The Beauty of Boredom

Welcome to The Brighter Side of Everything.

This newsletter serves a simple purpose → To help you build optimism, resilience and a solution-focused perspective.

Each week, I’ll share actionable insights that not only brighten your day but position you to be a leader within your own life and seize life’s opportunities.

Read time: 20-30 minutes.

Hello, Brighter Side readers! ☀️

If this is your first edition, welcome aboard.

If you’ve been here for a while, thanks for continuing to walk this path with me.

This week we explore the surprising power of boredom.

How doing nothing can restore your mind, spark creativity and help you reconnect with what matters most.​

You’ll also meet Afroz Shah, a living example of how small, consistent action can transform a place and a community.

And for a simple way to slow down and appreciate the planet we’re standing on, we spend some time exploring the incredible BBC Earth.

Have a wonderful week!

See you on the Brighter Side,

Chris

P.S. Please feel free to send me feedback on how I can improve. I respond to every email.

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Most people are terrible at being bored.

We treat it like some awful disease that needs to be cured immediately.

The second there’s a pause.

Waiting in line, sitting at a red light or even standing in the kitchen while the kettle boils?

Our hands instinctively reach for our phones.

Heaven forbid we’re left alone with our own thoughts for 30 seconds.

We’ve built a world that leaves little room for stillness.

Every spare moment gets filled with stimulation.

Podcasts, notifications, endless scrolling, background noise, all in the name of productivity.

Busyness has become the default setting.

But somewhere in all that activity, we’ve lost touch with something vital.

The magic that comes from simply being.

Neuroscience research shows that when our brain is not actively engaged?

It shifts into the default mode network, which supports introspection, memory and creative thinking.​

For a long time, that was me.

I believed being occupied was a good thing, even something to be proud of.

It made me feel efficient, productive and purposeful.

But a few years ago, it hit me.

I’ve never actually given myself the space to be creative.

In trying to fill every moment with doing, I left no room for my imagination to grow.

I wasn’t lacking in creativity, I was suffocating it.​

Maybe we need a new word for boredom.

It’s picked up such a bad reputation.

“Boredom” makes it sound like something’s wrong.

Like life isn’t entertaining enough or we’re not trying hard enough to stay engaged.

Psychologists describe boredom as a state of under-stimulation, not a personal failure.​

Most of the time, what we label as boredom is really just mental stillness or a space between doing.

It’s the mind easing into idle.

A gentle pause where curiosity and ideas can finally stretch their legs.

Today, if I could rename it?

I’d go with “creative rest” or “mental breathing room.”

Maybe then we’d stop running from it so fast.

Because that space (that supposed nothing)is where so much good stuff starts to happen.

Studies consistently find that relaxed mind-wandering supports creativity and problem solving.

Especially when we’re not locked into a demanding task.​

Until a few years ago, I wouldn’t have called myself creative.

Far from it.

I admired creative people like artists, writers and designers, but figured they were born with something I just didn’t have.

Then one day, I realised something uncomfortable but freeing.

I’d never given myself the chance to be creative.

My calendar was always full.

My mind always occupied.

Between work, responsibilities and constant digital distractions, I’d built a life where there was no space left for new ideas to land.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t create.

It was that I never stopped long enough to try.

Once I started actively slowing down, things began to shift.

When I stopped reaching for constant entertainment and allowed myself to just be, even for a few minutes, ideas began to surface.

Thoughts that had been buried under the noise suddenly showed up.

I read into it and found this lines up with research.

Showing that brief periods of boredom can prime the brain for creative thinking and better problem solving.​

That’s when it clicked for me.

Maybe boredom isn’t something to avoid.

Maybe it’s something to welcome.

Here’s where boredom becomes becomes a mindset superpower.

The ability to sit with boredom without instantly escaping it builds self-control.

People who get bored easily often make quick decisions and seek immediate excitement.

In contrast, people with good self-control can resist the urge to act on boredom and focus on their long-term goals.

Think about how powerful that is.

If you can sit with yourself in that restless moment?

You know, the urge to grab your phone, open a new tab or distract yourself and NOT act on it?

You’re building your capacity to delay gratification.

You’re strengthening the same mental muscles that help you stick with hard tasks.

That help you stay present with people.

And keep you moving toward longer term goals without always needing immediate rewards.​

Even the way you see boredom matters.

Some research suggests that treating boredom as a normal, temporary state rather than a crisis to escape supports healthier coping and more constructive choices.

In other words, if you can accept boredom instead of fighting it?

