It is true; "I am bored" is a phrase that you hear frequently among people you know, not only among people approaching forties and above, but also among late twenties and early thirties. And it’s something that is theoretically unjustifiable, considering that we don’t have a moment to spare, that we are surrounded by all the Gizmos and Gadgets and that we are running around frantically trying to get all our errands done during a lunch break or making necessary phone calls while we are driving, that we are multi tasking non-stop.
We wake up running to work, mobile stuck on our ears, eyes glued on computer screen, endless meetings, deadlines, plans, family, kids, friends, emails……we are literally overbooked, yet the moment we sit down we feel dead bored. We fill every waking hour as if the moment lost would never be retrieved, yet something is missing, the feeling of boredom obscures the hundreds of satellite channels which lost their allure, the presence of overseas friends at the click of the mouse, or the fact that at anytime we could pop out for a cup of cappuccino. So, what could be the core of this boredom?
Is it the routine; we are doing everything over and over again, the work, the responsibility, the financial constraints, the lack of proper social life, the limited outings which only involve food and food and more food?
Is it the limitations our culture hold down women with, even if they are absolutely right and innocent? Can you run if you feel like it? Can you go cycling in the morning to get fresh air and move your muscles? (ok, I take back the fresh air part). Can you have a walk without thinking about stupid comments of passers by, who probably think its ok to comment, after all, you are the one who got in their way?
Is it the assumptions we burden each other with? so if you are above thirty and not married then there is something wrong with you, if you are married but your husband goofs around then there is something wrong with you, if your kids misbehave then there is something wrong with you, if you are divorced then there is something wrong with you, and if you are widowed then there is something wrong with you (yes, I heard this comment, he died because he couldn’t put up with her, my God!)
It could also be the lack of the excitement of a "first time", just a dull repetition of every day, an annual carbon copy of the same activities. "Jumping for joy", the ear to ear smile and the deep heart laughter are things which are becoming harder to summon up. Somehow the blessings lost their spark. The feeling of boredom irritates us, we quickly shake it off in cases of a real tragedy happening, but again we quickly forget and fall into the web of routine and start feeling bored again.
Ok, so, what do we do? We are not too old to sit helpless, we are not too young to fool around and get away with it because of inexperience, but come on, we are alive, we have energy that is blocked inside, we want to move and run and laugh, we deserve some guilt-free, worry-free, enjoyable time.
But how? What do we do to kill the boredom before it kills us? How do we get moving without raising suspicions?
I am sure that if my late Grandma heard me say I am bored, she will collapse, after all, I was a child who came from a generation which only had dolls to play with, two TV channels with only one or two programs for kids, we had Pen Pals, we only went to the Merry Land on weekends, we went to ma3moura during summer as the hip cool resort and only had a couple of movie theatres in the neighborhood, four ice-cream flavors, one big black immobile phone in the living room, we watched the top ten songs a year after they were released and the designer shoes was Batta! This was not that long ago… So, with everything within our reach now; socializing on daily basis with all our friends through Facebook, the many malls packed with trendy shops, cafes which became more like an epidemic, private clubs which are close to hotels than sports clubs… What more do we need? Are we too pampered? Are we spoiled? I ask myself this question and the only answer I keep on getting is that we need to release the office/car/café bottled human inside, we need to open the door for the young feelings caged within, we need to experience the excitement of trying something new, we need to let go of other people’s expectations and ignore the sterile side of our cultural heritage. We need to move, dance, fly, flow. We need some space, some air and a view. We need to breathe, to slow down, and to take the pleasure in before one day we stop and ask ourselves about the reason we were running in the first place.
