Every new mom is laughing maniacally at this post title, internally screaming, “BOREDOM?! HOW COULD I POSSIBLY BE BORED? I’D LOVE TO BE BORED!”
Stick with me.
Boredom is defined as:
“Feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity.”
I don’t mean boredom as in nothing to do. I mean boredom as in your baby hates napping (they should be friends with my baby) and you’ve been watching them roll around on a mat for nearly four hours today. As a workaholic who, since I was 15, has always had a job and since I was 22 has always worked at least 50 hours a week, I began to feel so unproductive. I’ve kept a helpless human alive for nearly four months but somehow was telling myself I wasn’t doing enough “productive things” during the day.
But I didn’t really have a solution, it was near impossible to get on my laptop while she was awake and I couldn’t start a new Pinterest-worthy hobby with 15 minute windows. When she did nap, I wanted to nap, too, or shower, or mow the lawn or do the laundry or EAT occasionally. So I did what we all do when we can’t find a solution - try to forget the problem by scrolling through Netflix and Instagram.
Then one day, Lucy was laying on my bed and I had opened the curtains and she was moving her hands in the air as if playing with a stream of water. I looked more closely and realized that the rising sun had sent a beam of light right over her and she was running her hands through it. I’ll never forget that moment. Teary eyed, I watched her, thinking how simple and how magical that moment was. She was enthralled by sunlight.
The next day, I was watching Shameless on Netflix (basically Baby Einstein, right?) and she was sitting in her bouncer chair and I noticed her staring at her fist, as if it was staring back. She moved it slightly right and slightly left, following it with her eyes, realizing that this pesky appendage that often got in her way was attached to HER body. I could see her brain making the connection and her growing excitement at realizing the possibilities. “So you’re saying, if this is attached to me, then I can control it and I can put it in my mouth whenever I want?!”
Those two small events made me realize a few pretty big things:
She’s developing so fast at this age and I’m BEYOND lucky to be home and take time off from my business to watch it. I worked my butt off during pregnancy and my husband continues to work his butt off so that I can have this time with her, it’s not unproductive or less valuable time.
If every time I get the urge to turn on the TV or open a social media app on my phone, I tell myself to wait just ten more minutes, the day ends up going by quicker because I’m not missing a single adorable thing she’s doing and learning.
After watching her experience sunlight, I started looking at sunlight differently. I’m appreciating a lot of small things after watching this baby awestruck by them. My favorite thing this week is that any fabric she comes into contact with she rubs over and over again with her finger tips to feel the texture.
Lastly, watching her do new things makes me grab my phone and FaceTime a family member or friend to show them. I realized how much more these calls have helped me with the loneliness and boredom than watching everyone’s lives on social media or reality TV ever could.
Stay bored, friends. Find the beauty in the boredom.