You’re already protecting your mood and your mindset.​

So boredom is more than a lull, it’s a training ground.

Every time you stay with it, you’re quietly becoming more resilient, more focused and more in charge of your own attention.​

That is a very good thing.

One thing that really drove this home for me was my kids.

When my daughter used to come to me and say, “I’m bored,” I’d respond the way most parents do.

With sympathy.

“Oh no, you’re bored?

Here, let’s find something to do.”

I thought I was helping her.

But looking back, I was teaching her exactly what I’d learned myself.

That boredom was a problem to fix.

These days, I take a completely different approach.

Now, when my kids say they’re bored, I get excited for them.

I literally say, “That’s awesome!”

A few weeks ago, my daughter came to me mid-afternoon, complaining she was bored.

I smiled and said, “That’s awesome!

You’re one of the most creative people I know and you can make anything right now.

How cool is that?

She looked at me like I had two heads, then disappeared to her room.

About an hour later, she emerged beaming, announcing her “Bedroom Zoo” was ready for visitors.

She’d built a full park in her bedroom.

Complete with a variety of stuffed animals arranged as different exhibits, hand-drawn signs for each habitat, a ticket booth made from a cardboard box and even a real entry fee (which, yes, we paid).

There was even a petting area with her favorite plush toys.

The attention to detail was impressive and her excitement was contagious.

That moment reminded me of something powerful.

We don’t need to rescue ourselves (or our kids) from boredom.

We just need to trust it.

Unstructured downtime helps kids develop independence, creativity and emotional regulation.

Especially when they’re not constantly relying on screens or external stimulation.​

If we can sit with that stillness long enough?

It often transforms into something beautiful.

Curiosity, creativity, maybe even joy.​

When we allow ourselves to slow down, the benefits stretch far beyond just having a few new ideas:

Boredom is less a blank space in your life and more the soil where creativity and meaning start to grow.

Every generation before us had boredom built into their lives.

Lingering at the dinner table after the plates were cleared and letting conversations trail off into comfortable silence.

Waiting at the bus stop with nothing but your thoughts.

Waiting for your photos to be developed.

Or for a letter to arrive.

Those quiet spaces were once woven into everyday life.

Now, many people treat them like errors that need fixing.

But what if those “empty” spaces are exactly what we need?

Maybe the remedy to modern stress and chronic distraction isn’t doing more, but rather less.

Slowing down.

Looking up.

Letting the brain idle long enough for the deeper parts of ourselves to catch up.

Psychologists and neuroscientists increasingly argue that boredom is a necessary counterbalance to our overstimulated world.

Supporting both creativity and mental health.​

Some researchers even warn that when we eliminate boredom with constant screen use?

We also shut down the brain systems that help us reflect on meaning and purpose, which can fuel anxiety, emptiness and low mood over time.

Why?

Because when you strip away all the noise?

You start hearing the whispers of your own life.

The ones that were drowned out by busyness.

You begin to notice the small joys again.

You find clarity, perspective and sometimes, a spark of genius you didn’t even know you had.​

It can feel strange, even uncomfortable, to purposely do nothing.

But boredom is like a doorway.

When you step through it, you enter a space where creativity, clarity and calm all live.​

So the next time you catch yourself reaching for your phone in a quiet moment.

Try something different.

Pause.

Sit with the moment.

Notice the urge to escape and let it pass.

In that tiny act, you’re training your mind to be stronger than its impulses.

That’s real power.​

Boredom (or whatever we choose to call it) isn’t something to fear or avoid.

It’s something to nurture.

When you give yourself permission to slow down, you rediscover meaning, creativity and mental strength.​

It’s not about empty time.

It’s about open time.

And in that space?

Your ideas, your resilience and your truest self finally have room to breathe.

Then you don’t just tolerate boredom, you can actually train it like a muscle.

By giving yourself regular moments with no devices, no distractions and no escape hatch.

So, have the courage to do nothing.

You’ll benefit in ways you never imagined.

If you want a quick, science-backed take on why boredom matters, this 6-minute video from Arthur Brooks is a great companion:

Some people change the world with a microphone in their hand.

Others do it with a pair of gloves and a rubbish bag.

For years, Afroz Shah spent his weekends on a Mumbai beach most people tried to avoid.

Versova Beach was piled high with plastic and debris.

The kind of place most people would cross the road to escape.

Afroz Shah is not like most people.

A young lawyer who loved the sea, he did the opposite.

He walked toward the mess, bent down and started picking it up.

