Boredom, The Teacher

Would you like to learn some things about yourself? Experience boredom. Well first of all, just your aptitude to get bored can tell a lot in itself. Warhol said “only boring people get bored.” ..convicting, isn’t it?

I admit that I get bored from time to time, and although I don’t usually dwell in it very long, I do tend to fill it quickly with less-than-meaningful activity. It occurred to me that we can learn so much about ourselves from the ways in which we arrive at that drab place called boredom, and how we perceive it, face it, and respond to it (or perhaps even more so from how we don’t respond). 

If I may dig a little deeper, how do you respond to loneliness? Do you seek connection, or do you sink into the alone-ness, wishing things were different? Is your mind occupied by the insecurity of being lonely, or do you absorb that experience and appreciate the time to call your own?

Or how about the quiet? What do you do with the quiet nothingness that is hollow and heavy all at once? Must you make noise to combat the gnawing, desolate air? Or do you let the quiet seep into you, resetting your mind and spirit? Can you sit with quiet and let the unspoken teach you?

These empty spaces, though unfilled, can be some of the heaviest states of the human experience. They are tough, but they often speak some truth about your character, and it’s usually in a sobering, clear and convicting voice. Learn from these places. Exist in them, but move through them in a way you can be proud of. I believe the ways in which we respond to the difficult spaces not only reflect who we already are, but can also, in turn, refine and reshape us into who we are becoming.