Boredom begets invention

About two years ago I learnt an incredibly important lesson in managing stress. I was working harder than ever, but getting less done. Making toast and tea for breakfast took 15 minutes when it should only take 5. I started arriving at work in a hurry - sometimes late, and I'm never late. Normally. 
My solution? Work a bit harder, wake up earlier, knuckle down etc.
Didn't work. In fact, things got worse.

A month or so after this I lost a bunch of podcasts I had on MP3. Radio stresses me out, so I cooked, drove and went to sleep in silence. Gosh that made car trips boring. There was nothing to listen to but the rambling nonsense of my own thoughts. The chaos of life finally had a chance to sit with me in conversation and I had no escape.

In one of these car trips I had a thought, in fact, I had about 5. I realized that I hadn't had a silent moment - a bored moment - for the past few weeks. This kind of boredom was actually... restful. In that 30 minute car trip so many things became clear... I figured out why my chickens kept escaping at night, I remembered the whereabouts of my ipod, I realized why the household rosemary plant died etc. Point is, without silence, and a certain amount of boredom, how on earth can we de-clutter our chaos? How can we invent?

I say this to all of us who are forever up-skilling and keeping switched on: listening to podcasts, music and audio books in every spare moment. Its not the most effective way to grow. But it certainly does keep our busy minds occupied. Too occupied to ever process all of this info. Too occupied to wander off mentally, and invent something of our own. Too occupied to appreciate the gaps in the chook pen.

Afraid of getting bored? Maybe its time to get busy getting bored... every now and then.