I didn’t believe Tim Ferriss when he said that the opposite of happiness is boredom.
I still might not get what he means, but I think I can agree. All I know is that I am not happy when I’m bored.
Having nothing to do creates a sense of purposelessness. A feeling that there’s nothing for you to do, so there must be no purpose to what you do. While so many productivity gurus would laugh at someone for spreading out their work to take up more time, at least that way they don’t have to confront the truth that what they do, that who they are doesn’t really matter.
I’ve never feared physical pain. I am fortunate for that. But I still feel the pain of boredom. I feel the pain of not knowing what to do, and I feel the pain of confronting the undealt with emotions that rise to the top once I no longer have activities to push them down.
Ouch.
Boredom is truth. Boredom reveals all. Boredom is not good nor bad — it’s what we make of it. I am struggling to make good of it.
