Boredom: Learning to Love it

This was my very first column back in April of 2010

A few years ago my friend Brenda gave me the book “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, 100 of the Best Inspirations from the Best-selling Series.”
In a variety of short essays, the author teaches the reader how to chill out and enjoy life. Since I tend to be a little high-strung, this turned out to be the perfect book for me.
My favorite, marked by a sticky note, is titled “Encourage Boredom in your Children.” When I read it I realized we adults need to do the same.
My husband and I have taken on the daunting task of living within our means. We decided taking vacations would only be done if we could pay cash for them.
Year after year, I would watch longingly as my friends began their late-winter ritual of building a base tan before going someplace warm and tropical for a week.
I would avoid the teachers’ lounge for the first two weeks after spring break so I would not have to listen to the excruciating stories and see the beautiful tans. Once the tans faded and the stories finished, I could return to daily lunches with my friends.
Many years, I would go so far as to purchase my own tan so when everyone returned, I wouldn’t get “Oh, you poor thing, you had to stay in this cold and miserable weather all spring break” looks. They don’t mean to do it, but they can’t help it. With a tan, people would assume that I had a fabulous break too, and hopefully wouldn’t ask about it.
As I felt more and more sorry for myself, my husband would try to cheer me up by saying things like, “Oh they’re just putting $3,000 on their Visas that they’ll have to pay off” or “There’s no way I’d be trapped in a car for four days just to go to Florida.”
It didn’t help.
I wanted to slather on Bain de Soleil for that St. Tropez tan and lounge in the sun by the pool. I wanted to wear shorts and flip flops, and my cute tankini with the little skirt. I continued to wallow in my self-pity.
Until this year, that is.
Every so often we are blessed with a two week break. For Christmas, we didn’t go anywhere and I decided to do as little as possible (a long time ago I realized the less busy I am the more slowly time goes by). I did a little cleaning, poked along at the laundry and laid around.
When the two weeks were over, boredom had set in and I was ready to go back to into the routine of my job. It felt like I had a month off.
This spring break, boredom hit about three days before the end.
Ready to go back to work, I was refreshed and recharged. My skin was pasty-white, but I wanted to see my friends and their tans, wanted to hear about wonderful trips and see pictures.
I’ve come back from vacations feeling rushed to do laundry and unpack, and go back to work tired, frazzled and grumbling, wishing break had not gone by so fast.
I have decided that there is value in not having to go on a fabulous trip every time there is a break.
Don’t get me wrong — if I have the opportunity to do something fun and fabulous somewhere warm and tropical, you can be sure that I’ll be there.
But I’ll pay for it with cash, and when I am there I will make sure I schedule in time just to be bored.