I think the last two weeks of quarantine have taught me a valuable lesson - I’m terrible at being bored. How about you? It doesn’t take much down time for me to begin thinking back with fondness on tedious activities done outside the house - suddenly a trip with the kids to Costco feels like a vacation I’ve been forbidden to take. And never in my life have I so wanted to get out of my home and do a workout at the YMCA! These times of constant isolation can be factories of boredom, and I want to encourage all of us to embrace our boredom a bit. No, we shouldn’t self-isolate into a state of depression or fear, but we also should inundate ourselves with stimulation to the point where we can no longer fear boredom.
For many of us boredom can be akin to being under water too long: Our lungs burn, our body is screaming for us to go to the surface. It can feel that way when we get bored - all we need is one solid binge on Netflix or social media and we’ll be fine! But boredom is less about our brains gasping for more input and more about our brains (and even our souls) screaming that they’ve had too much.
Today we’ll talk about the importance of boredom and why this season of solitude is an excellent opportunity to regain a gift we’ve been given.