BREAKING BOREDOM

Man as a natural being is meant to be active continuously, not as per the work of your hands or mind or to be in motion. But it actually entails the miniaturized fact that each entity in our body is active continuously as nature itself does. When (one of or) our body features stops being active, that is death probably. But in a way, when there is less activity than normal, in this case, physical work, it is detected as an anomaly. Hence, boredom sets in.

_{Photo by Lara Jameson from Pexels | Edited with Canva}

According to Google, being bored means "feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity".Largely speaking, being bored does not necessarily have to emanate from less activity per se, repeated but uncreative actions over time might cause that too – but that is beyond the scope of the context. Resulting of less activity or a sudden change in the way a particular thing or the way you do it operates, your next behavioral atmosphere can be boring. By the sudden change, say you just left secondary school here in Nigeria, most times you do not get into a tertiary institution for at least 5 months after. So, most young school leavers contract post-secondary school boredom.

Boredom can exist at different points in human life. Personally, a severe case of mine was during the covid-19 time. I remember I had finished first-year exams and was counting on waiting for a few months and getting back to school. Unfortunately, that was not the case. In the early times of the pandemic, strict lockdowns and rules were enforced.

At first, I did not feel it that much until about 2-3 months into the lockdown. Man was really fed up with everything, mind you, I was at my parents’ house so I was getting fed and shelter; at least those are half the problem man solved. When the lockdown was relaxed but the school had not resumed, I do travel with my father to his workplace in the next state. I was happy to leave home but it was not what would render the boredom impotent.

It was at a juncture that I realized that boredom was not what will leave on its own, you have got to make it disappear. Thinking about what I used to do or enjoy doing before the lockdown pandemic, I was able to scribble some things down. And some rumination about life and the future did some magic too.

Then, I tried getting back to solving some maths questions – that I had even forgotten – starting from the known to the unknown. In a way, it is not that this method actually went a long way but it did not make my love for maths to die an eternal death as it is now, unfortunately. I started to take interest in reading books mostly spiritual and the ones were written by captains of industries. I did fewer novels but the one that stays evergreen in my memory is The Godfather by Mario Puzo.

The major one of it all was either strolling in the evening or visiting people. I took that like a 10 units course! This actually helps to mingle with people and let go of all that boredom embedded inside of me. The more I took time to talk to other people apart from my family, the better I became publicly okay with myself. This was one of the main reasons I vouched that I would discard the idea of coming to school just to get good grades alone and no one would know me. Not that I will make myself known like the eye-service sort of, but in emanating distinct values somehow I will get recognized and consequently be able to build connections and networks.

Besides, in the case of minor boring times, I do some other little things to alleviate such. An important one here is to listen to music and sing. Oh, you should see me use to solfa-noted voice. Although, it only comes active once in a blue moon.

In conclusion, my entry on this topic reiterates the fact that human interactions are definitely part of what keeps humanity going. Without or less interaction, we may be entering into a bottomless pit per person. Being bored is no sin, you just have to find yourself and let others do too. And then, we’d all be good.