Bringing boredom back
We run from one errand to the next. One school function to the next. One sporting event to the next. One job to the next. One app to the next. Even our TV shows roll right over into the next one these days. (Remember the days when you had to wait an entire week to see the next episode of your favorite show?)
I think it’s time for a revolution. Not the kind where we hold signs and have sit-ins. Nope. The kind where we lock ourselves in the house and turn off all of our electronics. I’m serious.
That includes phones, computers, TVs, radios… anything that has a screen or makes noise. Just shut it off.
Why?
Because our brains need a break. We are not meant to be “on” every waking minute. And truth be told, I hate to admit this because I love it. My mind never slows down and I love jumping from one problem to the next. But it’s not a healthy place to be.
We’re also passing that mindset on to our kids. They can’t unplug because we can’t unplug. It’s time to be an adult and bring boredom back.
It’s time for your kids to be bored. It’s time for them to sit in silence (and probably complain) and figure out what to do with it.
We’re not just doing ourselves and our kids a disservice. We’re also doing our neighbors and community a disservice. You see, when we are constantly running from place to place, we have no time to connect, to figure out how we can help or to think outside of our own busyness and worry. We don’t have time to walk across the street and shovel our neighbors sidewalk. Or drive to the florist and pick up flowers for our wife “just because.”
It’s just as much about what we’re NOT doing as it is about what we ARE doing. Every hour that I spend scrolling through Facebook is an hour that I’m not learning about my kids’s struggles at school. It’s time I’m not getting to know my neighbor that just got that bad news from the doctor. And that time is Facebook is never going to be more valuable in the long run. Nor is the Netflix or Instagram or wherever else you’re spending your time. It’s just not.
There’s power in boredom. There’s freedom in boredom. There’s renewal in boredom.
And don’t you worry. That never-ending list of things to do… that same list will be waiting right where you left it when you get back to your phone.
I’m going to challenge you. If you’re reading this, take an hour (yes,I said an hour) and completely disconnect from all electronics. Take a walk. Listen. Make eye contact. Play a board game. Throw a snowball. Read.
If things go well, you might even find a brief moment of boredom mixed in there.