment was offensive. For myself, I was stating how I feel about repetitive household tasks. It's a sensitive subject for me, because in the past, my husband (who has a pretty intense case of OCD, is an extremely disorganized person and doesn't do well with time management) has gotten out of doing housework because of the way he is. It was always my responsibility to get everything done, no matter how tired I was or how I was feeling. I just wondered how your wife felt when she excused you from the task.

I'm not sure how to answer you as we're talking about completely different things. Repetitive household tasks (chores?) are not what I'm talking about. They're boring as heck, but I do them. I can do them without any profound negative physical sensations and effects other than the displeasure many people experience when doing something not fun.

I'm talking about small, restricted, repetitive tasks like sorting screws or something. The effect is physical. When I say I feel like I'll explode that isn't hyperbole. It's akin to the fight or flight reflex, I guess. I'm sure there is a better way to describe it, but I lack the vocabulary.

My wife understands the problem I have with it, and so - in the case of finely chopping cilantro - she simply asked me to do something else. I did that thing instead and teamwork was still achieved.

Okay. I misunderstood your OP. I'm sorry.

What you're describing kind of sounds like a really strong feeling of agitation, which feels miserable to me and to most people. Is the feeling something you've always dealt with? I'm asking because sometimes medication can cause a feeling of agitation.

Agitation is probably a better word to describe the feeling. Thanks. I need to remember that.

I’ve dealt with it as long as my old brain can recall. I haven’t been on medication for 20 years, so I don’t know if the mood stabilizers I was on back then had any effect on the feeling - whether good or bad.

Ugh. Agitation, to me, feels like I'm going to crawl out of my skin. Or like I want to

Have you spoken with a doctor about the feeling? Maybe a mood stabilizer or some other med might help so you don't have to deal with that crawly feeling.

I get the aggitation, but are you able to weigh out the pros and cons before the need to take flight arises? Are you able to at least hesitate before reacting and acknowledge what might be a better way to react? How does this affect your work? I am guessing you don't allow yourself to behave in such way in the workplace. I am sorry to not be very supportive but I am thinking about your wife. If you in fact don't do this while at work why is it okay to do so at home?

I don’t have insurance and can’t afford doctors, etc.

But, thankfully, I found a sliding scale clinic nearby. I have an appointment to apply for care through them in a week. We will have to see how that goes.

I’m self employed and work from the home. And, yes, I experience this in every aspect of my life.

My initial thought given the title was something like work on a production line (which becomes mindless repetition) vs other types of jobs.

I need constantly challenging new things to do when it came to work.

When ut comes to repetitive crap at home....I am so good at spilling little things that ALL need to be hand picked up & it does drive me crazy. I find I zone out & my mind goes other places while my body does what I need to get done. I hate when I do that.

Happened yesterday. I had put a dish of dog food out for my woodsy raccoon momma. I was cuttkng back vines off my deck & managed to step on the edge of the dish of dog food. It sent the food flying inside my screen door & all over my family room floor. If I didn't get it ALL picked up, the ants wiuld have swarmed into my family room. I didn't have a choice other than to pick it ALL up. I usually know if I quit before I am finished it will NEVER get done because I have too many ither things I HAVE to do....it takes a lot of self talk & forcing myself to just do it & get it done. I knew better than to ever chose a repetitive career

It's great that you have an appointment soon. If you're low-income do you qualify for Medicaid?

It’s queer that you mention chopping cilantro — I have an old (41-year-old) Henckels 8” chef’s knife, made in Germany — and even with my pain-filled hands I still love the feel of the knife as I chop my monthly cilantro.

When I think of repetitive tasks, I think of the films that we were shown in grammar school of ‘assembly lines’ with one person responsible for tightening a nut every 15 seconds. That used to be really creepy to me. It made me ill. It still makes me ill. I would not have had a successful career as a nut tightener.