Being Bored
As we grow older it’s so easy to become too busy, too distracted with our time. Actually it doesn’t even take growing up anymore. Even toddlers are over scheduled. And when they aren’t headed to another activity it seems like their squeezable little faces are constantly staring at a screen. It may not be true, but I feel like I see the eyes of more kids glowing with blue light than with wonder or curiosity.
More and more often I find myself grateful that my childhood happened before we carried so much with us in our pockets. Sure, I was just as excited as the next kid to battle Dr. Robotnik and chase down all the emeralds as Sonic. But it was much easier to turn it off and walk away than it is now. And anyway, we spent more time riding our bikes or rollerblading around the neighborhood, collecting friends as we went, so that we could play.
There wasn’t constantly something to distract us at our fingertips. When we were looking for something to do, a lot of times we invented it. We spent hours playing Raptors, Fat Camp, and creating our own plays and musicals in our backyard. Often inspired by the movies we rented from Blockbuster at sleepovers, we’d spend all summer finding ways to bring them to life. As a result, some of my favorite memories of being a kid are playing the games we would make up.
We always had the time and space to be bored. And parents who told all of us to go outside and entertain ourselves when we complained of our boredom. I was a kid, so I didn’t realize at the time what a gift that was. It was space to explore who we were, what we liked, and who we might become one day. While it’s hard to know exactly how I felt about it two decades ago, I think I’ve always been fairly comfortable with feeling bored.
You can choose to see boredom however you’d like. But at least nowadays I see it as a luxury, a feeling we are lucky to experience. There is freedom in boredom that you don’t get from anything else. There is a reason that so many people solve problems while in the shower; it’s the only time they give their thoughts freedom to wander. It’s the only time spent awake that isn’t already reserved for previously scheduled structured thinking or mindlessly scrolling.
Frankly, you miss out when you are always too busy and too distracted to ever let yourself be bored. Boredom can be uncomfortable. Being alone with yourself isn’t always pleasant. But it’s where you learn about yourself; it’s where you think, explore, and invent. It’s where you have space to discover what makes you tick, and where you figure out what you are capable of creating. Boredom is being given a blank piece of paper and being asked what you’ll do with it.
Several studies suggest that experiencing boredom sparks creativity. All you have to do is type both words in a Google search and you find pages and pages of results. But, I don’t need to see the search results. I just need to pull from my personal experience to say that I believe it’s true. Boredom is simply freedom to let your thoughts wander. And space to decide how you want to spend your time.
If you choose to see boredom as freedom, you’ll find yourself making a little room for it every day. It doesn’t mean that you have to be sitting idle watching a pot of water boil. But it does mean giving yourself a small chunk of time without distractions. At first it might feel weird, or strange, or maybe liberating. With time though, you’ll find yourself choosing to disconnect; so you can connect with yourself.
I’m just as guilty as the next person of getting lost scrolling Instagram, then looking up to find that I’m missing the moment right in front of me. It’s why I leave my phone at home nearly every time I take my dog for a walk and why I never listen to music when I go for a run. For a little while every day, I remove the temptation of distraction so I can remember that I’d rather present in my life. It makes it easier to recognize, and walk away, from the moments when I no longer hear the birds chirping.
