When you're going to a doctor's appointment, you already know before walking in that you're going to have to sit in the waiting room. You've already planned to take out your phone when you get there and check whatever notifications are waiting for you, whether you realize it or not.

As you check those notifications, thinking you're filling a gap in your day, you're letting the external noise pull you away from yourself. You're sacrificing a moment of nothingness to become a product of the noise rather than a product of what you might discover when you sit with your own thoughts and feelings.

In a world ridden with constant digital noise, where we're chronically stimulated and addicted to dopamine, always reaching for one more hit, one more scroll, like we didn't already have enough, boredom has become a lost art.

When the average smartphone user receives 46 push notifications per day, one every 20 minutes if you're awake for 16 hours, it makes sense why boredom has faded out of our culture.

The steady flow of endless notifications has wired us to respond like Pavlov's dog of the late 1800s, who was trained to know that the sound of a bell meant food was coming.

Every single notification has conditioned us to immediately flinch and reach for our devices. Before we even think about whether we want to check it, our phones are already in our hands. We want to make sure we're not missing out, or we subconsciously want to get a little more of that dopamine.

I'm guilty of this right now while writing. I heard my phone buzz on the other side of the room, and before even thinking about the notification, I was already reaching for it.

No one is safe from it, myself included.

We've not only learned to react to notifications, but we've also learned to anticipate when boredom is coming so it doesn't even exist. Instead of thinking about filling that time in other ways, the blue light is hypnotizing us once again, just like planning to take out your phone at the doctor's office before arriving.

We've become Pavlov's dog of the 21st century.

Our minds need space to wander so we can hear our inner world more clearly. With no distractions in front of us, we start to think about things we never knew were hiding beneath the surface of our noisy lives. It's in these moments that we can better understand ourselves.

This is why boredom is so crucial.

Because what may look like a moment of nothingness, where life seems to idle, is actually the source of new ideas, breakthrough clarity, and figuring out who you truly are. It's here, in this boredom and the most unexpected place, that your own self-realization begins to unfold, and you can finally hear yourself.

If you think back to when you were a kid, boredom was a part of life. Whether you were waiting for your parents to pick you up from school, riding in the back of their car on a long drive, or stuck in a waiting room at the dentist, you had to embrace it.

But this is where kids thrive. This is where they think creatively and use their imagination. Nothing is getting in the way of them and their mind. It's free to wander, and they often come up with some pretty magical ideas.

One of my favorite memories as a kid was when moments of boredom led to my siblings and me making forts.

We'd pull out all the bed sheets from the linen closet, collect the heaviest books from the bookshelf, and put together a fort that spanned the distance of the living room. On the outside, it was just a handful of bed sheets being held up by some dusty books, but once you crawled in, it was like entering a different world.

Kids know boredom best, and the art of it is something that adults need to re-learn. If we don't, the distance between us and who we truly are will only get wider.

Book recommendation of the week

​Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

This is a FASCINATING book! I personally listened to it on audio because McConaughey has the best voice in the world. If you're looking for an entertaining story that has different pieces of inspiration woven in, look no further. McConaughey refers to this as an approach book, not a how-to book. Highly recommend!

If you want to tap into more creativity, even if you don't think you're creative, this is the place to jump in.

p.s. ​Text "INSPO" to 707-289-7047​ to receive free weekly inspirational messages directly from me to your phone. Your data is always secure and kept private. I'll never charge you a penny. I'd love to have you!