The Beauty of Boredom

When was the last time you were truly, deeply, brain-numbingly bored? Take a moment to think about that. It’s been a while since I allowed myself to be brutally bored.

It’s also been a long time since I gave myself 4 weeks off. I’m talking about almost a decade. In ten years I haven’t had a proper break from working and building businesses.

I needed to let my brain recover from an intensely anxious year.

The insanely intense year that was 2020 made me finally realise how badly I needed time off and how desperate I was to be bored. So I took the leap and committed to four weeks off.

What did I do with 4 weeks off?

Nothing.

Not a fucking thing.

I mean it. I did nothing meaningful. I set myself the goal of being as bored as possible as often as possible for four weeks.

For the first 8 days, I couldn’t bring myself to read a book. I couldn’t stop thinking about work. I couldn’t break the cycle of anxiety and guilt from having the luxury of doing absolutely jack shit every day.

As day 9 ended I realised that I hadn’t thought about work at any point in the day and that I had enjoyed 10 hours of nothing “meaningful”. I lay in the sun for an hour. I lay on the couch for an hour. I read a book for a bit. I took a nap. I played with my dogs for a while. I took an unusually long time to make lunch. I watched TV series for a bit and then took another nap. I washed the dishes, swept the house, cleaned the toilets and did any mundane task I could find to engage my boredom. I was actively trying not to accomplish anything and I succeeded.

I repeated the above for the rest of my time off and it was magical.

Boredom is beneficial to the brain, believe it or not. It lets your mind wander into interesting and different places which pushes your creativity into new directions. It allows you to think about the future more actively because you’re not distracted with the rush of everyday life. Boredom is also good for your mental health.

We have been tricked into thinking that boredom is a sin in modern times. We must pick up our phones, browse the TwInstaTokBookTube at all costs and be busy, even on our own, even at home, even when nobody is around. We. Must. Be. Busy.

My time off is over now and I am glad I did nothing with my month. I needed to do nothing. I needed to let my brain recover from an intensely anxious year.

I challenge you to try and be bored for one day. This weekend do nothing of any importance on Saturday. Read a terrible book, walk around your garden, play with your dogs, talk to your kids, wander around the house, go for a walk with no music or podcasts playing. Do nothing meaningful.

Give yourself permission to be bored. You’ll hate it until you love it.