It's ok to be bored
In fact, it's probably a good thing
I was walking around campus last week when something profound happened: I realized that in the men’s restroom in Ackerman Student Union’s A Level, the tiles that I had always thought were randomly placed actually spelled out “UCLA”:
What struck me the most about this incident was not that the tiles were intentionally placed — it’s easy to imagine such thoughtful things on such a great campus — but that in all my time here, I’ve never noticed it.
I must’ve gone to that bathroom in Ackerman at least 100 times (it’s the closest one to the tour guide office, where I work) in my 4 years on campus, and I literally had never even realized that those silly blue tiles made something special.
I found myself pondering this incident all day, and specifically was wondering how this could have happened. How, despite me being at UCLA for all this time, had I never noticed the little beauty of the tiles?
Modern humans have a very interesting predicament — we no longer have to be bored. Before modern technology, we had to sit in our boredom, or at least talk to the person next to us.
Now, we can just whip out our phones to distract ourselves whenever we please.
Have an extra minute? Take out your phone to check your texts.
Friend running a bit late? Go on TikTok.
Walking to class? Listen to music or a podcast.
And while each individual instance of this happening is not a problem per se (and well-earned leisure time is, in fact, a great thing), it’s not good when it becomes our default way of dealing with boredom.
And this aversion to boredom makes perfect sense. Being bored is, well… boring.
But the unfortunate thing is, being bored is quite the good thing. When bored, your mind has to find ways to entertain itself, and you end up with some interesting thoughts as a result. When I sit or walk with nothing to do, I find myself thinking about new Interosity posts, my upcoming travels, or even how I’m going to go drink a cup of coffee soon (yum).
Crucially, this boredom is where we can allow our thoughts to marinate and become something truly great. It’s just like a soup that’s left to simmer — sitting with your thoughts while bored is when you often cook up something truly special (like that line I just wrote).
Reflecting on what happened with the tiles, I realized that I never noticed them before because I was always distracted by something else — either listening to music, calling someone, or rushing to meet my tour group on time. I never took the energy to be there slowly and intentionally, and missed this cool thing in front of me as a result. Now, I’ve told all the tour guides about this tiles thing, and a few of them even thought that it was really cool, too.
And so for the last few days, I decided to try out this boredom thing and see what happens. I’ve been walking to class and around campus without listening to music, and what an epic result! I’ve found a profound increase in the amount of spontaneous ideas I’ve had, and have felt so much more creative as a result.
It’s actually wild. Just this week, I came up with 5 new Interosity article ideas, and I’m super duper excited to share them with y’all soon.
And it showed me a really important insight — the reason that I get so many good ideas walking around campus without music, or even while taking a shower, is because it’s often one of the few times a day when I’m not distracted and let my mind wander.
The solution isn’t to take more walks, or even to take more showers, but rather to spend more time letting our minds be bored and free.
Best,
Dennis :)