Boredom – Blessing or curse?

Is a lack of anything to do a blessing or a curse, I can’t decide. I should say that it isn’t that I don’t have ANYTHING to do just a lack of enthusiasm or initiative to do it.  How many times have you said – I’m bored?  In my life I’ve said it too many times to count, and right now is just like all the others. There is no known cure for boredom, it’s not like you can take a pill and not be bored anymore. Something has to happen some cosmic shift sets events in motion and VOILA – you’re busy and not bored anymore.

When I’m bored all the “usual” things I like to do just don’t do it for me, like reading or surfing the net or listening to music, it’s like I get into some bizarre funk where all joy has vanished, sucked into some odd abyss. I tend to get lethargic and sit like a blob whether at home or at work and just stare blankly at my screen.  It’s at times like these I wish I could draw or paint even in my boredom funks I can’t string together a whole sentence so writing is usually out of the question.

Sometimes I wonder, get restless and everyone at home asks “what are you doing?” To which I have to answer, “I’m bored.”  Everyone has their own list of things that they need to do and think magically if you do chores you won’t be bored anymore. WHO WANTS TO DO CHORES when you’re bored? I DON’T.  I guess right now it would seem from my description that boredom is a curse. HOWEVER,

There have been many occasions that boredom has brought me to places I may not have gone if I weren’t bored, people I have reconnected with, sometimes being bored keeps me in touch with friends and family. Writing ideas have come to me when I was bored even though the words weren’t set to paper until the boredom was alleviated.

My dog really benefits from my boredom because when I’m bored I often take him for a walk – although now that he’s older he doesn’t want to go out as frequently – especially in the winter months.  Boredom has forced me to pick up my camera and go shooting, it’s forced me into theatres to see movies and I guess for those reasons I could consider boredom a blessing.

I can feel some energy returning from this mini boredom stupor which writhing this post has helped alleviate so I guess today boredom was a blessing?

Cory