Boredom

The phrase "I'm bored" is an interesting one. My newly realized dis-taste for those two words, extends back a number of years when a certain friend of mine used to use on a daily basis."I'm boorreed" she used to say. Fishing for a solution to her now widely apparent "boredom". I had forgotten about this until this morning. A small child let out that hideous phrase with her head hinged back like the reach toothbrush man as she gazed up at her mother. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from letting out a potentially awkward (and no doubt inappropriate) response. I was bedazzled at the fact someone could be bored on such beautiful sun baked day at one of Wellington's finest beach side coffee shops. However, this prompted the gears within my head to begin whizzing again. Back to the blog!

For the record that phrase will only come out of my mouth in the most extreme of circumstances, if ever. One that springs to mind from a few years ago was after a long wait in an airport. Having checked through security to the waiting area of Brisbane airport, I herd over the loud speaker that the plane was to be significantly delayed. I must add that I only herd the announcement as it was conveniently timed to coincide with my ipod's battery going flat. "Murphy's Law" I uttered to a nearby pending passenger myself. I find that a daily reliance on technology has somewhat shortened my attention span. So the passing seconds felt like minutes and minutes like hours. I started counting people, tiles on the walls, tiles on the ceiling, loops in the carpet, anything to stave off my state of boredom.

What I find interesting about all this is the fact that some people must be more prone to boredom than others. Are these people boring to begin with? Does their mind just stagnate the second they run out of purpose? I find having too many hobbies cuts boredom down to an impossibility. The second I wonder what to do, a guitar happens to find it's way into my lap. If one is not accessible I turn to a pen and paper. If this is not possible, it's stand up and move time. Just walk with no other ulterior motive but to walk. I once picked up a hitchhiker who collected four leaf clovers to stem off his boredom. He now has over 4000 and is planning to place them underneath the fiberglass on his long board. Luckiest surf board ever! The key is to keep your mind occupied whether with a task as simple as looking for four leaf clovers or as complex as researching supernovae. I think that once people stop "having" to learn they begin to devolve (presumably the antonym of evolve?). So keep that mind active kids! Try a new hobby on for size, or research something you have thought about recently. There is a whole world out there filled with stuff to learn about. Do yourself and those around you a favour and strike those two hideously paired words from your vocabulary!


Isn't it awesome how 2 words can remind you of such obsure things. Smells, colours and I guess anything and everything can trigger the most vivid memories. What are memories and how are they stored? There you go.....

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