Boredom is a feeling I’d rather not face on a regular basis.  Boredom is the feeling that occurs when your brain is ready and willing to do something, but you can’t think of anything to do.  It means you’ve messed up and you haven’t fed yourself with the necessary helping of activity.  I would rather be short on time than left wanting for something to do.

I juggle a lot of activities.  Aside from my full-time job, I am a photographer, a musician, a reader, writer, Bonsai artist and a father.  Each has their own priorities – I will choose spending time with my children over one of the others, for example – but it’s a lot to jam into a solitary life.  Sacrifices need to be made.  I will just have to miss the latest episode of Jersey Shore…oh the horror, I’ll probably live.  I will focus my reading on fiction as opposed to the latest gossip magazine.  And that Dance Dance Revolution tournament probably won’t get the attention it deserves.  Sarcasm aside, things like television shows are a part of most people’s lives.  I’m not shunning them in any regard, even I will rot my mind a few times a week.  I just feel more more fulfilled with my array of other activities.  Try spending many patient years with a tree, struggling to make it look much older than its dwarf self.  The result is a thing of beauty, a piece of art that is revered and all too rare these days.  You feel a sense of accomplishment.  What do you get from a sitcom?  A few laughs and you were entertained, of course.  But do you feel fulfilled?  Have you accomplished anything?

So I keep myself quite busy.  And it really never seems like I have the time to do everything that I want.  I have a mental checklist of things I’d like to accomplish, and they often seem too far out of reach.  Time being the most common limiting factor.  It’s a delicate balance between keeping my mind occupied and keeping it free of stress.  I try not to let my personal goals and deadlines become a source of stress, which would be counter-productive.  It requires that I schedule my time – even my free time – an aspect that might not appeal to everyone.  In the end, I find that I always have something to do, or something I can do, and my mind isn’t bored.

Boredom.  It’s a crappy feeling.  I’m glad that I have too much to do so that I don’t have to worry about that.  And with that said, I really have to get going…there’s just not enough time in the day….