Posted by Howe Q. Wallace on Thursday, February 13th, 2020
“To be bored is to turn down cold whatever life happens to be offering you at the moment. It is to cast a jaundiced eye at life in general, including most of all your own life. You feel nothing is worth getting excited about because you are yourself not worth getting excited about.” – Frederick Buechner
Bored? Buechner is a philosopher and he certainly has a dim view of those who claim boredom.
If you reflect upon his quote, he asserts boredom doesn’t happen unless it is allowed to happen.
Boredom occurs when we tune out, switch off and turn down the things in our midst. We close our minds. We refuse to pay attention. We choose not to engage.
Buechner sounds harsh in his last statement: “You feel nothing is worth getting excited about because you are yourself not worth getting excited about.”
He’s not saying that you aren’t worth getting excited about. He’s saying that somewhere, somehow, you’ve decided that’s so.
Buechner says “SNAP OUT OF IT.” Life is too short to endure boredom. There are people to engage, information to acquire, skills to refine and education to gain.
Let boredom be a sign – If you’re bored today, you’ll be bored tomorrow unless you change your approach.
Howe Q. Wallace, Jr.
Since 2005, he has been sharing his thoughts on the organization, leadership, and communication in an online daily note to teammates called Daily with HQ.