Boredom

Boredom. 

I’ve read that allowing children to become bored is not actually a bad thing. It does make sense, because most of the time when you are bored you seek out something to do. Being bored from time to time is probably not a bad thing, but what if you live a boring life?

What I’ve found is that different people have different levels of tolerance for boredom. Some people can work a boring job knowing that the time or money it affords them after work is what is important to them. 

Some people on the other hand cannot even fathom the idea of spending each day working in a job they find boring. Although, teaching could be challenging at times, it rarely ever was boring. 

Brian Eno, musician and creator, believes, “The enemy of creative work is boredom actually, and the friend is alertness.”

Although, boredom can spur us on I find sometime it just results in inertia. Especially, when you stop paying attention to your life. When you find yourself falling into the same old patterns, and stop being aware of your surroundings your creativity wanes. 

Now why is creativity so important, and how can it be manifested? We are creative beings at our core striving to express ourselves. Unfortunately we have a tendency to think of creativity only in the realm of the arts. 

We couldn’t be more wrong. Each time we see a problem, and come up with a way to fix it we are being creative. My husband amazes me at how he solves problems around the house. Even more so when we owned our farm, the way he used the materials at hand to fix something that had broken, since a trip to the store was not always possible. 

One of my favorite movie scenes comes from Apollo XIII where the scientists on Earth are given a box of random items found on the spacecraft, and are tasked with figuring out a way to bring the stranded ship home. 

Each time we are challenged to use what we have to solve a problem we are being creative. This might be substituting an ingredient in cooking, creating a grain silo out of an oatmeal box for your tractor loving grandson, or even stretching a dollar to do something fun. 

I have always been drawn toward creativity, and found that to be especially true during my teaching career. My classroom was a daily venue to let my creativity shine. I especially encouraged my students to be creative as well, and was regularly amazed by them. 

As Eno reminds us just being alert will allow our natural creativity to come through. If you have been guilty of saying you don’t  have a creative bone in your body, think again. We are made in the image  of our creator, and if you have any doubts about His creativity just look out the window at sunset to see His masterful work.