The Frustration of Boredom

Boredom is not really about having nothing to do.  It is about not knowing what to do.  Something feels off.  Nothing feels nourishing to my soul.  

Boredom is the soul's way of indicating the need to get started, but often I don't know what I should get started doing.  This is where the frustration comes in.

Boredom is different than apathy.  There is resistance, a kind of stuck energy, in boredom.  The resistence is against the so called choices in front of me.  Nothing feels good enough and so in boredom I stay stuck in non-action.  In apathy, there is no energy.  I no longer care. 

Boredom is a product of indecision.  It is a lack of awareness of what I am capable of doing.  It may be that I have lost my own sense of purpose and direction, or it may be that I have had my own choices so limited for so long, I have forgotten how to utilize my own will to direct my actions towards a bigger goal.

Conventional schooling is complicit in creating this state.  The ability to make goals and direct actions towards my own interests needs to be developed. Like any cognitive capacity, goal setting, self-directed action, and purpose require experiences that foster development.  Instead of allowing students to explore their own goals, and discover their own purpose, conventional schooling dictates everything the student will learn.  The effect of this,  has led to boredom, and often apathy. 

Autonomy is one of the core variables for fostering motivation.  How do we give back autonomy, and reactivate intrinsic motivation?  Starting to reignite a sense of interest, purpose and personal goals is possible.  These are the basic skills for a good and meaningful life.  It starts with giving choice.

In a free-schooling model,  everything is about student choice.  Students make their schedule, and in some of the Democratic Free Schools, the students are even involved in hiring the teachers.  Can you imagine the difference in a student's sense of autonomy when using the Free-School model? 

Once exercising this muscle of choice, the periods of boredom-frustration begin to fade.  I start to have an internal structure for my own life.  I start to discover the sweet-spot of purpose driven action.  I am driven to learn and grow in order to achieve my own vision, rather than simply jumping through the hoops and filling in the bubbles of life.

If you have your own problems with boredom and frustration, or feeling stuck, it is possible to start to structure your own inner guidance system through daily practices.  One I really like is to write down all of your personal interests each day.  Notice the themes.  Start to give yourself permission to engage in those activities.  Most of us have lived a life directed by our social and cultural environment.  Most of us have followed a script for our life.  Now we are in the era of co-creating new systems.  High Creatives will be on the front lines of the new way of teaching, living and creating a new world.