At a July 4th get-together, one person asked if the month of July had a National Month designation. No one knew. I decided to Google the question. Wow! There were at least 15 National Month titles for July. I was struck by two of the titles: World Watercolor Month (included in Evanston’s Blick Art Supply Store ad) and National Anti-Boredom Month.
World Watercolor Month was founded in 2016 by Charlie O’Shields (1971- , artist, creator of the blog Doodlewash).
National Anti-Boredom Month was founded in 1984 by Alan Caruba (1937-2015), writer, journalist, public relations consultant and founder of the National Anxiety Center. Google states that Mr. Caruba felt that after July 4th there was not much going on and the task was to find ways to “stimulate our minds.” Creativity was one of the ways in which people could reduce or overcome boredom. Other ways to beat boredom are physical activities such as sports, biking, exercises, walking, jogging, cleaning, reading, and socializing by participating in classes, meetings, clubs, parties, etc.
The fact that there is a month that focuses on boredom lets us know that boredom can play an important role in people’s lives and can even make some people find anti-social ways of dealing with it. Here’s to overcoming boredom in positive ways. Below are quotes that I felt dealt with boredom.
“The true test of character is not how much we know what to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.” (John Caldwell Holt, 1923-1985, author and educator)
“Action is the antidote to despair.” (Joan Baez, 1941-, singer, songwriter, activist)
“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theater director and critic)
“The way to do is to be.” (Lao Tzu, unknown birthdate [6th century B.C. ?], Chinese philosopher, writer, founder of philosophical Taoism)