In this week’s video I discuss the benefits of boredom, and why it’s more necessary to creativity than most think.
Books discussed in this video:
*Untamed by Glennon Doyle: https://amzn.to/3XcWzXS
*Stolen Focus by Johann Hari: https://amzn.to/3VTv9oT
M E N T O R S H I P
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B O N U S C O N T E N T
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Video Answering your FAQS: https://youtu.be/F0-y65KTEvU
0:00 Intro
F O L L O W
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C O L L E C T
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M U S I C
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27 Comments
I stopped painting 3 years ago. Not through boredom but anxiety from the myriad challenges painting threw at me. The frustration over took me and I stopped. I play and teach drums, which I find challenging but not frustrating or angst ridden. Playing drums does, for me, far more than painting ever did.
This is me in a nutshell….I am ashamed to think of the time I have wasted by mindlessly scrolling through various sites. I say I'm going to get back to painting every day, and then waste time doing exactly what you talked about instead. I am bored many times and I need to stop filling that boredom with the internet or tv. And the quotation you read from Untamed just makes my heart sad for all the children coming along who will have to fight this battle of not letting the internet take over our minds. The description of the light going out of her son's eyes was heartbreaking and relatable. I am going to think of your video every day and make progress on getting back to painting. I really needed to hear you say this in such a clear way. I look forward to your videos every Saturday! Thank you so much, Chelsea!
As someone with diagnosed ADHD, these elements of attention and boredom feel very difficult indeed. It’s an incredible feat to un-addict myself from consuming content and become bored enough to create.
Still on this mental health journey though…for now I personally chose to not medicate the ADHD and focus on treating anxiety and depression instead. Physically, I have chronic pain and am generally fatigued, so I can’t really look forward to seasonal bursts of energy as much. Still very much figuring out what I need.
At the moment I know I am addicted to my phone, am avoiding boredom, and am feeling the struggle daily. But I won’t give up.
Thank you for the helpful commentary on being intentional and kind to ourselves.
I'm sorry I will have to disagree with this. I feel like if that was in, you will do it. I handed my daughter a cell phone and now she makes comics. I use my cell phone to make my own reference pictures for my art. These devices are nothing more than a tool to do what we already want to do. If you wanna write songs, or poems, or a book, or paint a picture, or sketch that's what you'll do. Before the phone was even invented, there were other distractions that people allowed. And their lives because the truth is they it's truth is they didn't want to do it in the 1st place
Thanks for sharing the great insights! Always appreciated and helpful.
Loved it. Thank you
Thank you for a very thought-provoking video (and I loved watching the portrait come alive with such apparent ease)
I was addicted to YouTube during the Covid lockdown. I am still compelled to watch videos. I need to be painting or illustrating. Thanks for this video!
This is what I love about this side of YouTube. So many intelligent and creative people 🥰
Interesting concept. However, I seldom get bored.
Happy New Year.
How can you paint on this flying canvas?
I have stage 3 dementia. My mental faculties are slipping away and consequently my career as an educator is over. These days I relax by firing up ZBrush and sculpting people, orcs, dragons. Or firing up Corel Painter and painting portraits of my friends. But it's hard to concentrate a lot of the time. So I watch YouTube videos of people painting or doing video game walkthroughs and that allows me to chill while my mental reserves replenish. And last year I had 7 toes amputated, so learning to walk again is fun. I mean it. It's a challenge and it's a good one.
Thank You for this video. I needed this.
I'm just returning to drawing, oil & watercolor painting, learning and making music (flute), and making my own instruments once again, after 10 years. And rebuilding a whole new home and life.
Social media is addictive (meaning that it confuses my senses) and has been robbing me of a life full of enthusiasm and love.
This means a lot.
Blessings, peace.☮️
Thank you for this video. It really made me stop and consider the amount of time I spend on social media rather than on creative work.
Sounds like me! It’s a compulsion that never fills you up.
"Trust because you are willing to accept the risk, not because it's safe or certain." -Anonymous
Great advice. Love your loose style. I will keep practicing. Thank you 🙏
Now I need to find a YouTube tutorial on how to be bored.
I'm on the fence with this one, my step kids just got phones and they still do heaps of kicking the ball around, drawing, writing, and they often opt to leave their phones behind. Anyway, maybe I just got a bit triggered by the dramatics of the quote. It's not a given, and teaching kids how to engage well with technology is essential for their futures – they'll drown without that.
I fully accept I could spend less time scrolling marketplace and more time painting!
Thanks for sharing advices! That really helped.
Btw, I love your paintings so much. They are always stunning and gorgeous!
Brilliant video. Thanks for posting. I needed this.
I thrive on boredom. It's such a a natural state. If I don't have nothing to say, then, yes, I take pause and go do something else. And when I'm happy, or in love, or expose myself to a new context or environement, then it's like clicking the creative turbo and there I go.
I'm not painting because I'm drawing. It's fun to watch a painting video and sketch along while it's in time lapse. I would love it more to paint the subject, but it's an easy bargain when I can finish this sketch by video's end while it would take the same time for me to just set up the paints.
I recall maybe 55 years ago reading something by Krishnamurti in which he stressed the value of staying with your boredom; just be bored and see where it leads, he wrote.
You hit it exactly! Watching someone else is much easier than doing it ourselves. I have been in boarding mode for a while. Hoping getting out in nature will reconnect me to the creative self. Thanks!
well said! I use youtube while i work to listen to podcasts. after work. I paint, cook, play my trumpet. my dopamine increased seeing myself connecting with myself . if that makes sense