Is It Good To Be Bored?

With Elliot & Stella

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Can it be bad always to have a distraction?

Stella - I think being bored is often seen as a negative thing but it's not like you can never be bored, it's just a part of life. However, now most people are used to always having a distraction whenever they’re not actively doing something.

Elliot - And you never really get much time to just like think and just process everything that happens in life. I feel like it's really important just to have time to think, not that I have much myself. When I'm busy, I always wish I was relaxing at home. But then when I'm relaxing, I feel bad for not being productive as I feel like I'm wasting my time, even though I just want to relax.

I always tend to make excuses for doing things so I can instead relax as I often feel tired, though I’m never properly relaxing because I am so aware of all the things I should be doing.

Are you losing your creativity from screens?

I don't think you're losing it, but I guess it can become a habit as when I was little I had to be creative to keep myself entertained. And ever since I got a phone, I just resort to that now. I used to spend so much time creating fun games and whilst now I have no need for that.

Screens can actually be a great source of entertainment, although it’s a bit of both. I think music is a great aid for creativity as it gives me the motivation and happy mood to get up and do something. I also see lots of things on Pinterest such as art, or just ideas or things to do in your life which inspire me to do many types of craft.

So maybe it is because your need to be creative is so much lower, it does just decrease it in general.

If you’re busy, should you dedicate time to relaxing?

I really wish I felt more peaceful when I'm resting, but I can’t stop thinking of all the other things I could be doing, but there are other similar things I find work better for me than just lying down such as a short walk around the block or reading.

I think there's a difference between leaving some time just to relax and reset and being lazy. As yeah, relaxing doesn’t have to be doing anything, and it’s not all day, every day. It's really important to actually just have some time like in a busy day that you're not constantly doing something.

I think relaxing time is important to let your body rest and digest time and time to let your body recover.

Does no entertainment always have to be boring?

As you said, it means that you're going for walks, creating something, writing, thinking, like yeah, you don’t need to be completely bored and counting the seconds. I don't think it's always good to be watching TV or something similar, as that’s what I tend to do and it doesn’t give me much space to think.

You just need to find a peaceful past time that is not too intense and gives you time to think, or be out in nature. It's helping you like clear your mind whilst being something you enjoy. When people think of boring, they all have this one concept, but it's not always negative.

How important is leaving time to think?

For me, recently, it's been very hard to just leave time to think and I'm pretty sure many other people would be thinking the same because it's just such fuss it's just there's so much going on. But I really wish that you could just have time to relax, reflect on everything and even brainstorm what you want to do next. Especially if you’re in school as it is so fast-paced and can be stressful for many as well as being constantly around people where it is impossible to relax properly for so much of the day.

Leaving time to think could be something like journaling. Like you could actually write about your day. I've done that a couple of times, but I find with so many things that I'll start something and I'll just forget about it, get distracted or lose motivation. I think that’s something to work on and maybe we could talk about that another time.

I think that would be interesting and very helpful, how to turn an action into a habit, or something like that.