Week after week.

Often with just one elderly neighbour by his side.

This small, almost ordinary act became the seed of something extraordinary.

Afroz grew up near the ocean and loved the water.​

When he moved back to Versova in 2015 and saw the beach covered in endless piles of plastic waste?

He knew he had to take action, describing a feeling of heartbreak and a deep sense that “this is not how it’s meant to be.”​

Instead of blaming or waiting for someone else to fix it, he put on gloves, grabbed bags and simply started cleaning.

Treating the beach like it was his own backyard.

A retired neighbour, 84-year-old Harbansh Mathur, joined him.

Just two people, facing a problem that looked impossibly big.​

What began as two men picking up trash slowly became something much larger.

Passersby started asking what they were doing, then returning the next week to help.

Friends brought their friends along.

School groups started showing up.

Corporates businesses sent volunteers.

Weekends turned into communal clean-up dates at the beach.​

Over time, thousands joined in.

Together, they removed millions of kilos of trash from Versova Beach, in what the United Nations later described as the world’s largest beach cleanup.

Photos from those years show towering piles of collected plastic lined up along the sand.

Slowly but surely those pictures began to reveal more sand than plastic.​

One of the most powerful moments came when sea turtles (after a sustained absence) returned to nest on the beach.​

For years, it had been so littered with waste that it was difficult for turtles to reach the sand.

For Afroz and his community, seeing baby turtles make their way to the sea became a kind of living thank you.

It turned the idea that your actions matter into something you could actually see on the sand.

Visible proof that what looked hopeless could heal with time, patience and consistent care.​

Of course, this process wasn’t all uplifting moments and smiling volunteers.

Remarkably, Shah and his team faced harassment, threats and bureaucratic pushback.

At one point he was close to giving up.

There were days when drains kept dumping fresh trash.

When volunteers were discouraged and when it felt like the tide of plastic would never end.

Very similar to those ‘what’s the point?’ moments many of us hit in our own work or relationships.​

Yet even at his lowest, the core of his message stayed the same.

Keep showing up.

Keep doing the work.

Keep inviting others in.

He shifted his focus from just cleaning to changing peoples behaviour.

He would educate the local communities, schools and officials about how waste is created in the first place.​

Shah didn’t have a big title or a global platform when he started.

He simply had a beach he loved, a sense of responsibility and the willingness to do something that looked small and almost silly against the scale of the problem.​

Those weekends on the sand ultimately led to major recognition.

Including being named a UN “Champion of the Earth” for leading what they described as the world’s largest beach cleanup.

Through the Afroz Shah Foundation, he now helps clean other beaches and rivers.

Working with schools and communities to shift daily habits around plastic and waste.

Extending his ripple far beyond Versova Beach.​​

His story shows that being a leader often means leading by example.

Getting your shoes dirty, feeling tired and choosing to come back every weekend.

Here are some practical ways his story can inspire us in everyday life:

What stands out most is how unglamorous Shah’s heroism really is.

No dramatic speech.

No perfect plan.

Just a man going back again and again to the same filthy beach.

Until other people started to believe change was possible there too.​

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by everything that’s broken in the world.

Afroz reminds us that hope often begins with your feet on the ground.

In the exact place we’re tempted to avoid.

With actions that feel too small to matter.

Until it does.​

Maybe that’s our quiet invitation this week?

Look for one “beach” in your own life.

A relationship, a habit, a corner of your community that you usually walk past with a sigh.

But this time, take one small, imperfect step toward cleaning it up.

Then, when it feels right, invite one other person to join you in the effort.

It's these collective moments that can lead to meaningful change.

If you’d like to learn a little more from Afroz himself, this short film provides staggering visuals that capture his story:

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There are days when the world feels loud, rushed and a little too intense.

On those days, hitting play on BBC Earth and instantly finding yourself in the middle of a rainforest or drifting under the ocean’s surface feels transformative.

It’s become one of those things I turn to often.

While reading, listening to music or just taking a breath after a busy day.

Why?

Because it softens the edges and reminds me how much beauty is present across the globe.

BBC Earth provides so much more than just nature footage.

It packages it in a way that invites the kind of awe and curiosity that’s far too easy to lose in everyday life.

Both their short clips and longer episodes reveal animals figuring things out.

Ecosystems quietly taking care of themselves and tiny details you’d never notice on your own.

A frog breathing under ice.

Bioluminescent waves.

A bird mastering an elaborate dance.

