Befriending Boredom

On my experience with a Reading Deprivation as described in The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

Edit: You can now listen along while I read to you! ☕️🎧

For eight days in April I went on an adventure of meeting and befriending boredom.

I did a Reading Deprivation, an exercise from the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Even though I’ve been reading and working with this book for a couple of years in a row now, I’ve never done that particular practice.

The idea behind it is to remove distractions. To create more than we consume. To empty the well so it can be filled with more creativity.

As the book was first published in 1992, we could just as well call it “Media Deprivation” today and removing all the readily available new media that has emerged since then. Think all the streaming platforms and social media. The internet at large really.

The assignment was simple. Let yourself get bored. Don’t fill the emptiness with reading. Consume less (or in that case, nothing) to create more.

But when does simple ever mean easy, right?

It was easy because no decisions needed to be made. The answer was just “no” for whenever I was considering whether or not I should be watching, reading, or listening to something.

The sitting with nothing but myself and my thoughts wasn’t.

The initial delight about all the time to rest followed by abrupt boredom was quite intense. And I got surprised by a hunger.

The craving of picking up my phone, scrolling on social media, looking at a colorful screen… As that all was left out, my brain tried to get that dopamine hit in another way – through food. I knew I wasn’t really hungry. It took me a moment though to notice that it was ‘hunger’ as an emotion which felt pretty wild to be in. I was glad once that phase was over after the first two days but also surprised by how quickly it was over.

Despite making a list of things I could be doing offline (hanging out with friends, doing puzzles, crochet, tidying my space) the first evening I didn’t know what to do with my time.

It is possible to get used to feeling bored. And yes, the Reading/Media Deprivation was mainly just that, boring.

In the most unexciting moments however, the unexpected happened.

Noticing more. Including my own boundaries and energy levels in a more nuanced way. No more overriding my need for sleep by binge watching series until 3am. Often I just went to bed sooner than I would have, because I simply couldn’t find anything to do.

The days felt lighter not just because there was less noise, less notifications, and more sleep. It also felt lighter because there was so much less decision making required. The simplicity felt restorative.

It surprised me that my dreams were more vivid and colorful.

There was now enough time and energy left in my days to return to my personal yoga practice which in turn brought even more spaciousness, calm, restoration, and inspiration.

Creativity started to gradually come back until it just kept pouring in new ideas. Including unearthing and reviving my Substack here.

I also noticed how my mood started to improve. It was brighter, more joyful. Peaceful and rested was the way I started my days now. And it took much more to change that.

I really enjoyed the quiet and spacious mornings that were filled with silence, the morning pages, and coffee – the latter turning cold more than once as I was no longer feeling tired and I simply forgot it was there. No scrolling. No notifications. The sudden motivation and energy to tidy my space was a convenient side effect of this experience.

Directly after coming out of my Reading Deprivation my discernment and awareness for my capacity and boundaries felt particularly present. Do I actually want to spend my time with this? Do I want to spend energy on that or do I rather want to do something else?

What surprised me the most was the sudden shock and realization that I didn’t want to leave my Reading Deprivation. I wasn’t prepared for that one. Even though I’ve been making plans on what book to read next once this all would be over. The amount of unread emails waiting, the amount of options and possibilities on what to read next, the noise and weight of it all felt overwhelming. So I had to humbly decide to gradually and gently ease my way out of my Reading Deprivation, just as I took over a week to get ready for it.

My quiet world has become noisier again.

But I kept the email filters and focus modes. I like the newfound discernment and intentionality, the delight of reading a newsletter because and when I want it and not when my phone tells me I should with yet another notification. And when I decide to watch something, it is intentional and not out of mere boredom.

In all honesty, I did the Reading Deprivation not just for myself but because I’m the co-host of a book club where we read The Artist’s Way for 12 months (instead of the suggested 12 weeks) so there was no way to skip the Reading Deprivation this time. 😇

And I’m so glad I did.

Would you go on a Reading Deprivation? Have you done one before? And what would you include or exclude for yourself during such a time? I’d love to know.

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And for the curious – my Reading/Media Deprivation rules:

• Urgent emails only (that so much less than we might think)

• Check for messages/essential emails 2-3 times a day only

• Phone on SILENT using Focus Modes (see below)

• Close all browser tabs + close them after use (50+ open tabs in each of 5 browser windows were normal for me)

• No social media

• No videos, no movies, no series, no streaming

• No courses, no classes, no books, no podcasts

• No news, no articles

• No multitasking

• No music and devices/screen between 10pm and 10am

How I prepared for this during 11 days leading up to my Reading/Media Deprivation:

• Setting up email filters so I’d only get notifications for time sensitive and work emails. Everything else went into a folder I’d open at the end of the Reading Deprivation.

• Setting up different Focus Modes on my phone. With reduced to no notifications at all. Hiding the ‘unread’ badges. Blocking any incoming calls other than from my contacts (99% of calls in my call history are unwanted marketing/bots calls)

• Choosing dedicated times during the day when I’d check my messages and communicating that to close friends, family, and people I work with

• Adding the grayscale filter for my phone screen to the quick access settings. there’s nothing more boring than looking at a colorless screen. instant sober effect

• Install pop-up & ad-blocker, revise notification settings on laptop + browsers