Why We Should All Bore Ourselves

 Is “doing nothing” a good use of your time?

I used to dislike showering when I was younger because it was so boring and it interrupted my playtime. My parents told me I would feel clean and refreshed afterwards, but I just felt cold and clammy. Apparently, a lot of kids hate showers because the rushing water and temperature shifts are all too overstimulating. But I found it unbelievably underwhelming. I never visibly saw myself become cleaner and refreshed, and I certainly didn’t feel it, so it was a boring, meaningless chore. However, some of the best ideas I’ve ever had were during these times of boredom. A lot of people call them shower thoughts. Showers were so boring, I had nothing to do but sit with my thoughts as the water kept running. I thought about my dream pet, inventing flying shoes, or what I wanted to be when I grew up.

But I’ve started to have fewer shower thoughts as I keep growing up, and I worry that my childhood creativity has faded. And I’ve been wondering about where all my crazy ideas used to come from, and why I don’t get them as often anymore. Ever since I got a waterproof speaker a few years ago, I started listening to podcasts in the shower. A form that makes a mundane task more enjoyable while multitasking. I realized, though, that the podcasts were filling my mind in the shower, and taking up all the room that used to house my dream pets and cool inventions.

Lately, the number of responsibilities and things to do keeps racking up, and I have lost the pockets of nothing in my days that have open time to just do nothing, but think. The pressure to get ahead, or just keep up, keeps me constantly finding ways to maximize productivity. Ironically enough, I was listening to a podcast in the shower the other day when I learned about why we need to be bored sometimes. Boredom can actually be beneficial because it leaves us to sit with our own thoughts, enhancing our introspection and creativity. It also helps increase our attention span and altruism. But just sitting in your own mind can also be terrifying because it is the perfect place for anxieties to surface. In addition, being underwhelmed is also really uncomfortable because it is a signal of our needs not being met (stimulus and/or a sense of purpose), which biologically triggers distress. But when we begin to seek stimulus and purpose, we can understand ourselves better and think about what we want to do. Being bored often makes us more altruistic because helping others gives us instant fulfillment.

I recently stopped using my speaker in the shower. And I won’t lie that showering suddenly became less enjoyable for a bit. But I do think that more of my shower thoughts have slowly started coming back. I’ve given myself some time each day to just sit with myself and organize my thoughts. I have come up with a lot of ideas about things I want to do in the future, and I also think practicing conscious self awareness has also helped me understand myself more. But there is a fine line between growing and spiraling from the thoughts that emerge out of boredom. Sometimes, if I take a longer shower, I will begin overthinking and stress myself out. What started off as ideas about career paths that would help people in the future led to a realization of how much I must do to get there. I need to focus on getting good grades so I can get into a good college. Wow, I am going to college really soon. And then I will be an adult. I will need to understand taxes and how to pay my bills. But I don’t remember anything from consumer ed. 

In my experience, doing nothing can be a good use of time, but only in moderation, because it’s honestly quite difficult. “Doing nothing” has become increasingly more uncomfortable as our society constantly evolves to pressure and stimulate us. But boredom can make room for self-understanding and new ideas. Too much allowance to roam around in one’s own mind can be dangerous because it can be very easy to spiral and overthink, which could be oppositely considered a waste of time. But I think if we approach “doing nothing” as an opportunity to understand our minds and allow that part of us to flourish, it can be an incredibly helpful practice.

Hello, thank you for reading my essay. I tried a lot of different prompts for this blog, but none of them really sparked any brilliant ideas, so I want to know if this was boring to read or if it didn't make sense. Also, I am quite a bit over the world limit, but wasn't really sure how to conclude the essay. Any comments and pieces of advice are really appreciated! Thank you