Yes, often. I don't usually admit it, but lately I've been embracing boredom. There's an unnecessary stigma attached to it, as if we're supposed to be occupied every waking minute with productive activities, thoughts, and feelings. But the hard truth is that this is impossible.
There isn't a soul on this planet who is free of boredom. In fact, I'd argue we all face it every day, and we each have our fixes. We turn to social media for brain rot, we play games, watch sports, listen to music, do work, read books, talk to friends, call our family, walk the dog.
I see boredom the way I see happiness: it ebbs and flows. We choose to occupy ourselves in anticipation of it or in reaction to it, but we're not perpetually bored. Or boring.
Look at any given day. We have absolute freedom to decide what we do at any moment, and we've designed our lives around routines and rituals that fill the hours. Wake up and do the morning routine. Work out. Go to work. Fill the workday with tasks we choose or get handed. Afternoons and evenings tend to give us the most agency. Rinse and repeat.
So boredom is really a judgment on how you've chosen to fill your time. A simple thumbs up or thumbs down on the quality of your decisions. The exact same moment you judge as boring could easily be enjoyable or exciting if the circumstances were different or, better yet, if you had a different perspective.
In my life I have almost no requirements for how my days are spent. I know, poor me. But that's a lot of time, and it can get exhausting constantly trying to fill it, especially on the road when there's nobody around to distract me. I often walk 15k+ steps a day just to fill the time. Sometimes I doomscroll, binge-watch, write, play guitar, or people-watch. And sometimes I just choose to be bored.
Case in point: I'm writing this on a plane to Bucharest. No internet. I left my book in Bologna so I could carry a small backpack for the weekend. I forgot my headphones. So yeah, I'm bored. But I'm also headed to a new country for a weekend escape, from a cool city where I'm spending the month.
Today I walked 12k steps in the morning and did yoga in the afternoon. I had amazing tortellini in brodo for lunch. I did my laundry and took a nap. I rode a bike to the airport because there weren't any taxis. I wrote a nice blog post on the plane to fill the time. It'll be nearly midnight when I arrive in Bucharest.
How do you judge my day? Do I seem bored?