In the last few weeks, I’ve been noticing a theme of boredom. Kids, moms, dads, husbands, wives, friends, lovers – everyone seems to be bored. This strikes me as interesting when I read in the news headlines that, at the same time, nearly everyone seems to be heading off to vacation in the beaches or mountains. I guess the change of scenery does not eliminate this sense of being bored.
Maybe this is because, even when we go away, there are still a lot of limitations upon what we can actually do when we arrive. Quarantine requirements might top the list here, from the start. Normally, we might leap out of the car and head right to a favorite local restaurant, race to the ticket line for amusement park rides, or wander the boardwalk in the moonlight. But no. This summer, before we can do that, we must sit around our place and order everything in for fourteen days.
If we’re more cautiously minded, or for whatever reason would be considered more high risk, just traveling to a new destination and setting up a new “COVID bubble” may be a significant stretch. Sticking close to the cabin or cottage is maybe, then, the go-to plan from the start. At least we’re seeing a different set of four walls, we tell ourselves. Many of us are attempting to venture further, though. Frustratingly, we find that everything on vacation takes more effort this year: getting a spot at the beach, picking up take-out for dinner, standing in line for ice cream, finding a public rest room. Some stores aren’t open. Some bathhouses are closed. Despite all the effort and hoopla of anticipation about going on vacation, it turns out that it’s still a bit boring out of town as compared with get-aways in summers past.
Back at home, it’s nose to the grindstone again. If we are lucky to be working, the projects may be piling up. It’s harder now to stay focused during the workday. The novelty of working in pajamas has worn thin. We’re missing the little things of the office – distracting noises, annoying work colleagues and even the all-too-small cubicle.
Now that summer’s in full swing, the kids are milling around without even the pretense of school work to keep them occupied. All day, it’s a non-stop chorus of “I’m bored,” rejection of the proffered options, and complaints about why things can’t be different. It’s hard to tune all of this out and attend fully to that zoom call with a potential prospect. Better make sure – at all costs – that your mic is muted.
As the days of work-from-home stretch before us, we may have become more aware of how work-focused we are. Long work hours, traffic nightmares and pure exhaustion by the end of the day may have enabled us to live a limited life outside work before the pandemic. And by now it’s really boring, just working and hanging around the house all day, every day.
Boredom is pushing more and more of us out the door. It’s hard to navigate the balance between too much risk and appropriate, potential exposure. The desire for new stimulation is strong. We know all about face masks now. We’ve studied the relative risk associated with activities that we could do. More stores and restaurants are open. We’ve rediscovered leisure pursuits of the past like drive-in movie theaters, sprinklers in the back yard, and patio sunbathing. We partake carefully. As thermometers reach into the triple digits and the heat of summer blazes on, the surreal new normal continues. Sitting at home is boring, for sure, but it’s safer. And - if we’re lucky - it’s cooler too.