Bring On the Boredom
The secret to our creativity?
The infamous Appalachian Trail is calling me. Backpacking in Southern Virginia’s fall foliage is just weeks away and I’m still waiting for my first tent to arrive. A little crazy? Yes, and more of that kind of insanity, please!
A few Saturdays passed, I found myself feeling unmotivated and uninspired to action. With determination to overcome this unsettling feeling, I opened a blank Word doc and began a sort of targeted brain dump, creating a statement that described my life in detail, but five years in the future. This is the same exercise I ask my clients to fill out around the beginning of our partnership and is the foundation of our coaching.
What are your deepest desires? Close your eyes and visualize yourself in the future. How do you want to feel? What do you want to be doing? Where will you live and whom do you surround yourself with? Imagining these things can generate excitement, a renewed sense of purpose, and inspire you to action.
I have found that boredom can be a helpful emotion when channeled right, inspiring a frenzy of creative action in people, like the kind that produced my hiking plans. For most of us, having something exciting and challenging on the horizon is a giant joy sandwich.
In many ways, I am just getting started on my dreams. Arriving at this season of life has rekindled my spirit of adventure and awoken the curiosity of my childhood years. Time is so precious.
With a goal to catch the peak foliage of Southern Virginia this October, I’ll start my journey in Trail Town USA, Damascus. From there, I’ll follow the AT for 40 miles into the Grayson Highlands for some of the best foliage views to be found in the state.
What does boredom inspire in you? The next time your motivation is hard to find or monotony gets you down, start dreaming on paper. Use that restless feeling as a cue to start up the imagination machine, your beautiful brain.
Resources
https://images.app.goo.gl/DTLAz3fSsYEswTx68
https://www.hikingupward.com/JNF/MtRogersGraysonHighlands/
Laura Garber
Health and Wellness Coach
My decision to get training as a functional health and wellness coach is the culmination of my years of learning. I am a native Texan and live in the Dallas area. When I’m not coaching, I also work for a small company doing business development.
