Bored Yet?

I once had someone tell me, "The only reason you'll ever be bored is because you've chosen to be bored".  Initially I blew off the advice as another "adult moral"-thing, but after 5 minutes of playing the annoyed victim, I thought about the statement.  It's true.  The only reason you'll ever have for being bored is that you've chosen to do so.


Okay, what does that look like?  In class:  hate the teacher or the topic? Actually pay attention and you might find you learned something, for one, or two, doodle, think about or enumerate the things you have to do and accomplish later, work through something that's been bothering you for a while to yourself, or write a poem or something.  Don't get caught, granted, but it's an option.  Your test later might not like you now, but hey, again, options. Bored at work?  See previous advice.


But really, I"m not talking about school or work.  I'm talking about life.  How many times have you sat around at your house and thought "God, I'm SO BORED"?!  There's nothing on TV, no one's home, you have nothing to do, etc. etc.  Yeah yeah.  Please.  Complaining isn't going to help you, and you're bored because that's what you've decided to be.  Want to get Un-Bored.  GO.  DO.  SOMETHING!  Get in your car and go to Barnes & Noble and just look around.  Grab a book or a magazine and sit at a coffee shop.  Grab pen and paper and go doodle outside or write something.  Go visit your local humane society and look at the animals or walk through a park.  Go peruse the aisle at the grocery store or the stores at the mall.  Pick up the phone and call a friend you haven't talked to in a while.  Play with your dog!  Go clean or tidy up that "thing" you've been putting off forever.  Just do something.  Too easily we just write off our "free" time as boring because someone isn't demanding our time or making us do something and then we all act like blobs of goo without direction because we don't have someone mandating us to do something every minute of the day.  You know, personal choice is sometimes a good thing, but hours of vegging in front of the TV for the third day in a row is not.  


So the next time you're bored, remember, you have no one to blame but yourself.