Being bored seems like a terrible thing at a time when there is so much exciting change and freedom available to us. We have access to more exciting experiences, enriching relationships and emancipating ideas than we could have imagined in the past. What excuse could we have for not living rewarding lives?
Last week Gala Darling posted a manifesto to which I can very much relate in a post called “Only Boring People Get Bored Or, The Fight Boredom Manifesto“. It was taken from Amber Forrester’s Fight Boredom and it’s part of a desire to show that people can “live a life of creativity and political awareness” in any location.
During the process of shedding boredom, I have taken on new experiments, projects and responsibilities to fill my life with things I can do to improve myself, my immediate surroundings, and, with some healthy Utopian thinking, the world around me. I shifted from being vegetarian to vegan, digitized all of the books, music and video I had collected, lifelogged to track my behaviour, started monthly games nights, began making homemade wine and other intentional acts of improvement and fun.
One of the greatest tools I have deployed in not being bored is meditation. My meditation practice has allowed me to transform otherwise tedious moments into opportunities to experience my mind and improve my equanimity. If I am mindful, there’s no excuse at all to allow boredom to sneak into my days; my mind is too much of a weird circus to be dull.
I’ve come to see boredom is a crutch, and I believe with more and more certainty that only boring people are bored.