Using Boredom As a Reset Button
It’s official. I’m BORED.
My To-Do Lists are empty, my bags are packed, and I’m ready to go. I return to college in 5 days and I’ve officially begun the process of twiddling my thumbs.
I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.
On one hand, I’m trying to enjoy the down-time, knowing that I’m a serial acceptor of projects and opportunities with a huge time investment. On the other, I want to use this time to work on personal creative projects that I haven’t been able to, like this blog, or my YouTube channel, or the Creator’s Conference. I’d also like to explore drawing and doodling again, I used to scrawl little logos, cartoons, and comics in the margins of all my assignments. As you can see, there’s quite a bit to do.
But is it really that bad?
I’d love to immediately start working on these projects, but there’s a reason I’m on break and I need to remember that.
There’s an ideal in our society to favor progress and productivity above all else. For better or worse, I used to subscribe to this. I would wake up, work on my health, work on my motivation, change my diet, exercise more, improve my organization, I could go on… Even away from work and school, there’s still an unspoken expectation that progress is made. After hours, I’d continue and work to get ahead. I’d tell myself, “I can enjoy this later” or “If I just do *this* much more, I’ll be happy where I am”. I expended so much energy staying ahead that I forgot to smell the roses. Once I came home on break, I would completely power down, mentally and emotionally drained from trying to keep up with the ever-changing vision of myself, three months in the future.
Eventually, the mind can’t keep up with the constant treadmill of perceived expectations. No amount of fear, potential success, or monetary gain will outweigh the stress we can put upon ourselves. For the past year, I’ve been in the cycle of over-worked and under-creative. I’ve hit rock bottom a couple of times, too. However, I’ve recently had the opportunity to re-examine this.
The Reset Button
While boredom is definitely a symptom of break, it’s far outweighed by the large amount of time that I can allocate as I see fit. Without the other noise from classes, my job, or my personal life, I finally have the time to focus on what matters to me.
Creativity, expression, art.
Also known as: using my voice.
While it’s not ideal, I’ve come to realize how important boredom is for my own sanity. Like most beneficial parts of life, it can be uncomfortable at times, but all for good reason. Without it, I would never realize the damage caused by the constant improvement treadmill and how to counteract it. Life is about balance, and sometimes it takes being bored out of my mind to reset the scales.
