Give Yourself Permission to be Bored
You need it.
“Boring people are bored.”
The lovely Mrs. Betty Draper told me that. I know it comes from those times when advice was black and white — put a coat on or you’ll catch a cold, no pain no gain, respect your elders!
Of all the 1960ish life advice I agree with, Boring people are bored is kind of spot on. I look around at what we have today to distract us from our boring lives — Netflix, iPhones, Twitter — and I think about how we’ve forgotten how to to be bored with simple things: taking a walk, talking to our spouse, making dinner.
We can’t let those simple things be simple things without peppering in dopamine hits here and there.
I’m rarely bored, but it’s only because I keep myself busy. I’m a work-from-home parent of two boys who eat up most of my day. The few luxurious hours I get each day for myself are typically taken up by writing, reading, or exercising.
When I do have a few free moments — and I’ve had a lot more of those lately — I struggle. Time, to me, needs to be utilized or else it’s wasted. I don’t do boredom well, and I’m pretty sure a lot of other people don’t as well.
I say we give ourselves permission to be bored. Let’s make a pact:
I promise the next time boredom…
