Needless to say, this wasn’t the type of job I had in mind when I enrolled in a Computer Science degree at one of the most reputable Universities on the continent. I thought I would be doing complicated things, and working at fancy tech companies. Alas, the tech industry had just crashed in dramatic fashion, and was still in recovery. My classmates and I had all struggled to get any internships at all. It had gotten bad enough that any job was considered an achievement for us.
(emphasis mine)
Still, I was bored. Really bored. I started to experiment taking longer breaks, or spending time just sitting in my car listening to music. When that got old, I started to take walks around the large, science-lab-meets-warehouse facility, curious to see what other departments were up to. The place was massive. Bit by bit, I tried to explore its every corner.
I can relate to it.
Instead of killing time in the clinic or on the weekend on Twitter, I prefer to read, broad base my learning or just write. I invest significant time in my friends and catch up with them- through video calling. Boredom instils the idea of mindlessness – that’s when I can practise and integrate several ideas in one go. Not everything results in the path breaking transformation of the world – but getting bored is now a virtue. I can imagine the execution challenges and it brings a depth to my perspective. I usually bounce of the ideas by playing the devil’s advocate and convince myself why the idea won’t work; then counter convince myself why the ideas will work.
Here’s something more:
Boredom is lauded as a sin, yet it gives as generously as an angel. It grants us the space to see, the breath to be, the time to try, and the fuel to fly. May we give ourselves the permission to be bored. May it guide us through the corridors of curiosity and into the open plains of opportunity.
Get bored.
RadOncNotes 