I’m bored.

  

  I thrive on routine. I love to get up early, drink coffee, finish good books, and be in sunlight. Vacations are really hard for me. Sure, I love to work, but vacations are also hard for me because my schedule and routine are thrown out the window. And I have great hobbies. Indoor hobbies like reading, coffee, music, and drawing. Outdoor hobbies like gardening and bike riding. But in all this, I struggle with boredom.

  Routines get boring. Habits get dull. I sometimes just want to sleep rather than do anything good for me. It usually hits me toward the end of a week. Monday I’m great. Motivated. Ready to accomplish things. But by the end of the week I want something different. Adventure.  To go somewhere new. To experience something unexpected. Sometimes I'll go to Taco Bell or Taco John's late at night just to get away and something I shouldn't.

  I love mission trips and traveling. There's this sense of adventure and seeing something new.  I love tasting new native foods, different languages, new cultures, and interacting with people who are totally different from me.  

  One of the first arguments that Adrianne and I had when we were married was over an adventure.  On our honeymoon we went to a water park; it had a lazy river, a wave pool, and water slides.  A lot of the water slides were covered and dark so you couldn't see where you were going.  That sounded fun to me, but not so much to Adrianne.  I remember getting mad and saying something like "why did we even pay to come to this place if we're not going to do most of the slides?" Oh young Kevin, there's so much I wish I could teach you.

  Now, that wasn't a huge adventure or a dangerous one, but it showed both Adrianne and I that I have more of an adventurous side than her. Why do I have this drive in me for adventure? To throw off routine healthy habits? 

  I've heard a lot from people in this quarantine time that they are bored.  We can't go out to eat, we can't travel, we can't be with friends.  We have to stay home, watch tv, and work from home. It's funny with no sports on tv, everyone is talking about the Michael Jordan documentary, "The Last Dance." I had a routine doctor appointment this last week and my doctor talked at me about MJ for 30 minutes.  We are so starved for competition and sports right now that this documentary from 20+ years ago is thrilling us.

  One of the problems I have is that when I'm bored, I don't want to do my hobbies. Hobbies take time, energy, and I have to get things out.  That's a lot of work. How do you make yourself do something when you are bored?

  Sometimes boredom can be a good thing.  It makes me appreciate the small things like playing with my kids, it lets me think a little bit, it means I'm not stressed, I have time to plan ahead. But it can also be incredibly bad for me.  I sleep more.  I have depressing thoughts.  I'm tempted with lust. My thoughts wander to places they shouldn't.

  What do you do with boredom? Do you have a plan for when you are bored?  Are you good at being bored?  Would you rather be bored or really busy?