Good Morning, SuperForest!
For the past couple days, we’ve been reflecting on what it means to be busy. In today’s day and age, we live in a world where busy seems to be synonymous with words like “success” or “importance”. Busy means you have work to do, and that in some capacity, you are needed. For anyone that’s ever felt busy, they also know that it can be synonymous with other words like “stress” or “chaos”. I wrote about how one can eliminate the concept of busy by simply deciding to stop being busy and to cut your to-do lists down to just the important stuff. Then, Drake wrote an excellent post about single tasking and making time for the things we are most passionate about.
All very important lessons, but what do we make of the times in our lives when we aren’t busy? What do we make of those times when we’re…bored?
Boredom is a feeling I don’t experience very often, but I’ve noticed that when I do find myself feeling bored, a million red flags set off in my head. I feel like I should be doing something and almost immediately, I find some way to be more productive. And it’s not just me. On a larger scale, I’ve noticed that most people are constantly searching (whether consciously or not) for ways for our brains to be active. We pull out our phones and check our email whenever we have a few minutes to spare or when we have to wait for something. Now that I think about it, even “waiting rooms” are no longer a place to just sit and wait for people are usually occupied with something else.
Overall, there is an undeniable truth that our society demonstrates an uneasiness when it comes to being bored.
It’s stigmatized.
It’s something that we are told we have to conquer.
But all of this isn’t true.
And as Peter Bregman writes, from time to time, boredom is actually good for us.
Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that’s where creativity arises.
My best ideas come to me when I am unproductive. When I am running but not listening to my iPod. When I am sitting, doing nothing, waiting for someone. When I am lying in bed as my mind wanders before falling to sleep. These “wasted” moments, moments not filled with anything in particular, are vital.
They are the moments in which we, often unconsciously, organize our minds, make sense of our lives, and connect the dots. They’re the moments in which we talk to ourselves. And listen.
Brilliant.
This excerpt came from an article titled “Why I Returned My iPad“, it’s an incredible read and if you’re bored, I highly recommend you check it out. (haha, kidding of course, you should read it after you spend some time being bored.)
Love From,
Carla
Recent Comments