I decided to break my thoughts down into a few parts. I'll start with this small article I came across in the Reader's Digest:
The Benefits of Boredom
Boredom's doldrums were unavoidable, yet also a primordial soup for some of life's most quintessentially human moments . . . . A long drive home after a frustrating day could force ruminations. A pang of homesickness at the start of a plane ride might put a journey in perspective.
"Increasingly, these empty moments are being saturated with productivity, communication, and the digital distractions offered by an ever-expanding array of slick mobile devices . . .
"But are we too busy twirling through the songs o n our iPods -- while checking email, while changing lanes on the highway -- to consider whether we are giving up a good thing? We are most human when we feel dull. Lolling around in a state of restlessness is one of life's greatest luxuries -- one not available to creatures that spend all their time pursuing mere survival.
To be bored is to stop reacting to the external world, and to explore the internal one.
It is in these times of reflection that people often discover something new, whether it is an epiphany about a relationship or a new theory about the way the universe works. Granted, many people emerge from boredom feeling that they have accomplished nothing. But is accomplishment really the point of life? There is a strong argument that boredom -- so often parodied as a glassy-eyed drooling state of nothingness -- is an essential human emotion that underlies art, literature, philosophy, science, and even love."
"The Joy of Boredom," by Carolyn Y. Johnson, The Boston Globe taken from Reader's Digest, June 2008
6 years ago
4 comments:
YES!! This is the heart of my philosophy about why I try to keep summer low key for my kids. (Of course, it's said much more eloquently than I could ever put it.) But I'm a big believer in letting kids learn how to entertain themselves, and often that means letting them get bored. They rarely come to me and say "I'm bored" because my answer is always the same: "Go find something to do." And they do.
But what this quote reminded me of, is that I need to get bored even as an adult. I need that downtime. That's really, really hard for me. I definitely try to fill my days with productivity. Too much so.
Thanks for this. I'm going to copy it and put it in a place where I can read it often. :)
P.S. I'm so glad to know I wasn't the only one to cry at that video! A couple other people have told me that too, so I feel less like a dork about it! LOL
Can you be Joe Cool now instead of Pesci? I loved that. I'm rarely bored these days, but believe it or not, I have much more "boredom" spells than I did before Clara came along. And while I enjoyed that time in my life, I sort of wish I hadn't been so rigid about work. Having no boredome makes you boring!
I remember reading somewhere that it is good for kids (and adults) to be bored. Doesn't it seem like in the world we live in today it's almost deemed unacceptable to be bored. Like it's a sin and you should always be busy and have something to do? I'll try not to feel bad about being so bored lately.
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