You Are Bored, Now What?

Steps we learn from our children to conquer boredom.

@dannypostma unsplash.com

You have five projects in waiting. Your toddler is looking at you for direction. Your showerhead is screaming. But, you can’t bring yourself to turn it off. You let the water run for 30 whole minutes down your back. You don’t dare stop. You know that once your shower is over, you have to decide what to do next. At work, your schedule is packed today. In an hour, your day will start. But, you are not excited. You are dreading the day. Your life is good. You have a good job that brings good pay. You have your retirement funded. Your house is paid for. You just took that vacation to Bermuda. You’ve even started a side company recently to meet people inside your community. You are well-respected for your skills and your talent.

Yet, something is missing. You are bored and you don’t know why.

What you are is this: you are the product of a well-constructed life that came with an instruction manual. According to the manual, you have done everything there’s to do in life. You are staring at the finished product celebrating its success. But, this successful feeling is short-lived. This is because you haven’t had to “figure it all out”.

You just followed the plan. You got there.

What you need in your life is to feel the long-term fulfillment of your successes. This requires defiance and rebellion. What have you done lately that gave you that feeling in the pit of your stomach? What have you done lately that made you despair, angry, and scared? What have you done lately that made you laugh out loud and bawl your eyes out?

Strong emotions come from worthy experiences in life.

I’m not saying that you should seek drama and suffer the consequences. However, I am saying that you should take risks.

Taking risks will open up your creativity.

Taking risks will stop your complacency.

Taking risks will allow you to feel strong emotions.

Taking risks will allow you to figure out what is important to you.

When I see people who are yelling at their neighbors in dispute of some imaginary property line; when I see people who are cursing at the car while waiting through one traffic light; when I see people who are browsing online dating sites even when they love their spouse; when I see people who are playing mind games with others at work; when I see people who are picking between organic cantaloupe from Florida and organic cantaloupe from California; I just want to point them at the direction of a door and tell them to go through it.

@darthxuan unsplash.com

The act of going through a door is to unleash emotional space. It is to unleash a sense of freedom. When you feel a sense of freedom, you can learn to embrace uncertainty. In learning to deal with uncertainty, you find creativity, inspiration, soul-fulfilling-earth-shattering emotions.

In learning to deal with uncertainty, you find yourself.