By: Jamie Georges, Follow South Jersey Community Journalist
Boredom will force time to feel still and make you embrace it. A period when thoughts and day-dreaming would surface. A moment where isolation and inner reflection had to be welcomed. Boredom, a feeling that once was very natural, now feels odd to experience.
This stillness seems to be fading with technology competing for our attention.
A time of silence begins to feel like a burden that must be lifted by constant stimulation. Whether this be from phones, watching TV, playing video games, or scrolling on social media. Nowadays, our attention must be redirected to something that can provide instant gratification. In this way, boredom feels like it’s dying.
How did a natural feeling become so intolerable?
We allowed it to.
Our minds, almost on instinct, grab our phone at any moment we feel uncomfortable left with our own thoughts. This includes those times we find ourselves in a food line for long enough, or our friends aren’t around to chat.
Boredom is a time that is spent to wonder. If we continue to compete with a natural feeling, we rid ourselves of the creativity and new inventions that flow from it.
There is no shock that the boredom experienced in COVID-19 birthed new interests for many.
In boredom you can allow your mind to recharge from a stressful day of work and tasks that have occupied your mind.
Boredom is a time that is confronted by self reflection and our relationships with others. Without boredom, there are evaluation moments that could be dismissed because your brain wasn’t given the chance to ponder.
With constant activity, our brain is unaware of how to process boredom, because it becomes an unfamiliar feeling. We continuously refuse it.
The next time you’re bored, go for that walk or simply sit outside. This time don’t listen to music or go on a device, but allow your thoughts the space and time to just be.
It’s not that boredom doesn’t exist; we just need to allow ourselves to welcome it.
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