You are never going to be bored again in your life. Never. Not for a second.
We have invented ways in which we can keep ourselves infinitely occupied with external stimuli. We have literally eliminated each and every second of our lives that can give us the taste of one of the most uncomfortable feelings of all — Boredom.
You are shitting in a toilet — You are staring at a screen.
You are standing in line at the supermarket — You instantly pull out your phone.
You are in a movie theatre— You keep scrolling your screen during the interval.
You are watching a TV and theres a commercial in between — You immeditately reach to your constant companion.
You are having your dinner — one hand holding the cutlery and the other holding your beloved glowing object.
These tiny time gaps are the only opportunities that can connect you with yourself in a real sense. We have eliminated these gaps completely. We have lost the ability to get bored. Visualise your day from waking up until the last minute you go to bed. You are constantly consuming. You are at the recieving end. The input mode is on.
Its been years since I have completed my Chemical Engineering degree and the only word I clearly remember from my formal degree is — Equilibrium, a state of balance. Input has to be balanced with output.
Now one may argue, why do I need to get bored? What is wrong in getting away from the boredom? There are some serious psychological and physiological consequences.
Running away from boredom all the time deprives you of solitude.
Solitude is the space where creative ideas arise. It is the space where you have time to process what you consume all day long. Solitude is sitting with your own thoughts. Solitude does not necessarily mean climbing up the mountain and sitting in serene surroundings. The location is irrelevant. Solitude is absence of inputs , wherever you are.
Solitude is when you just shit in the toilet without looking at your screen. Solitude happens when you just stand in the line of the supermarket watching the world go by. You are in solitude when you are waiting in the car for someone without looking at notifications.
Solitude is when there is no external information added and only thing you are left with is your own thoughts. People are scared of boredom and solitude. They are afraid it might take them to a place they never want to go. Its easier to be delusional than facing the truth. Listening to your inner dialogue can give you far more insights than anything you can get from external world.
When you sit in solitude, when you face the boredom — breakthroughs happen. If you are constantly consuming, you are not creating. Solitude allows the space to process your thoughts. Its the place where new ideas can florish. But for that to happen, you have to go through boredom and reach on the other side.
Our inability to get bored has fractured our attention. We are loosing our ability to maitnain sustained attention and focus. I often wonder what ideas I should instill in my daughter and what often comes up is — I would like to teach her to be comfortable with boredom. I would like her to feel the feelings that she doesn’t want to feel and run away from.
In years to come, its not the technical skills or knowledge that will be scarce. Its ones ability to maintain sustained focus on a particular task is going to be scarce. And what is scarce is always going to be of immense value. Gone are the days when the phrase “Knowledge is power” was true. Knowledge these days is cripppling and paralysing. There is so much of it available free of cost.
Clarity is power today. Ability to filter the avalanche of information is rare skill. You develop this ability naturally when you are able to embrace the boredom and enjoy your solitude.
