It’s the first week into summer, and after flying home to my parents’ house, I finally had time to relax. The last week of school was a whirlwind: finishing finals, moving my stuff into storage, attending my friend’s graduation and saying goodbye to friends. To say the least, I needed some down time. I needed some “me” time, you feel me? I needed some wine and cheese, Netflix and chill, treat yo’ self “me” time. I finally got it, and maybe even a little too much downtime, I started to think.
Last September my parents moved, and so when I flew home, I didn’t have many friends to come back to or hangout with. In addition, my dad works all day, and my sister is still in school, so it’s really just me and my mom and a lot of unknown Virginia territory--literally. After about 10 days, I started getting bored, really bored. I had watched all 10 seasons of The Kardashians on Netflix, blogged my little heart out, napped for hours every day, read three books, learned how to cook vegan Thai food and watched every movie and YouTube video that I desired. I was bored, and I would complain to my mom about how we should be out exploring. However, my mom has a full life, so she can’t entertain me constantly. She told me, “you know what, sometimes in life it’s good to be bored”. My gut reaction was to disagree, but then I thought: “Wait what? Is it?”
Her one-liner got me thinking, why am I always running from boredom? Better yet, why are we all constantly running from being bored?
We all lead busy lives, and when we aren’t busy, we don’t know what to do with ourselves. We fill our time with school work, extracurriculars, volunteer work and sports. When we try to “relax” we fill our time with Netflix, Facetime, hanging out with friends, writing, reading, listening to music, listening to podcasts, cooking, watching more Netflix and the list goes on. Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are good in moderation. However, when our relaxation always leads to us partaking in an activity, this can be unhealthy. Our minds need time to rest and think freely, away from all the busy-ness. So why are we avoiding just sitting on the porch doing nothing else but watching the fish in the lake, or the clouds in the sky?
When does our generation have time to reflect other than when we use the restroom? We are running ourselves ragged, constantly busy, always complaining about being tired and stressed; and then we are presented with time to do nothing, and we fill up our schedules all over again.
Are we afraid to be alone with our thoughts? Are we afraid to reflect on who we are becoming and the choices we make? Or are we simply unaware? In a culture that tells us, “go, go, go” it’s hard to put on the breaks, but it’s necessary to our overall well-being.
Either way, not only this summer, but in our everyday lives, there should be moments of silence, reflection, and contemplation. There should be moments of boredom, and we should revel in them! How will we become the best versions of ourselves or hear our inner voice or the voice of God if we never stop to listen? We need free time, and time for our minds to wander, ideas to flow and creativity to take hold. So in your everyday life, make time to sit with your thoughts and to reflect, because life is busy, so revel in those moments of silent boredom! It will radically change your life from one of mindless rushing, to mindful living.
