Issue #25: Boring Days
When nothing's happening.
Dear Reader,
“To be bored is to be unafraid of our interior lives — a form of moral courage central to being fully human.” – Maria Popova, The Marginalian.
The Mirror
Boring days.
Scrolling our phones, flipping through books, reaching out to people, roaming around our houses with clothes that should be soaked in detergent and warm water – we either look forward to boring days or we loathe them.
I feel guilty during these days, as though I’m wasting my time, as though nothing happening stands as proof that I’m not living a worthwhile life. So, instead of resting, I get on some project half-heartedly, the types of projects that rarely get conclusions.
My mind is busier than online trolls, it hates to rest, it also teases me when I’m busy – constantly questioning my priorities: “do something shinier and louder.”
It’s quite ironic, most of us spend Monday to Friday, dreaming about the weekend, so we can do nothing, but the weekend comes, and we’re chastising ourselves for slow moments that hop on a treadmill once the clock strikes 6pm on Saturdays. Swiftly, we’re back to yearning for boring days, as we grasp Saturday night, pleading for another day to appear before Sunday.
Remember the days when the ping sound from our blackberries excited us? It has only been downhill since then, as everything around us fights for our attention. So much so, that we find boring unnatural and unappealing.
Boring days should be viewed with gratitude. They are opportunities to slow down, to reflect on ourselves, to try out new things but ultimately to rest without guilt.
The Lens
Planning boring days: ready, set, go!
The Grounding
Write a list of things you want to learn on your next, ‘boring day.’
The Spring Fund
Anyone else trying to get their finances in order?
Making a monthly budget.
Understand that every month will be different.
List all your (guaranteed) sources of income. You can add expected income from side-hustles, etc., but be conservative.
List all your expenses. Go through your bank statements so you don’t miss anything out.
Subtract expenses from income to gauge your financial health.
Look at your expense list again, assign a budget to each item.
As a beginner, have a weekly check-in, perhaps on Sundays, to keep yourself in check.
Rinse & repeat for each month.
Watch this for more information on how to make a budget: Budgeting for Beginners
The Shelf
The Marginalian, a brilliant newsletter everyone should subscribe to, wrote about the perception of boredom through the eyes of some the world’s greatest thinkers (read here: Boredom, The Marginalian).
“I don’t know… I think I’d like to say only that they should learn to be alone and try to spend as much time as possible by themselves. I think one of the faults of young people today is that they try to come together around events that are noisy, almost aggressive at times. This desire to be together in order to not feel alone is an unfortunate symptom, in my opinion. Every person needs to learn from childhood how to be spend time with himself. That doesn’t mean he should be lonely, but that he shouldn’t grow bored with himself — because people who grow bored in their own company seem to me in danger, from a self-esteem point of view.” - ANDREI TARKOVSKY
Before You Go
Be gentle on yourself during boring days, turn them into exploration days or just do nothing.
Until next week,
Spring4th.