Bored or Boring? 4


In the space of a week, I’ve had three separate people tell me they were bored with nothing to do. This begs the question, are you bored or boring

I find the phrases “I’m bored” and “there’s nothing to do” to be annoying and irritating.  They stick in my craw for some reason.  This time, they got to me so deeply, I had to write about them
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I simply don’t understand this.  How can anyone be bored?

I can understand being lonely, being broke, being indecisive, being overwhelmed with possibilities, being lazy, being slow, being preoccupied, so on and so forth, but bored?  Nah! I just don’t get it.


There is so much to do!   You can:



  • Read a good book (or even a bad book if you like).
  • Take a walk down the street, to a park, around a mall. (In Boston, you can take a walk around the harbor or the Charles River.)
  • Listen to music quietly or sing along with your favorite song.
  • You can people watch at the mall, in Harvard Square or Davis Square, at Ashmont Station or South Station, in Coolidge Corner to name but a very few places.
  • Fix a delicious meal and eat it or even a PB&J and enjoy it.
  • Go out somewhere and enjoy a spot of tea, a mug of coffee, dessert, or a full-fledged dinner if you can afford it.
  • Watch movies – on cable if you’ve got it, at the movie theatre or even borrow DVDs from the library where they’re free.
  • Watch Law & Order reruns – they are on virtually all the time on some channel or the other.
  • Call old friends and catch up.
  • Paint your toenails red.
  • Get your hair done, maybe try a new style or color.
  • Dance – by yourself at home with the music turned up loud or out at a club.
  • Make a holiday shopping list (real or fantasy).
  • Plan your Thanksgiving dinner.
  • Clean your house, organize those files you’ve been meaning to do.
  • Find a volunteer opportunity and help someone else.
  • Peruse your clothes and come up with new outfits to wear.
  • Purge your closet and get a bag or two to donate to a worthy cause (or sell stuff through a consignment shop or on Craig’s List).
  • Take a workshop/class/seminar.
  • Write that novel that you know you have inside you. (Every November there’s National Novel Writing Month  – join thousands of other people who pledge to write a novel in a month.)
  • Take piano lessons (or flute or drums or singing).
  • Join a choir or affinity group (find them on Meetup, etc.)
  • Make a blanket for the Welcome Baby baskets that are give out by Dorchester Cares.
  • Play games – Scrabble, volley ball, backgammon, chess, Uno, whatever.
  • Embrace solitude.
  • Meditate or pray.

For goodness sakes, pick something and just do it.  There are a universe of possibilities waiting for you. 

Boring is an attitude, a state of mind, a condition you choose.  Unfortunately, many people embrace boredom, finding nothing to their liking, being judgmental even though the only taste they have is in their mouths and even their palates aren’t developed!


Perhaps you’re the problem.  Perhaps you’re boring. Perhaps you lack imagination.  Perhaps you’re waiting for life to bring something to your door.  Life doesn’t work that way.  You have to be out and about in life for “it” (whatever “it” is) to happen to you.

So please, stop with the boring and if you are bored – don’t tell me.



(After thought: Sometimes boring is a blessing because it means there’s no drama going on in your life.   I wrote an earlier post about it: Bor-ing, Bles-sing.)


 


About Candelaria Silva

Candelaria Silva-Collins is a marketing, community outreach and programming consultant; writer; and trainer/facilitator who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She has designed and facilitated workshops on a wide variety of topics including communication, facilitation, job search skills, team building, and parenting issues. She currently coordinates the Community Membership Program of the Huntington Theatre Company. Her work as Director of ACT Roxbury was profiled in several publications, including The Creative Communities Builders Handbook. Candelaria’s children’s stories, short stories, essays and reviews have been published in local and national publications and she is an active blogger. Her publications include the booklets, Handling Rejection; Pushing through Shyness: Networking Tips when You’re Shy, Slow to Warm Up or Just don’t Feel you Belong; and Real Questions about Sex & Relationships for Teens: A Discussion Guide for Parents. She has served on the boards of Goddard College, Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston Foundation for Architecture, and Discover Roxbury. She is currently Chair, Designators of the Henderson Foundation.

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4 thoughts on “Bored or Boring?

  • LeeAnn

    Well….I can remember heaving a huge sigh and realizing that nothing was going to magically walk thru that door – I had to go OUT the door to find a life beyond Law & Order reruns. I didn’t quite get there yet – but you know, you’ve also helped me realize that I’m anything but boring. Maybe others would think so but I’m enjoying the alone, quiet right now. Nice post.

  • Christine

    I am visiting from your Blogher post….:)
    I couldn’t agree with you more…pick something and Just Do It! I am never bored. Ever. Even with a quiet house and not a thing on the to-do list, I can find something to occupy my mind.
    My husband on the other hand, is often bored. When he tells me this, I usually become upset and say something like: “What are you….12???”
    Not very nice, but how a grown man could say that he is bored, is beyond me. He is very labor task-oriented and if he completes all of the tasks on his list…he is just left with his mind. I laugh because it shouldn’t be so scary!
    FWIW, from the age of 18 I’ve had moments of lonliness, but never boredom.

    Thanks for a great post, here and at Blogher. I also wanted to let you know that the link to your personal blog isn’t working over there. I had to add the “a” at the end of your name and re-enter it in my browser. I thought you might like to know, so you could fix it. That way impatient folks will be able to click your link and arrive here!!
    I’m wishing you a wonderful day!

  • Candelaria

    Thanks for visiting from BlogHer and for pointing out the broken link there which I will fix.

    I’m glad to know that I’m not alone in not understanding how adults can be bored!  I will check out your blog soon because I can already tell that there’s good stuff there.