Be brave enough to be bored

One of my goals this year is to be bored...hear me out

Happy New Year lovely souls,

I drafted many posts based on a yearly recap, intentions and goal setting - but there’s a lot of that already out there. So let’s start afresh, slightly askew and a little atypical.

Sitting in boredom. Something I cannot stand. I get antsy, anxious, fidgety and my mind begins to spiral. You’ll find me filling any downtime cleaning, checking in on loved ones, planning… in other words the concept of downtime is not one I’m comfortable with, let alone the feeling of boredom.

2024 was unusual and my mind felt pretty clouded towards the end of the year. Work began to feel monotonous and the idea of painting something of depth or meaning felt lost on me. I found myself meandering and pacing through meaningless tasks just to occupy my mind. I wasn’t resting nor was I getting anything done.

If you don’t take time to stop your body and mind will leave you no choice but to make you stop in some way or another. So after an impromptu, what I’m calling, body halt, I sat. In silence. In stillness. I actively deleted all my socials and didn’t enter the studio. Whilst it felt very unnatural it also felt imperative.

I kid you not when I say all it took was 20 minutes of pure uninterrupted boredom for my brain to suddenly visualise; scenes and stories, characters and colours after months of only seeing foggy, dull clouds. It was at that point I realised how much I’d been distracted, how much pressure I applied to 'do’ instead of ‘be’. No matter how much I preach about honouring your pace I hadn’t put my own words into practice. I felt a need to prove to myself and others that I was always working on something.

Amongst all the noise we miss the nuance. Amongst streams of content we lack contentment. Amongst endless opinions we miss opportunities. So whilst it might sound odd to folk that one of my goals this year is to find comfort in discomfort, such as boredom, I think creatives need that to visualise. Boredom is perhaps more beneficial to creativity than banging our heads against a wall sketchbook when the ideas just won’t flow.

Personally, the feeling of boredom has always equated to feelings of inadequacy. It’s not so much boredom as it is the feeling of not being/doing enough that terrifies me. Now that I’m clearly an expert at being bored (please read that in a sarcastic tone), I could kick myself for not forcing it upon myself sooner, because it’s lit a fire in my belly to get my silly boredom born musings down onto paper.

I’m (obviously) not the first one to write about the benefits of boredom but when you experience it yourself to this effect, you feel like an artist that’s just hit some magical refresh/reignite/motivation button.

“Creativity is the residue of time wasted.” - Albert Einstein

I want to remind you everybody’s timelines are suppose to be different. When (and if) you set goals I hope you do so with intention. I hope you set goals that align with your values and aren’t just to keep up with others or to fit a mould. Whether you share said goals to hold you accountable or keep them to yourself and celebrate within, I hope you remember to honour your pace.

Until next time,