Boredom and Creativity
Boredom, do you remember it?
In my last post Cow Parsley, thinking about childhood memories brought to mind boredom. I recall vast periods of time being bored as a child. My parents were preoccupied, Dad working, Mum unhappy and me and my sisters were left to our own devices a lot of the time. We squabbled and fell out often and life could be very tedious in a small village.
Boredom led to discovery
Out of a need to be occupied I discovered a love of drawing and painting with my small watercolour set. I would copy these lovely illustrations from my favourite poetry book, which I still have to this day. I got out on my bike whenever I could and loved getting lost in stories from books we would borrow from the library once a month or so. And I discovered sewing and crocheting granny squares taught to me by ‘Aunty’ June across the road.
Boredom gave me a love for things that I value more than ever these days. I relished the joy in learning something new, often after weeks of frustration. It gave me deep satisfaction and a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Too much stuff
Looking back now, those creative ‘achievements’ gave me a much needed sense of self although I never realised it at the time and it makes me wonder where the children of today might get that too. These days there is no time to be bored. Their every waking moment is filled with ‘stuff’. Other people’s stuff. Social media, accessibility to friends 24 hours a day. Pushed to achieve more and more academically at school with SATs and tests. Where is the space for boredom and the need to create?
Is overwhelm the new boredom?
Creating requires some space. And so I am led to the subject of overwhelm. Is overwhelm the new boredom? Now there is too much. Of everything. Boredom created a necessity to get off your backside and DO something. To make yourself feel better. Now there is so much to do, we don’t know where to turn next or manage to stay focused for more than 10 minutes at a time.
Overwhelm is the nemesis of creativity
Overwhelm invades, pushes out any desire to create or even the ability to. Leaving no space for creativeness to flow. It makes me realise how lucky I was to experience boredom, how overwhelm wasn’t a thing when I was growing up. I am grateful for all the boredom I was ever subjected to, for it gifted me creativity.
Does any of this resonate with you?
Do you remember being bored as a child and did you learn things from it too?
What favourite flower would you pick and why?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and perhaps we can generate a discussion here in the comments.
In the spring the empty lots would be filled with sourgrass (in portuguese they are called azedas) and we picked them and chewed on the stem to taste the sour liquid it released.
Hi Susan - yes, childhood boredom! I grew up in a large family - we didn’t have a lot of money or space of our own. Mum & Dad loved us all but there was very little individual time with them, that came later after we left home. We spent quite a bit of time out at the park or on our bikes, disappearing for hours at a time. I loved the Miffy books by Dick Bruna and would display my drawings in frames on my own shelf in the bedroom, together with all the pebbles and stones I collected (which I spent hours varnishing and placing in boxes lined with little pieces of velvet) Innocent childhood pastimes! I know exactly what you mean about today’s youngsters - it’s sad to see groups of them coming into the library, not to explore the books as we did, but to just hang around causing disruption and playing music loudly on their phones, totally ignoring our pleas to behave and maybe start to discover what we have available to them - all for free. There are others, however who come in with their parents and it’s heartening to see the encouragement given to them - long may it last!