I Can’t Even Be Bored Anymore

I was at a red light, and I reached for my phone — out of habit.
Not to check anything urgent. Just because I had 20 seconds.

That was the moment I realized: I don’t remember the last time I was bored.

I used to take walks and just look at things.
Now I treat them as “podcast time.”
I used to make dinner and think.
Now I scroll while stirring.

Even silence feels like something to fill.
But presence isn’t something you schedule.
It’s something you notice — and we’ve stopped noticing everything.

So I started stealing back slivers of boredom:

• Red lights with no phone

• Walks with just wind

• A meal without stimulation

• Sitting for five minutes and doing... absolutely nothing

At first, it felt itchy. Then it felt like oxygen.

Turns out, your nervous system wants boredom.
That’s where it cleans itself.

Not meditating. Not visualizing. Just... pausing.

The attention economy hates this.
But your body loves it.