Thoughts

What is a Boring Life?

Good day,

I want to discuss something and clarify somethings here… What is a boring life? What’s it like to be bored with life? Do you have a boring life? Maybe. Do I have a boring life? Maybe. It’s all a matter of perspective.

The beauty of this world is that we are all SAME SAME VERY DIFFERENT. What is boring for one is exciting for another. What is exciting for another is boring for another. What is cool to one is super lame to another and so on…

At times people take offense, not often but they do. Assuming that if one is not traveling they are living a boring life. The reality is that whatever life you have made for yourself is sub consciously to some extent or another, what you wanted. We live most of our lives on “auto pilot” and gravitate to what makes us happy.

If having a small flat downtown and hitting clubs every weekend is good for you, good for you. If having a wife and a big home 20-30 minutes outside the city center makes you happy, more power to you. If traveling around the world excites you, go for it.  If not, who cares?

The reality is, we are all hard-wired for different things. Why did some people come to North America from Europe and risk it all while others sat back with family and friends saying “Why would I bother?” It’s simply who people are, we are all different. The reality is however, if you do feel bored, you gotta change it.

I lived in a house, south of the city. I had a job that didn’t really stimulate me and I have always been a busy person who likes exploring and despises routine. As a result, this is what I’m doing with my life. I think my old lifestyle was really boring, then again I also spent most of my elementary school years in the “thinking chair” staring at the paint dry… Sitting at a desk 9-5 simply is not cut out for gents like me…

There are millions and millions of people out there who think the mainstream is hopelessly boring. However, there are billions and billions of people out there who love it just fine. Why would they want to deal with tropical diseases, crappy overnight trains and what not when they can kick back with luxuries abound in their home country close to family and friends? I don’t like pop music but most do, hence it’s called pop music aka “popular music”.

Who is right? Who is wrong? No one is either.

I have a friend who is a plumber, I find attaching pipes together to be well a boring task. He says he would rather beg on the street then sit at some desk. He likes his job because he gets to move around all day, go into his own space, work at his own pace and have no one around except if he wants a smoke break, he can go shoot the sh~t with his co-workers.

I know other people who work in the downtown core in a big office, they love the social interactions and having lunch in fancy diners and meeting interesting people. I know retirees who work 8 hours a week doing retail just to get out of the house and hang out with the interesting stream of people coming through the store. Everything in life is a matter of perception.

Last night at dinner, I drank an egregiously over-sized glass of water from the table aka local water. Let me tell you, did not agree. Passed out shortly after… At about who knows what time but let us say 2AM, I woke up and could not sleep. Being in a guest house on the other side of the world with no wifi, tv or anything is BORING as all h3ll… I was bash head on wall, jumping jacks until you puke, BORED.

Last time I checked, this was my blog, discussing my journey. If I said there were times on this trip that I wasn’t hopelessly bored wandering around some time square in a place I met no one cool or sitting for hours on trains, planes and buses with no one who speaks my language and with no ipod, wifi, nothing… I’d be a liar.

I try and paint this picture as well I can hence outlining the fun and all the injuries and sicknesses I’ve had on the journey.(swine flu, staph infection, countless coughs, mystery injuries, food poisonings, rabies scare and a $@#$ head injury) They suck and nothing was more boring than sitting in a hospital in Vietnam on the other side of the planet for a week with a mangled face and iv while waiting for CT scans to see whether I had brain damage… Insanely boring and uber depresso, something not even an expresso could fix.

Don’t believe the blogs that just update once a week with tips to having fun in paradise, I’ve met lots of travelers and the lifestyle is not as “jet set” or “glamorous” as they make it out to be, always be weary when you only hear the highlights of a story… This blog was created to be updated daily so people like myself will have a real account of someone’s adventure, misadventures as well. Lot’s of people love music festivals, the guy below finds it boring…

On a side note, the only people I know who feel insecure and that they are being judged are those that judge so don’t judge, just do your thing and you’ll find excitement in whatever you do and most certainly not live a boring life.

I meet people who after 5 weeks say this whole song and dance is getting boring and can’t wait to get back home… I even met one guy who was from the Netherlands who was going home after a 2 week trip, he said after 12 days it was “enough already”.

Also, if you do anything enough, anything gets boring.

Do what you want, while you can and you’ll have an exciting life that is 100% customized to what you like, what makes you happy and to where you find satisfaction. That’s it, that’s all.

Tip of the hat,

P.S: After 1 year on the road and over 25 countries, I can tell you this… Everyone is on the same computer, it’s just the background that is different and we’re all playing with the programs we chose to install.

This guy is bored, others are thrilled arguing over the age of a single malt…

Search Du Jour: “I have a boring life” – Result.

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