(Note; this was first written for the prompt BOREDOM on July 27, 2019. I have made a few, minor changes).
I get lost in my thoughts, day dream, or fantasize; no time to be bored. My mind wanders back to a happy time that I want to re-live and cement in my memory. I will live it over and over. I will write something to a special friend, sometimes a poem or quote that I particularly like. A thought takes me away from the task at hand and I have to stop and look something up, I follow it down a rabbit hole; an hour has passed.
I used to read a book a week, but my eyes don’t allow for such pleasure any longer. Now I read little bits on-line, articles from the New York Times, op-ed pieces, whatever suits my fancy. More often than not, it makes me crazy these days, but I read on.
I don’t listen to much music because it can’t just be background for me. I must sing along; sometimes even dance to it, so that becomes all-engrossing.
I love old movies and will watch favorites when I am home alone. I go back to certain tried and true movies again and again; high romance, period pieces, costume dramas. I love the fantasy; not always happy endings, but some satisfaction and usually it all works out in the end.
Boredom? No, just a born day-dreamer. My mind is too busy to allow it to become bored. I just love to escape from the real world. All one needs is a vivid imagination.
Betsy PfauRetired from software sales long ago, two grown children. Theater major in college. Singer still, arts lover, involved in art museums locally (Greater Boston area). Originally from Detroit area.
Betsy, I couldn’t agree more. Your ability to travel in your mind to favorite memories is wonderful. Imagination and creativity are the enemies of boredom. I know that rabbit hole well!
Thank, Laurie.
You’ve absolutely nailed it with your story, Betsy. Busy minds are never bored; they fill the time one way or another. You have beautifully mapped this out. And, as you note, escape is often a wonderful way to do so (though, in my neurotic case, I tend mainly just to worry about the real stuff,)
Also, as usual, a great picture of you. A penny for your thoughts….
Thanks, John. The photo is 45 years old, taken by Dan’s brother in his parent’s backyard, part of a modeling portfolio I put together. So the “far-away” look was intentional. I don’t think I was thinking of anything beyond looking good for the camera!
Wow, Betsy. I read and commented on Laurie’s story before reading yours, but it seems we are clearly on the same wavelength. I remember, vaguely, a cartoon from some time back. Probably a familiar character but in any event the caption is “Sometimes I just sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.” Absolutely.
I remember that caption too, Tom! Let’s hear it for just sitting! Very nourishing for the mind.
My sentiments exactly, Betsy. Love the images you’ve written, and I understand the power of the mind.
A friend (you will read about her next week) talked recently about moving from Boston to Cape Cod as a child and pouting because she didn’t see children she could relate to. She didn’t have a “life of the mind”, as she so eloquently put it. Her father had no sympathy for her and told her to find ways to entertain herself; she did and was no longer bored.
Lovely story, Betsy. I agree, who has time to be bored? I also think you chose the perfect picture – interesting to read in your comment to John that it was part of a modeling portfolio. Did you ever pursue a modeling career? I’m sure that would make quite a story!
Thank you, Suzy. No modeling for me beyond the life drawing classes already described. I read the Want Ads in the Boston Globe (remember those) when we returned from our honeymoon. One was for a modeling job, but you needed a portfolio. Of course this ad offered to take the photos too, which was NOT what I had in mind, so I asked my brother-in-law (who, as you can see, did a nice job), but the lead went nowhere. I am WAY too short for any professional career as a model.
Very sweet, whimsical piece, Betsy. And a unique take on boredom. Of course, you’re quite right! Who has time?
Thanks, Charles.
Betsy, glad you reposted this story as it was originally written before I was a Retro-er!
I’m not surprised to hear you’re never bored, it’s apparent from your full life well lived! Daydream on!
Thanks, Dana. I do find lots of ways to fill up my day, but beyond that, I can get lost in my thoughts for long, calming periods of time. Dan calls me the “queen of spacing out”. And what’s wrong with that, pray tell?
You describe so well the pleasures of letting the moment wander and take you down different paths, despite the detours from the rest of the day. You are lucky to be able to do that and not get stuck in the day-to-day demands. Easy to see why theatre also calls you.
Yes, I am fortunate, Khati. And theater does lend itself to my fantasy world as well.
Betsy: An inspiring piece. I will think of it when I fall into the traps of political despair.
I still enjoy music because I cannot sing.
Our prompts are just another way to daydream.
Our group keeps me in fantasies about a past that is lost (Proust).
When I am quiet, I fall into a coma not thinking of anything I can remember. This is sometimes dangerous–swimming in the pool with eyes shut and banging my head on the pool’s edge, or driving to find I have stopped (in a rest area) without remembering where I was or am. Often my wife thinks I am deaf, but in fact, I am in another world out of the range of her voice or my reality. Like you, I am never bored.
Wow, Richard, I beg you to only daydream when you are somewhere safe. Do not drift into reverie when you need to keep your focus on the task at hand (like driving). That is too dangerous. But it is rather pleasant, isn’t it?
As Jim Croce sang, “These dreams, they keep me going these days.”
I cannot imagine (no pun intended) getting through my life without daydreaming. It is so much part of my very fabric.
Betsy, you and I have similar experiences with daydreams. Although they may not become the reality we envision, just the process itself of dreaming makes life infinitely more interesting!
We are the dreamers, Jim. I don’t daydream to bring life to them. I look back, retrospectively, if you will. It is a way to stay calm, reflective and enjoy what has happened, as opposed to what may or may not come to be.