So this is how
A few days later than I hoped for, here is my last post on the series “How I started blogging.”
In the previous posts, I told that story up to the point where I realize that I have been bored lately. I also described how that realization surprised me, because my life is so very busy! So busy, in fact, that I wasn’t able to find the time to write this last installment of my short series until now. So I concluded that my boredom is not about idleness, but it is about purpose.
Boredom results from not feeling sufficiently rewarded by the activity you are engaged with. I believe there are two basic kinds of rewards. The most common, perhaps, is the reward that is extrinsic to the activity that produced it. It is, for example, the paycheck at the end of the month. That is, perhaps, the most powerful motivator in our society. So powerful in fact, that most people are willing to work on things that don’t excite them, things they are not passionate about, perhaps even things they don’t like, only to assure that necessary monetary reward. Here, the job or activity is nothing but a means to an end. This is the kind of work that most of us have to do in order to survive, and we are usually very appreciative to have such employment for our time. The problem, though, is that because these are activities that often don’t speak to our souls, they do eventually bore us.
The other kind of reward is intrinsic to the activity at hand. It is the feeling of fulfillment and joy created by working with things that inspire you and that you are passionate about. Through these activities you can manifest yourself as a human being at the most essential level, because they allow meaning to be created through personal expression. These are intellectual, creative and spiritual endeavors, and while immersed in them, you can never get bored. The pleasure and contentment generated here are a very powerful reward, but unfortunately, one that few people have access to in our society today. That is because they are too busy trying to merely survive, or because our society has conditioned us to expect stimulation from external sources, not from our own internal world.
I started a blog because I was bored creatively. I have received exceptional rewards from being a full time mom for the last 18 years, and wouldn’t change that for the world. But there is a time for everything, and this is the time for me to start attending my internal self again. It is time to welcome a new purpose. Writing is one of my passions, and understanding human nature is another. Blogging allows me to combine both those passions and to make a few connections with like minded people along the way. It sounded like the perfect medicine for my tedium.