Embrace the Boring
By Leah Morrissy
New hobbies don’t have to be the most exhilarating component of your day. Sometimes, boring is simply better.
I don’t know about anyone else, but this ‘online college’ thing has really gotten to me. My laptop is on for about sixteen hours a day. To be honest, it’s unavoidable. If I’m not trying to catch up with about twenty hours of online lectures, I’m trying to forget them with a bit of Netflix. Now that I’m not obsessively checking the American Election results, I’m preoccupied with checking the Covid-19 cases every chance I get. It is overwhelming. I have a constant piercing headache right behind my left eye from the surplus of screen time that starts the minute my laptop opens.
“I have a constant piercing headache right behind my left eye from the surplus of screen time that starts the minute my laptop opens. ”
To escape from the omnipresent blue light force dominating my life, I tried out a new hobby. I’m ever so slightly embarrassed to say that I am now an avid knitter (and a dabbler in crochet). It goes without saying that the reason behind my branching out was my procrastination of some assignment or another. One day I whipped out some old, raggedy yarn that’s been sitting in the house for God knows how long, googled ‘how to knit’, and here I am. I’ve now knitted a bag, a top, a scarf, crocheted one of those trendy vests everyone loves, and a little crochet bag. I’m now halfway through a more ambitious project of knitting a blanket.
Knitting has a reputation for being kind of boring. The reason behind that is because it’s true. I won’t deny that, as far as hobbies go, it’s no skiing or paintballing. There’s not much risk involved. That doesn’t stop it from being enjoyable though. It is perfect for people that have the urge to create but have used all their quota of brainpower already for the day. I find that after a day glued to my laptop, while simultaneously juggling three different assignments, even watching a film can feel too mentally draining. If you feel that way, this is the perfect outlet for you. I find it’s the only time I can really turn my brain off. It keeps me just occupied enough that I’m not stressing about other things, but it’s so monotonous that it’s not putting any real pressure on me.
“It is perfect for people that have the urge to create but have used all their quota of brainpower already for the day.”
By now, you have probably come to the conclusion that I’m a fan of knitting. This article really isn’t about convincing you to knit. What I am getting at is that hobbies are good for you. It could be anything, cooking, juggling, candle making, it really doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, if it brings you even just a spark of joy, you should do it. I am not saying that a new hobby will open the clubs or un-cancel your holiday plans, but if it, even for five minutes, lets you forget all your worries, I’d say it’s worth trying.
