Many years ago, the second I got out of elementary school for the summer, my mother heard those dreaded words from me – I’m bored! She told me to go read a book. I first read all the books I was “allowed” to read in my mother’s library (Hello V.C. Andrews). Then she would drive me to the library for my first library card. My proudest moment was when I lost the big star on my card that limited me to children’s books only.
I was a voracious reader. I could read 10 books in less than two weeks. When I was constantly reading to alleviate boredom, I turned to food less. The more I read, the more it seemed that being a writer was a possible career choice. I even was an English major in undergrad. Unfortunately, that was a mistake. As an English major, reading became my job. I was overwhelmed by the amount of books I had to read in a semester. I used to say being an English major, you had to have the talent for BS, because often you were using cliff notes and other people’s discussions of a book to write your term papers on all the books we had to read.
After college, I had forgotten that I used books to help with boredom. If I wasn’t working, I was using food to alleviate boredom. My attempts to control my weight turned a small issue of anxiety into a full-blown disorder where my anxious thoughts took on a life of their own. I began to fill every single moment of my life with sound. I was never without noise because silence only helped my constant, anxious auditory hallucinations to rule in my mind.
A year ago, I wanted to add daily prayer as I drove to work in the morning. It would require fifteen to twenty minutes of silence. Those fifteen minutes of silence turned into an hour, and one hour into several hours. What do I do in those quiet moments? I talk to God. I daydream. If I don’t need to read for my many activities, I read for fun. What I don’t do is turn to food. I allow myself to just be – even if that means I may say those dread words – I’m bored. In the silence, I am able to hear God and my inner conscience better. It allows me to do much-needed and sometimes painful self-reflection and self-growth. I remember the value of boredom, of just letting everything go quiet and just being quiet with your own thoughts.
Reading is still a job for me, in my main and side hustles. I have to be intentional if I want to get through my massive to-be-read file on Kindle, Nook, and actual physical books. Current parents, if your kids are looking for constant entertainment this summer, start a no-electronics time of the day – they either have to read, go outside to play, or play non-electronic indoor games. If they say they’re still bored, tell them to just be. As Depeche Mode says, “Enjoy the silence.”
Until next time!
R.R. Peace, Author and Poet 