Rather, life is boring if you make it boring. There are these funny moments that happen throughout life where you feel equally as stagnant as you do anxious about the next step that is coming. This could be waiting for a deadline, a new adventure to begin, or even just the calm moment after a lot of things happening in life. I’m not quite sure how it happened but we seem to have this obsession (and I am SO guilty of this) to be busy for the sake of being busy. There is always a new way to do more, a faster way to do the already existing thing, and an easier way to find that ever fleeting goal: doing whatever you want whenever you want. It’s never the way life plays out but I thought it was worth exploring a bit.
It is always the scene that most people will see on a screen, read in a book, or listen to with headphones. The “retirement” thought. The thought that you could just enjoy life every single day and nothing will get in the way of that. The clock doesn’t matter anymore, the chores can wait, life is just about enjoyment now. Taking off the rose-colored glasses, there are always days that give us this feeling. And those are the days worth purusing. But rather than those moments becoming what life is worth living for, what about making every moment that way? Rather than life being boring, it can be a slower part of the story, meant to be there in order to lead to something bigger. These “boring” moments in life, in my opinion, are the opportunities where big things begin to take shape.
Fall is always a tricky time for people. Summer holidays come to a close and we also begin to spend more time indoors with the change of the season. I’ve always loved fall the most. It’s not just the warm beverage on a cool morning, but the fall runs (despite me always wanting to be swimming). Something is so refreshing about the season that it is where I really get a lot of inspiration for the year ahead. None of this inspiration is out in the world yet, it does not live in a document, I just mainly spend a lot of time thinking, writing in my notebook, and allowing the thoughts to find some space to roam around. This is probably one of the most important parts and why life can seem “boring” during this stage. But rather than being “busy” outwardly, let that boring time become exciting, busy in its own way, and truly impactful.
Film has been helped me in so many ways throughout my life and career. The stories that I have learned, the people that I have met, the skills that I have acquired, have been invaluable. When I began, I just had a film camera, given to me by my grandfather (it was his camera) and I would shoot photos. While I work more in moving pictures now, it is always an amazing experience to shoot film with that camera. Parallel to the experience of our society and needing to be “busy,” the filming process and photographic process with digital has become just as busy. Film is always so much more simple because the options in the moment are limited. I have a film speed, a lens, and a few changes I can make to capture a moment. No do-overs and I can’t just hold the button down to get the perfect frame. This year, we made a conscious effort in our house to shoot moments with film, rather than the easier and more convenient route of digital. It was more than I could have hoped for. Given that it is fall, and so many changes are happening, it was also the perfect timing to receive a lot of the film pictures that we shot throughout the year. The most meaningful and important moments in life, captured only once. Some are dark, some are light, some are grainy, and they are all absolutely perfect.
While I think it would be super awesome if everybody went out and shot some film rather than use their phone (not gonna happen), it’s more about what it has taught me about this moment in the year or even in life. There will always be these moments that we consider less than ideal. Man, it might even be more common than the alternative at times. And that doesn’t make it fun. But it also doesn’t make it boring. If you feel like you are “bored,” switch up the routine a bit or switch up the perspective. We just forgot what bored was like. And some of the best made up games when I was a kid and big ideas I ever had came when I was bored, or so I thought.
So make life boring a bit more often. You might find it anything but.