What I’ve Learned About Adventure

If I write about adventure a lot, it’s because in some ways it’s always on my mind. Yes I’m a dreamer, always busy thinking about what might come next, but in reality I just get bored easily.

As a kid I would wander around my house on the weekends proclaiming I was bored, as if the state of my excitement was all anybody wanted to hear about on a lazy Sunday afternoon. 

“I’m bored. I’m bored. There’s nothing to do around here.” 

And then my dad’s familiar bellow would break the silence of my boredom, “You’re not bored, you’re boring”. This would immediately shut me up for about 30 seconds and send me into a fury of deep reflection. And yet I always came to the same conclusion, “I’m not boring, you’re stupid and this house is boring”. I was very mature as you can see. 

Despite my pre-teen protests, what my dad said stayed with me, because deep down I know he’s right. When I’m bored it’s because I’m boring, refusing to use any bit of my imagination to entertain myself. Instead of using my creativity to engage in everyday existence, I default into the “my life isn’t interesting enough” excuse. And the strange thing is that it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, if you’re not engaged in yourself, you’re bored. 

I’m currently living in South Korea as an English teacher thousands of miles away from my home, and yet on the days when I let life become nothing more than a simple routine, I immediately find myself bored. Bored in South Korea! Can you imagine? 

But what’s beautiful about this realization is the clarity it brings to the idea that what really bores us is not the situation itself, but our perception of it. If you think your life is plain and mundane, then it will be. But if you wake up each morning curious as to what’s to come then life is a great adventure waiting to be played out. 

So do yourself a favor and get un-bored. Use your imagination and make your everyday a little more interesting. 

Nov. 16 2012
#boredom #adventure #boring not bored #imaginiation
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