Last updated on March 28th, 2024 at 04:07 pm
Lately, one of my dear friends has told me she’s “bored with her life.”
The first time she said it, I nodded and thought, “Your child just graduated from high school and is turning 18. Your job as a mom will forever shift, and who knows, maybe your child will put on a backpack and travel the world for a year with friends, and there is nothing you can do. It’s time to focus on your life now.”
But she keeps on saying it, and I think there’s a deeper issue at work here. I see it all the time.
She doesn’t know what she’s passionate about.
She is disconnected from “the thing” that will fill up her life (beyond her child and the possibility of dating again). She’s not pursuing her own dream. Case in point: I think she’s a fabulous decorator. She literally sings to herself when she arranges a room or paints a wall. She consistently fusses until she gets it just right—like a painter stepping back from her canvas. She’s in another world.
For over 10 years now, I’ve been gently suggesting that she take some design classes at a local community college. She always smiles at me, then changes the subject. I’ve even gone as far as to suggest that we fix up houses together. We both have a real estate background. She will still change the subject.
The key to living a boredom-free life is to find the thing you were put on this earth to do/be—the thing that calls to you when you slow down long enough to notice it. It transports you to another world. When you stuff your calling away—for the kids, for a better time, for your husband, for later on, for when you have money, for when you lose weight, for when you are ready …
It will always remain on the later list.
When you constantly dismiss the luxurious idea that you can bring more of what you love doing into your life, you forget what it’s like to take a chance to invest in yourself. You doubt what you do naturally.
As women, we often fill the emptiness that comes with disconnecting from our calling with men just to be with men, or too many cosmetic treatments in an attempt to hang on to youth, stuffing sadness with food and/or alcohol, or creating drama-filled life wherever we go — instead of balls-out going for living a life on purpose.
Instead, we play victim to the life that we have set up. We never satisfy the real hunger nagging at our souls.
I can picture my friend remodeling an interior and arranging everything the way she likes. It’s easy to see because of all the rooms I’ve witnessed her re-design and decorate “just for fun.” Each time, I’d try to get her to bite on the idea of pursuing this skill that she is naturally good at. She’d say, “Yeah, well…” She’s been successful financially but always disliked the industry in which she chose to make money. Doing something simply for money has not brought her peace, and I’ve never seen her happier than when she was decorating a space.
Believe it or not, this article’s point relates to running a successful blog and selling products online.
You also have to be drawn to your blog, feel on purpose when you are doing it, and be addicted to the products that you want to sell. Thinking about your blog should keep you awake at night, filling you with new ideas and plans. Your products should make you squeal with delight at how much your readers are going to love them. You should be completely obsessed and “lost in it.” Time should stand still when you are working on it.
The “just for the money” blog or product won’t connect you with your audience, and you won’t see success. The audience you want will ignore you faster than a man can run from a relationship conversation if they sense that you are only in it for the money (unless your blog niche is about making money). Although blind to you, your boredom will shine through online because you’ll be boring.
Find the purpose for you that draws you in and create an online presence and a successful life where you’ll never say you are bored.
Boredom tells me you have already given up on yourself and your natural abilities.
Catherine Hughes is an accomplished magazine columnist, content creator, and published writer with a background as an award-winning mom blogger. She partners with companies to create captivating web content and social media stories and writes compelling human interest pieces for both small and large print publications. Her writing, which celebrates the resilience and achievements of Northern California’s residents, is featured in several magazines. Beyond her professional life, Catherine is passionate about motherhood, her son, close friendships, rugby, and her love for animals.
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