It’s almost the school holidays again, and I can already hear the collective cry of frustration from children up and down the country: “I’M BORED!”
I can’t help but smile when I hear it. I said those words too as a child, not very often though. Not because I was never bored, but because admitting it out loud was risky business in our house. A complaint of boredom meant being given a job: tidying my bedroom, doing the dishes, or weeding the garden of what felt like hundreds, maybe thousands of bright yellow dandelions that sprang up the instant the sun appeared.
I’m glad my childhood was pre-mobile phones. I didn’t have hundreds of TV or social media channels at my fingertips. If I wanted something to do, I had to make it happen. And so I did.
I spent hours with friends making forts out of blankets and chairs, days happily bezzing around the streets on my bike or being dragged on the bogey my dad made, and evenings camping out in the garden. Whole afternoons were spent inventing games, telling stories, or putting on plays for our elderly neighbours who indulged us kids, and my off-key singing!
Looking back, those unstructured, unscheduled moments were the best of times. What I realise now is that boredom, real, honest, nothing-to-do boredom, can be a beautiful thing.
It’s in boredom that our imagination gets a nudge. I remember mixing rose petals and water to make perfume (OK, it smelled terrible, but that’s not the point), drawing and colouring for hours, or writing short stories just for the joy of it. I remember carting an easel and watercolours up to Roundhay Park on the bus to paint flowers. Can I paint? Not especially, but I gave it a go. There were no apps or algorithms directing my attention. I had to come up with my own ideas and see what I could make from nothing. And that “nothing” often became fun.
Boredom was never a dead end. It was a doorway.
Listening to the relentless moaning and groaning of a bored child can be a lot. And yes, the temptation to plonk them in front of a screen is completely valid. But what if that wasn’t an option? What then? What if we let them sit with their boredom for a while? I’m willing to bet that without boredom, we wouldn’t have so many of the inventions, stories, or songs we now take for granted.
And let’s not forget, adults get bored too. We may not say it out loud, but boredom often shows up as restlessness, dissatisfaction, or that nagging feeling of being stuck. Unlike children, we tend to internalise it and let it fester until it becomes unhealthy. We get bored of our routines, our jobs, our relationships, even ourselves, leading to feelings of depression or despondency.
It’s easy to believe that nothing can change when we only see things as they are, not how we’d like them to be. But just like children, we too have the power to rediscover what excites us.
Whether it’s learning a new skill, rekindling an old hobby, cooking something from scratch, fixing something with our hands, or simply allowing ourselves time away from the noise, boredom can be a signal, not of failure, but of opportunity. A chance to reimagine. To reconnect. To remember what makes us feel alive.
And just so you know, being bored doesn’t mean you’re a boring person. In fact, it can be the start of something new. Boredom gives your mind a chance to wander, and that’s often when the best ideas show up. Whether you’re a child staring at the ceiling or an adult feeling stuck in the same old routine, boredom can be the pause you need to reset. So don’t rush to fill it. Sit with it. Get curious. You never know what you might discover in that quiet safe space that’s uniquely your own, it could be something truly special.
Shannon Humphrey is a First Aid for Mental Health Instructor and Wellbeing advocate, find out more about her work at www.pathwaysforpositivity.com
Photo: Shutterstock
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