Here’s a dirty little secret of living an interesting, creative life: you must allow yourself to get bored, and then act on it.

Took me an awfully long time to figure out, but this is what’s been missing from my life for at least a year. We all seem so busy now we CAN’T STAND being bored. Here’s the killer pattern: people get together, people talk about recent stuff, people get bored because they run out of recent stuff to talk about, people part and go searching for new thrills because bored is a waste of time.

Except it isn’t.

This seems to be the only practical difference between the careless life of a young person and a serious, grown adult: the adults don’t play.

The last time I allowed myself to get genuinely bored was the previous Sunday. The result? I completely reorganized my room, adding a second desk exclusively for offline-mode crafts (drawing, etc.) and installing a photo background – something I’ve been putting off for years. All this because of a single “I’m bored, let’s do something” said to my friend.