You’ve probably been there.

Sitting in the reception of a building – waiting.

Maybe you’re at the doctor’s or waiting for a job interview.

Checking your phone or watch every 13 seconds.

Not having enough time to put your headphones in and tune out the world.

Heck, even your phone isn’t interesting anymore.

Waiting.

We’re supposed to hate it.

Whether it’s having to wait in line, or waiting for that thing in the future to come when your life will be just perfect, we don’t like to wait.

We like to do, accomplish, and succeed.

Waiting feels like wasted time.

It’s a momentary lapse when we are not free to do – we’re just stuck waiting.

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Boredom is underrated.

I would like to be bored a little more often.

It’s not respected because it doesn’t yield anything tangible,

but there’s a lot going on underneath the surface.

When I was a kid – I was bored all the time.

Bored at school, bored at home, bored at being bored.

My mother would give me all kinds of suggestions of things to do,

which just resulted in me no longer telling her that I was bored.

But funny enough – I remember my childhood fondly.

I would create things out of my boredom,

or I would just let my mind wander,

or sneak into a laundry basket or under a bed and find a new space to hide from the world.

If you’re an introvert like me, you may undertand what I’m talking about.

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I’m an adult now – and I discovered something really cool a few months ago

that brought me right back to the carefreeness of my early childhood.

I had been finding life and the world a bit too overwhelming.

So I went to the unfinished and windowless back room in our apartment,

turned the lights off,

and just sat in the dark.

I didn’t bring any devices in.

I do this frequently now.

It creates a moment in my life where I get to forget about time.

I get lost in my thoughts and in my breathing in the pitch black,

and sit and be bored.

Sometimes I focus on my breathing, or I pray, but mostly I just sit.

For some of you, this might sound awful,

and I don’t come to too many epiphanies when I do this.

But I use the time to recover from my sensory overload, and find myself again.

It’s almost a hobby – sitting alone in the dark.

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I write this as I’m coming off a two-week “vacation”.

A two-week road trip across the country.

I’m sleeping a lot. I’m feeling fairly unmotivated.

I’m out-of-rhythm with my pre-holiday routine.

This last week in my first week back, I spent too much time on social media.

Why did I do that? It is so rarely life-giving to me.

Why is it that when we really just need rest or sleep – we impulsively turn to our phones and devices?

It’s almost like we’re scared of ourselves.

Scared of being alone.

Scared of just being.

Maybe we need to learn to be bored and under-stimulated more often.

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What do you do to be bored?

How do you lose yourself and gain perspective?

It can be good to remember, but it also can be good to forget.

It can be good to do stuff, but it also can be good to not do stuff.

Our lives are so quick-paced and over-stimulated,

I think we ought to be bored more often.

Its value is hidden, and not well-described with words,

but it’s important.

So go ahead, be boring.