Stop Reading

Not forever, but maybe for three minutes?

Photo by John Joumaa on Unsplash

Medium is arguably one of the best social networks you can dedicate your attention to at the moment. It is ad-free, provides quality content, and motivates you to do so as well. However, if you really want to fuel your creativity, there is one simple thing you might be missing out on: Boredom.

Massive amounts of research have been conducted that show how boredom is linked to creativity and inspiration. It helps us in discovering new horizons, develops our self-control skills, strengthens our mental health, and much more.

In ancient Rome, being bored was the desired state to live in, manifesting in the fact that their word for work, negotium, is just the negation of the “normal” state, otium, which describes undedicated free time.

Now for most people, this timespan is still very desirable, so much so that only recently the FIRE movement has emerged, dedicating itself to early retirement in order to live in a state of otium for as long as possible.

However, there is a problem with how we treat our spare time in comparison to how early Romans treated it:

We spend all of it.

Since the advent of not only smartphones but even newspapers and magazines, distraction is everywhere and no one has to fear being bored any longer. The biggest multinational corporations of our time make their money by exploiting the attention span of their consumers and in fact, chances are high that you know the feeling of watching Netflix while simultaneously scrolling through TikTok and maybe listening to something else. Still, we all know how bored one can feel, even with that much sensory overload.

But real otium is as simple as just looking out the window, staring into the sky, and twiddling thumbs. This is the kind of boredom, where new ideas begin to spark, our psyche improves by having time for itself, and our thoughts begin developing solutions to problems we aggressively tried to solve for weeks.

If you are an artist, a writer, a musician, or any other kind of creative individual, you might still feel, despite the scientific evidence of its benefits, that just sparing time for not doing anything might be hindering. You might think that the things you would normally watch or read or listen to during that time are useful and needed as inspiration for the works you then go on to create.

And yes, creativity can only thrive on external inputs. However, if your brain never gets the chance to process these seeds, there is no way for you to grow anything out of them. Finding a balance between living through new experiences and resting your mind is key.

We live in a time of access to more information from diverse perspectives than ever before in human history. This makes arguing against the FOMO we all experience very hard.

Sure, you may miss out on the one song you would need to hear, the one article you would need to read, or the one video you would need to watch that inspires you to create your opus magnum and hit the charts or a nerve in anyone interacting with it.

But what you should always keep in mind is that your unconsciousness is a mighty tool, that also needs its time to help you with your goals. It is not by chance that great discoveries often occurred while teeth-brushing, showering, or sleeping.

So I’m not suggesting that you stop reading entirely, delete your social media accounts, and go on a week-long retreat in the mountains. I don’t want to miss out on so much interesting, inspiring and breathtaking stuff either. But the next time you sit on a bus or run through your city, you might just leave that phone in your pocket and listen to that podcast another time. If you just leave these small timeboxes to your mind, experiencing total boredom, you might find that it pays off.

Have you got any tips on how to escape the daily FOMO and embrace the silence of boredom? Be sure to share them in your comment.

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