There is a blessing to be found in boredom in pandemic

Lately I’ve noticed a certain word being more popular. It comes up in Zoom meetings, picnics and socially distanced golf games.

“Boredom” was the word of summer 2020.

I use that word frequently. Every Thursday, my husband asks about weekend plans. Sadly, I just shake my head west to east. We’d love to have plans, but we are keeping our distance — not ready to go out for dinner. I desperately miss having breakfast or cocktails with my gal pals. I miss my homelands — the mall, the movies and Comerica Park. To intensify things, I’m very concerned about the people whose livelihoods depend on my visits.

But, as I write this column, my calendar has an embarrassing amount of blank space, causing me to hit impressive numbers on the boredom meter.

Further, every now and then a few friends will make innocent comments about having a busy few days; my face heats up with envy (another embarrassment). I force myself to tell them they are lucky to have an active schedule. And, I sincerely mean that; it’s just that listening to how tired they are from their plans highlights that I’m not doing much. Please tell me I’m not the only person who feels guilty about being bored.

But I gotta stop dragging my chin and start looking for the blessings in boredom. Given the millions of people struggling with severe cases of boredom, there have to blessings in it somewhere. It can’t be a onenote condition.

That approach reminds of the days when the word “routine” gave me chills. My then-boyfriend had a recurrent cancer — stage four. Several years later, he prevailed, and we got married. After our wedding, having a routine day felt like winning the lottery. The absence of nerve-racking medical appointments and no longer spending days being scared left ample hours to do the mundane yet wonderful tasks required to set up our new home.

Yes, perspective is useful. With all these new reports of boredom, I wonder if we can take it one step further. I’ll take a blank calendar over worrying about a family member with COVID-19. I’ll take a humdrum day over the angst of watching a beloved essential worker leave for a shift. Those unyielding challenges leave no room for grumbling.

So the only thing we can do is to search for boredom’s blessings. Wasting the blank space on a calendar is a regret that will stay with us for years; maybe always. It is only by the grace of our Father that we get to be bored. He has given us the gift of boredom; we need to give Him the gift of making good use of it.

Perhaps there might be something unique about turning it into productivity, creativity, giving. A shift like that can cause our calendars to be booked, our impact to be bountiful, our hearts to feel blessed. And, when that happens, our vocabulary isn’t the only thing that will expand.