Boredom to Freedom

“Man finds nothing so intolerable as to be in a state of complete rest, without passions, without occupation, without diversion, without effort. Then he feels his nullity, loneliness, inadequacy, dependence, helplessness, emptiness.”

Blaise Pascal (1670)

How true this quote from 350 year ago still rings true today - the fundamentals of the human beings do not change from one century to the next. Lockdown has forced us to stay in and for the first time put us in a situation devoid of distractions. Everyone is bored. And the forced boredom is taking its toll.

Facing ourselves for the first time

As we currently find ourselves in lockdown 3 - maybe its a time to face our worst selves, but truly speaking there are benefits of boredom if we can understand its purpose, perhaps it can even be fruitful.

“The Gods were bored; and so they created human beings.” Soren Kierkegaard said, implying creativity comes usually out of the fertile ground of boredom. Boredom is not a waste or unnatural feeling, it's the most natural thing that we all feel from time to time, but we simply ignore that feeling and try to fill in with things and people and experiences. We fail to allow ourselves the time to just enjoy our own company and not do anything for a while. Just let the mind wander and observe oneself. Instead we clamour to fill the mind with anything but silence - a disease of the modern times maybe, which can end in utter dissatisfaction, meaninglessness, self harm and the likes, all because we can't stand being with ourselves!

In this age there is a need for speed: express checkouts, tap and go, 5G and fibre optics to our home. But is that causing more impatience in us? We are annoyed at those who still use cash at checkouts, paper tickets at the tube station or the elderly driver in front driving at 20 mph. Going slow could be a rebellious yet exhilarating luxury. In an age of fast movement, slowing down can give us a fresh and alternative perspective to the culture of hurrying and worrying all the time. In fact nothing is more urgent that taking time out and embracing boredom and the absurdity that comes with it. We are the most human when we feel this boredom right down to our bones.

“Profound boredom is in fact an essential authentic mood of great therapeutic value” Christian Gillian

Give yourself the freedom to imagine wildly, ask stupid questions and do whatever comes to mind within reason of course, and you will see a new world of possibilities opening up inside and all around you-in that total freedom.

Finding your creative zone

Boredom is really our innate built in freedom trying to express itself without conditioned responses that society has taught us. Instead of embracing boredom and the freedom that comes with it, we tie ourselves down to the expected behaviours and calculated actions desperately looking for meaning and purpose in every relationship and action. That is not really freedom. Freedom is when we feel relaxed and free enough to truly express ourselves and have the time and space to explore.

Wonder why our lives are filled with things and people, but still we feel so unfulfilled?

Bertrand Russell famously said "A generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men”. We can't seem to accept ourselves as we are and in fact we can't even tolerate ourselves for too long, and somehow manage to cook up mischief; in the form of more conflicts to make our life seem meaningful. We unconsciously seek drama, conflict and anxiety as it gives us some kind of purpose, grabbing every opportunity to accept any distraction, which prevents us from truly enjoying the freedom of a compelling life that comes from befriending oneself.

This is not something that is only applicable for adults. If you are responsible for teenagers or young minds, give everyone time on their own to get bored and find things to do on their own instead of filling their lives with toys, gadgets, movies, games and things to do - you will be surprised to see their creativity flowing, that is when they are at their most natural self- I have seen my own kids creating a whole world out of nothing for fun!

The power of Boredom

If we are not working we are feeding ourselves with people, parties, socials or the equivalent in lockdown; Netflix. I am asking you to Simply be. When there is nothing to do, typically we get attacked by the "should"! Let go and just be in the moment (devoid of tech) and go with your instincts and do it again and again, you will become familiar with the "real you" without the clutter and explore deeper ways to be fulfilled and happier over time.

The world is a confusing place without clear structure, so we create a structure to manage complexity. If we can let go and move into deeper spaces of boredom, the whole picture won't be helpful, as nothing will make sense! In that uncertainty we have true freedom to create new meaning to the parts of our life and the world around us. The more bored we get, the clearer we can see which personal meanings in our lives need to stay and which need to go...a Re-evalutation of sorts.

The distance from boredom to freedom is a simple shift in perspective. Go get bored, let boredom do its work!

#lifeinspo #inspiration #boredom #freedom #lockdown #lifecoach #lifecoaching #life #values #selflove