The result is a mix of calm, delight and genuine fascination that pairs perfectly with a quiet moment.​​

There’s also a surprising mental health benefit.

Studies done with BBC Earth’s Real Happiness Project discovered that watching nature programmes can provide real boosts to your mood.

Feelings like joy, contentment and awe start to flow while lowering stress and anxiety levels.

Sounds worth it to me.

It’ll never replace the impact of a walk outside.

But it’s a very accessible way to swap a few minutes of scrolling for something that leaves you feeling lighter and more grounded.​

What sets BBC Earth apart from similar content is the blend of storytelling and science.

The visuals are stunning.

Each segment is also crafted to show behaviour, relationships and patterns.

Like how a family of elephants cares for each other.

How a forest communicates underground.

Or how a tiny insect plays a crucial role in an entire landscape.

While absorbing the beautiful scenery you’re also learning how the pieces of an ecosystem fit together.​

It’s also incredibly flexible in terms of time commitment.

You can watch a full documentary if you have time.

Or just put on a 10–20 minute compilation of relaxing nature scenes while you read or listen to music.

It works in the background as a calming companion, or in the foreground when you’re in the mood to be fully immersed.​

Nature is a practical mood tool: Even brief exposure to natural scenes (on screen or outdoors) reduces stress and improves mood. This makes a brief BBC Earth clip a simple way to support your wellbeing during a busy week.​

Curiosity doesn’t need an agenda: Watching creatures solve problems, adapt and improvise is a great reminder that curiosity for its own sake is valuable. You don’t have to “do” anything with it. Just paying attention is enough. Quite a relief in a world that asks us to optimise everything.​​

Perspective is grounding: Witnessing vast landscapes, long timescales and complex ecosystems can shrink your day-to-day worries down to their proper size. It’s an invitation to step back, breathe and remember you’re part of something much larger.

BBC Earth has become a kind of moving wallpaper for me.

In the best way.

It’s there when I’m reading, when music is playing, or when I simply need my mind to take a back seat for a few peaceful minutes.

The combination of beautiful imagery and gentle pacing make it feel like a small act of care you can offer yourself with a single click.

If you’re looking for something that calms your nervous system, satisfies your curiosity and reminds you how magical this planet is?

BBC Earth is a powerful companion to have just a click away.

Enjoy dipping your toes into this world of wonder?

I’d also encourage you to check out the Planet Earth I, II and III series (not currently available on YouTube).

Released across 17 years, they’re a brilliant doorway into what BBC Earth does best.

Following life on our planet, from mountains and oceans to deserts and cities, with groundbreaking cinematography that shows the natural world in unforgettable detail.

If you ever need proof that the world is more than emails, rushing around and news alerts?

A few minutes with BBC Earth is a powerful reminder of how astonishing our home really is.

Please share; I'm always keen for great suggestions.

We all love the idea of a hidden secret.

The perfect plan, quick fix or one piece of wisdom that makes everything fall into place.

But what if the real secret is that there’s no secret at all?

Progress doesn’t usually come from breakthroughs.

It comes from the basics.

Done consistently and with care.

The steady steps we repeat, even when they feel ordinary, are what lead to meaningful results.

The secret, really, is trusting the process.

Consistency over intensity.

Progress over perfection.

Fundamentals over fads.

We live in a world full of new methods, tools and “proven systems” promising faster results.

But most of the time?

It’s the simple things that work best.

Things like getting enough rest, moving your body, eating well and showing up even when you don’t feel like it.

These small choices stack up quietly but powerfully.

I’ve felt this in action across many of my own routines.

I've found that by repeating actions (like eating healthy meals regularly or exercising most days of the week) and staying patient with it?

My feelings toward these habits changed.

Over time, I began to crave these positive habits because they grounded me.

You really can get addicted to things that impact you positively.

So why not make that an active choice?

The magic isn’t in doing something extraordinary.

It’s in doing the ordinary things, over and over again, until they become part of who you are.

Here are a few ways to bring this idea into practice this week:

Whenever I feel stuck or impatient, I remind myself that I don’t need a secret.

I just need to keep showing up.

The days I lean into that truth, everything feels more balanced. On the days I dont feel like working out? I do it anyway and always feel better afterward.

Progress becomes less about chasing outcomes and more about staying connected to what matters.

So here’s to doing the small things again and again, you might be closer to your goals than you think.

Just keep building, one intentional step at a time.

What’s one steady habit or “fundamental” you’d like to return to this week?

I’d love to hear what consistency looks like for you.

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