Embrace the Boredom

Just today, I received a text message from the politicos that run my home town, St. Louis City. The message was an announcement, informing all residents of both the City and County that effective tomorrow at 6 pm, a mandatory "Stay-At-Home" order was to go into effect in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus (aka COVID-19). 

It's official. My hometown is going under lockdown.

This, of course, won't be news to many people on the coasts of the United States, many of who's hometowns have been undergoing this lockdown procedure for the last few months. For many, this new lifestyle of staying in at all times when no absolutely necessary has been a trial.

For a highly introverted, shy, socially awkward, practical recluse like me, who's been avoiding people like they've had the plague since he was a teenager, however, this new way of life actually plays to my strengths. I'm used to being on my own, and in fact prefer it to the company of most people. (The exceptions know who they are. They have my phone number.) "I don't like people," said Charles Bukowski, "I just feel better when they're not around," is the story of my life. 

As someone who's already predisposed to whether well these crackdowns on socializing, however, I thought I'd take the time to impart one important piece of advice to those who, maybe, aren't doing as well. My advice is just three simple words:

Embrace the Boredom.

At the moment, until a long-term solution is found to handle COVID-19, people are going to have a lot of time on their hands--those who aren't working that is. "Essential services," are continuing to run for the time being, but this is a day-by-day situation, and things could change every few hours. 

Yes, you can veg in front of our screens for a while, dulling our senses with Netflix, Hulu, or the rabbit-hole of YouTube. But after a few days of that, it gets to be dull. Eventually, you'll find yourself wanting to do something else. 

The question however is what. When your mind starts going idle like that is the exact moment I'm urging you to embrace.

One of my mother's favorite maxims from my childhood, which I repeat every time someone has the temerity to say a variation of "I'm bored," in my presence is this:

"Saying you're bored simply means you're too stupid to find something to do."

So when that desire does hit, the feeling of wanting to do something else but perhaps not knowing what (aka boredom), take advantage of it. 

To paraphrase Jerry McGuire, we live in an overstimulated world. We have a near infinite number of means of distracting ourselves sitting in our pockets, in our bags, and on our desks every day. Likely one of the reasons so few creators (particularly in the world of film), haven't been able to create new, fresh material is because they're overstimulated. They're not allowing themselves to become bored. The second that feeling even begins to encroach on their psyche, they simply reach into their pocket and either scroll through social media, start mentally-spelunking through YouTube, or they re-binge-watch their favorite web series for the 42nd time. 

Whatever they do, the reason is the same: to avoid being bored.

Boredom, however, is one of the keys to creativity. When the human mind is idle, it can begin connecting things that might otherwise not occur to it while consciously working out a problem. 

Consider this interview done with J.R.R. Tolkien:

The scene he starts to describe at the 3 minute mark, of him at his desk, grading exam papers typifies why boredom is so important. Had Tolkien not be soon under-stimulated by his professorial duties, the sentence that would change his life, "In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit," might not have occurred to him. 

And what followed?

His curiosity, which often accompanies boredom, then propelled him to answer another question: "What is a Hobbit?" To answer that question, he ended up writing one of the most beloved and widely read children's fantasy novels of all time: The Hobbit. It's success and popularity with readers then convinced his publishers that a sequel would be successful as well. Twelve years later, the end result was the novel (in three volumes), that kicked off the modern genre of High Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings.

Had Tolkien not been bored, had he not allowed his mind to go idle for however many seconds it took his mind to put that sentence together, he might never have written his books. For those of us who are fans of his work, the world would be a much poorer place without them.

This period of preventative isolation is undeniably difficult for many. We don't know how long it will last, or if eventually, this way of living will just be the new normal for everyone. What we can do is make the best of a less-than-pleasant situation to the best of our abilities. Who know what might come out of it, if we do.