3 Reasons Why Getting Bored Is Not A Bad Thing

‘If you are one of those people who await inspiration, or wish to boost productivity, perhaps what you need most is to get bored every once and a while’

It won’t be a surprise if the above statement sounded amusing to you because boredom is commonly seen as problematic, something to be suffered through, to escape from and remove as quickly as possible. But, is boredom really that terrible? Perhaps not! Boredom is helpful, if not necessary in our lives, to achieve, create and most importantly to feel like we are alive.

Let us dive into how boredom can help us. The points that would follow are not separate but overlapping.

Boredom Sparks Creativity

Child psychologists often suggest parents to sometimes leave their children to be, based on the premise that boredom shall be where their creativity shall take birth. Bored children, when left by themselves, eventually find some way of enjoying themselves, of ‘creating’ some way to dispel boredom.

When boredom strikes, allow yourself to get bored and pay attention to the ideas that pop up. You may find yourself gravitating towards something, maybe a book, or you may want to sing, dance, paint, go for a jog etc.

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Boredom Allows Rest

Boredom is often also synonymous with rest. Many times, the most productive thing we can do is to get high quality rest. Sometimes, while we are bored, doing nothing allows us to come in sync with our minds, brains and bodies, and to be in loop with rest. It is often said that those who do not allow themselves to get bored everyday, live a very boring life.

The idle mind is free to create, curate and concoct dreams, ideas and systems of knowledge.

Boredom allows for us to day dream, observe, and often relish life. If we can successfully avoid distractions and the need to dispel boredom, we can allow ourselves to see the world with newer perspectives, to dream forward, ideate, create, and also to rest, enjoy, sit back and rejuvenate ourselves, in order to spring back to action at studies or work.

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Space For Introspection

Just as boredom allows for ideation and creativity, it also opens doors for becoming self-aware and fostering a sense of introspection. One of the reasons boredom often feels difficult to bear is because it brings to the forefront everything one wishes to not see about themselves. Boredom means having to face our inner selves and that for most people, is difficult. Our darkest parts, anxieties, desires, dreams all come hurling to the surface and most people feel the need to avoid that feeling by filling their boredom. People then distract themselves from themselves by avoiding boredom.

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To conclude, boredom is not problematic. The idle mind is not Satan’s playground unless one only uses it to think of chaos and evil. The idle mind is free to create, curate and concoct dreams, ideas and systems of knowledge. “True education happens in silence, in isolation and in the company of only ourselves”. It is free to be by itself, understand itself and evolve itself and if that is not the way to live, what is?

Nilanjana Parijat is a depth-oriented, and holistic wellness psychologist, with extensive hands-on experience in working with children, adolescents and families. She currently works with Reboot Wellness, Gurugram.