The blessings of boredom

"I'm bored!"

If you have children, you've probably heard this more than a few times. I remember saying this once or twice to my parents, which promptly led them to increasing my chores. Of course, this didn't relieve my boredom, but I think, that may have been the point. My parents were wise in many ways. They knew that their job was not to provide entertainment for me. It was my job to find ways to relieve boredom myself (providing those ways were relatively safe and always legal).

I think they also knew that boredom was a necessary step in learning new things. When you are bored, this is not a bad thing. It is a perfectly natural impulse in you to do something that is meaningful to you. This leads to self discovery and real learning. By real learning, I mean learning that, by virtue of being driven by your own interests and given the opportunity to explore all of its aspects, is relevant to you and will stick with you for the rest of your life.

In general, this is how the process goes.

1. You get bored.


2. In an effort to relieve this boredom, you examine your opportunities.


3. Opportunities present themselves as forms of imaginative play - this is basically anything that actively engages your imagination. Imagination is key here - no activity that doesn't engage your imagination will relieve your boredom.


4. Once you find an activity that engages your imagination, you practice it.


5. Practice leads to mastery - not necessarily meaning being the best at the activity in the world, but at least possessing the skills to succeed consistently.


6. Mastery leads to opportunities to share your skills with others and receive acknowlegement of your accomplishments, as well as opportunities to branch off into other areas tangential to the one you are currently in.


7. At this point, you get bored.
   

It is important to note that one thing that can disrupt this process is a lack of confidence. If you are afraid to try new things, you won't explore your opportunities, or you will give up at the first sign of failure. The key to getting around this is through the security of having a good strong connection with people that can give you support. Primarily family, of course, but it can also come from friends, clubs, work, internet groups, church or wherever you can join with people who accept you and can be relied on. Once you have a safety net you can rely on, you no longer need to worry as much about failing - you know the safety net will catch you, and once you start trying and succeeding, that confidence will transfer from your safety net to yourself.