Protection Against Misery

Nothing is so good a protection against such misery as inward wealth, the wealth of the mind, because the greater it grows, the less room it leaves for boredom.

The Wisdom of Life, Arthur Schopenhauer

Today is the first day of school for our second grader. Our kindergartener starts next Wednesday. And… it’s about time.

I remember by the end of the summer, I was usually ready to get back to school. As much fun as summer can be, after a while, I wanted to get back to some kind of routine. I don’t think I would have said it like that back in those days, but I can certainly see it now.

I can’t tell you how many times in the last couple of weeks I’ve heard, “I’m bored.” Listen, my kids have plenty, plenty, of toys. They have toys in their rooms. They have toys in the living room. We have an entire cabinet full of games and coloring/activity books. We let them play a couple games on the Xbox. We have streaming services. They have literally thousands of LEGOs, and hundreds of books. We have a large, fenced-in yard, a playset, and outdoor toys/sporting goods. There is absolutely no reason why my children should ever be bored.

My response is typically, “Boredom stems from a lack of imagination. You have plenty of things you could be doing.” And then I offer up some mundane chore that needs to be done, but there’s no way they are actually bored enough to do it – mostly, it has to do with cleaning up copious amounts of toys that are scattered in various places around the house. Do they ever do it? Of course not.

Maybe you have felt this way from time to time as well. Maybe you’ve felt bored. We have a world of entertainment at our fingertips, and yet, we find ourselves lacking. There are a lot of things we could do, but nothing we want to do.

In those times, challenge yourself to pick up a book, learn a new hobby, or just get outside and take a walk. You aren’t bored. You just lack imagination and motivation to do anything.