I have written about distractions at length before, but even the best of these can get boring after a certain point. Two of my long-haul distractions (that I take in small chunks) are working on an afghan and watching through Stargate: SG-1, which ran for 10 seasons and has more than 200 episodes. Both are great for filling time (when I have it; I’ve been surprisingly busy), but because they’re so long, they have the potential to become just as boring as everything else we get a little too used to over time.
Now that the major changes have been around for a while, the kind of boredom we have to fight isn’t merely the boredom of time to fill, but the boredom of unrelenting sameness. I felt this very keenly a week or two ago because I chose my profession, in part, for the variety it usually has to offer. As a pastor, every day is different. If there’s a routine, it’s on more of a weekly basis than a daily one, and there’s even a good deal of variety from week to week. As stressful as the emotional whiplash of going straight from a deathbed to a party can be, it certainly keeps you on your toes. I lost a lot of that with these social distancing measures. The delightful variety of pastoral ministry has been reduced to names and faces on a screen on mind-numbingly regular schedules. I felt a twinge of guilt for the enjoyment I got out of an actual, honest-to-God, pastor-requiring crisis that arose outside of normal hours one weekend. The rest of this time has run the risk of being very humdrum and boring. If you’re feeling this kind of boredom, there are two things you can do about it. First of all, thank God for it. It’s only possible to get this bored when things are stable enough to support this much sameness. If the boredom is killing you right now, it may be helpful to reflect on the early days of these measures when you had to restructure your entire life overnight and people were panic-buying everything. Praise the Lord that this nonsense has finally slowed down and there’s more available at the stores than there was early on. Secondly, shake it up! A few weeks ago, I saw a delightful little news story (found here: sg.news.yahoo.com/videos-chores-wedding-dress-ballgown-coronavirus-130051875.html) about some women in England who were wearing their wedding dresses to do household chores and posting pictures of themselves doing it. Others followed their example, going about their day in evening wear just to do something different. Without necessarily getting that drastic, try small changes to your daily routine. Telecommute from a different part of your house. Dance when no one’s watching. Play Chopped with the random ingredients in your cupboard you haven’t touched in a while. Pick up a different book, watch a movie from a genre a little outside your comfort zone, or just wear a different color. Make bad art (or good art!). Write a bad poem (or a good one!); April is National Poetry month, after all. Routine can be good and comforting, and we need it. But we also need just enough variety not to go nuts. Some of the people in your house might think you’ve gone nuts if you start wearing evening wear around the house, but in reality, you might actually be keeping yourself sane. If it doesn’t harm anyone, why not do something a little silly to keep things interesting? And if you live alone, who’s there to make fun of you for it? If you’re feeling brave, post it! It’ll help break up everyone else’s tedium, too.
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AuthorJillian Lutes is the youth pastor at West Covina Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church. Archives
May 2020
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