"Brodsky told the graduates that their lives would soon be claimed by the 'incurable malaise' of boredom. If they thought they already knew this feeling, they were wrong. 'The worst monotonous drone coming from a lectern or the eye-splitting textbook in turgid English is nothing in comparison to the psychological Sahara that starts right in your bedroom and spurns the horizon.'"
"Boredom exists 'to teach you the most valuable lesson in your life,' he said, 'the lesson of your utter insignificance.' Even if that kind of enlightenment doesn't come at the end of boredom, there's power in letting yourself feel it—while you're running errands, while you're doing chores, while you're on hold with the insurance company."
"Those thousands of bored hours are inextricable from a life of meaning. Soon, you may come to understand that embracing boredom during mundane activities reveals its hidden value and connection to living purposefully."
Joseph Brodsky delivered an unconventional commencement address at Dartmouth College in 1989, warning graduates that boredom would inevitably claim their lives. He described boredom as a profound psychological experience far deeper than temporary tedium from lectures or textbooks. Rather than avoiding this feeling, Brodsky advised students to confront it directly, as boredom serves an important purpose: teaching the lesson of human insignificance. Daniel Smith expands on this perspective, arguing that embracing boredom during mundane activities—running errands, doing chores, waiting on hold—reveals its hidden value. Those thousands of seemingly wasted bored hours are inseparable from living a meaningful life.
Read at The Atlantic
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