As any of us who’ve ever taken a long road trip with children or as children can attest, there are certain declarations which inevitably begin to emanate from the back seat. Things like, “I’m hungry,” or “I have to pee.” As frustrating as these might be to the task at hand, they fall within the driver’s ability to satisfy. So we make a pit stop, find a restroom, a drive-thru, and all good, back to business.
But there is another complaint, usually coming a couple of hours in, two words that no one behind the wheel ever wants to hear because there’s little they can do about it: “I’m bored.”
I don’t remember where I saw this but I was watching a father take his young kids on such a trip and one of them said it and I’ll never forget his perfect response. He didn’t get angry and he didn’t capitulate, he simply said …“‘I’m bored ’is a useless thing to say. You live in a vast world that you’ve seen and understood pretty much none percent of. Even just the inside of your own mind is endless. It goes on forever inside you. Do you understand? Just the fact that you’re alive is utterly amazing. So you don’t ever get to say,‘ I’m bored.”
And that was the end of it. And that is all I wanted to remind you of today.
Boredom is not a reflection on this world. It’s a reflection on us. It’s nothing more than you coming to the edge of the shallows where you've spent most of your time. But the deep awaits, my friend. The world is far too big and far too old and you are far too small and far too young to be bored with it. The Irish poet Yeats put it this way … “The world is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
I hear the rumblings. I know it’s been weeks we’ve been stuck in the back seat and we’re probably just now only about half way there.
So feel resigned, or worried, or angry, or however else you feel you need to feel. But don’t accept bored. You’re not allowed to be bored when there is so much more to learn and be and do to build yourself a beautiful life.