What?

"There's no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes.

But there's no excuse for boredom, ever.”

Viggo Mortensen

I barely know who Viggo is, but I couldn't agree with him more.

I heard three young people at the store recently complain about how "bored" they were and how "boring the weekend was going to be" and, even making allowances for their age and attempts at pseudo-sophistication, I was floored.

I know this will probably date me but I honestly don't know what that's like.

I have never been bored; not even as a kid.

There's always SO much to do - and I'm not talking about the normal maintenance and upkeep of a life - but truly, can people really NOT know how to entertain themselves....

take a walk, maybe with your camera, and go explore a part of your city you've never been to before; read, go to a movie, call a friend, write a note (NOT email) and tell someone you love them and are thinking of them; go to a movie, a museum, a gallery; paint, play with paper/make a collage, go fly a kite, play with clay, pound nails into a board, take found objects and create something new; bake some bread or a treat from scratch, then give it to a neighbor; write a play or a poem, go dumpster diving and look for discarded treasures, people watch at the mall - SO many ideas don't cost a thing- take a nap, daydream, imagine possibilities...

really, come on... I can hardly fit in all the things I want to do on any given day!

Trust me, the efforts don't have to be "good" or "art" or worth sharing with anyone else; let the time be just for yourself, finding out what YOU like, don't like and what things you might want to pursue and try to get better at... you know, PLAY!

Have we actually lost the ability to motivate and inspire ourselves?

Are we really expecting forces outside of our own control to provide us with 'fun', taking NO responsibility or effort on our own behalf?

IF that's true, I'd feel sorry for y'all, but I don't have time...

I'm going to paint some more before I get back to my book!