BOREDOM'S KNOCK

Bored? Don’t snore -Explore

When my son was growing up, his declaration, “I am bored!” often met my raised eyebrow and a question: “What am I supposed to do about that?” We have barely scratched the surface of this world; there is never a good reason to be bored. Eventually, he stopped saying it. One of the attributes I admire most in my adult son is that he is never bored. I’d like to believe his father and I, quite unintentionally, gave him the gift of curiosity, the kind that helped him investigate the tediousness, flatness, and dullness of a chore or feeling and then walk away from boredom with something better in hand.

What things do you do routinely that you find insipid, bland, ho-hum, vapid—BORING? Believe it or not, I found this question difficult to answer. I am almost never bored. This hasn’t always been true, but life has shaped this outcome. “Bored? So, what am I supposed to do about that?” Instead of pushing the “thing” to the place where I store what I do not want to face, I attempt to draw it to the center of me for more thought, processing, and a little revelation.

What was your answer to the question of being bored? Do you do it once a week? Every day? What tools do you use? Where do those tools come from? If the “thing” is a person, what is the basis of that relationship? What would happen if you walked away from an insipid conversation or skipped a dull meeting? Can you see how questions like these draw the boring task forward for examination instead of pushing it away? When it is front and center, you might discover that even boredom is a teacher.

Back to me, I finally produced an answer. Household chores topped my humdrum list, specifically laundry, and even more specifically, washing, and folding workout gear. I love picking up a folded bundle of gym clothes with everything necessary for my 6:30 AM gym class. I don’t like the time and effort it takes to make the bundle happen. There are other ways I would rather spend my time and energy: writing, painting, sewing, gardening, all things that feed me differently. What my son was perhaps saying with “I am bored” was, “I want another way to use this time.” What I was saying to him was, “Figure it out!”

Natalie Goldberg writes, “If your dream is to become a great basketball player, playing with marbles won’t feed your dream.”

A closer examination of my disdain for household chores helped me understand that the chores are not really the issue. The challenge is my brain… driving me nuts…wanting me to do something that feeds my dreams—and folding clothes? “Ain’t it!”

The next time you are tempted to say, “I am bored” question it. Sit with it. Ask what it is trying to show you. Maybe boredom is not an empty place at all. Maybe it is an invitation to pay attention, to choose differently, and to move one step closer to what feeds your dream.

Ephesians 5:15,16

PONDER THIS THOUGHT—Eleanor Roosevelt: “Never be bored and you will never be boring.”

THIS AIN'T IT