Among all citizens living in the world of Emotions, Boredom is the guy I am scared of the most. I am not intimidated by him for who he is, I am frightened by his trick. Whenever he comes, he secretly locks all the doors, shuts all the windows, and goes hiding. Sometimes he is alone with me, other times he asks a few difficult friends to come together play this game. Anxiety, Fear and Resentment are Boredom’s partners in crime. They all keep quiet, making the house look empty and suffocating. All of sudden.

Lately, it was a huge surprise to me when I experienced emptiness quite often. I have successfully deciphered my Secret Letter of Life to discover my Life Purpose. Enthusiasm has made a big commitment to traveling with me anywhere I want even venturing into unknown lands. How come I suffered emptiness, the stage where I didn’t know what to do, where to go and all my energy suddenly vanished to thin air?

Practicing Emotional Intelligence for sometimes I have learned by heart a valuable lesson from my respected teachers “There is no moment when we don’t have an emotion accompanying. As human beings, we always have emotion and/ or mood. Emotion comes and goes with a trigger while the mood is always with us with or without a trigger”.  So I sat meditation for a while, trying to calm my mind.

After 30-minute meditation, I saw Boredom tiptoeing to the living room.

“Hey Boredom, you are playing your trick again. What brought you here today?” Smiling I asked.

“I thought you were asleep. I didn’t hear any chatting conversation in your mind. Anyway, I feel so bored, and hide and seek is my favorite when I am in this mood.” Boredom winked.

“I can’t understand. We have many things on our plate right now, coaching contracts, workshops, and training classes. They are all exciting tasks we used to long for, and now you say that there is nothing here interest, that you are bored. Tell me what makes you excited again?”

“I don’t know. You have to tell me. I am just bored!”

“Give me the key so Enthusiasm can come back to work today.” I shouted.

“No way, until you tell me what can excite me.” Boredom ran hide again somewhere in the house.

Not being able to work, I picked an inspirational book, hoping Boredom would go away after I finished. “The promise of a pencil” by Adam Braun sounded interesting. I read and read, and then something suddenly struck me. The author had a strong faith in his life-or-death situation. He wrote he had 100% conviction that it wasn’t his time when the ship experienced the worst storm on his first journey. Faith provided him with a wave of calm during that tough time.

“I want Faith!” Feeling so inspired I shouted.

“Really? I thought you never want anyone to know we are friends.” Somehow Faith managed to open my window, shouting back.

I was stunned. Faith was so right. I couldn’t lie to her. I always felt embarrassed if someone knew she was my friend. Befriending with Faith means I was empowered to believe in something, someone without any evidence, and that sounded stupid. How come a person who was (and still is) famous for always backing up her statements with facts, figures, and logical approaches having a friend like Faith?

But the moment I smiled at Faith, inviting her to my room, I felt a surge of confidence, and all my energy rushed back. It dawned on me that day that without Faith, I didn’t have enough confidence about how and when I could reach my dreamland. I had countless exciting ideas and action plans to leave a bigger impact on society, but I dare not execute. I always played safe, staying in my comfort zone, convincing me that it was enough, and that was the reason why Boredom frequently visited, reminding me that it was time to step into the uncharted area again. But this time I was not going alone, I had Faith!

Boredom threw the key on my lap. He laughed and disappeared but I was sure he knew I was grateful for his valuable lesson.

That was my story with Boredom. My answer to his question is Faith. For many clients of mine, their answers are Courage, Gratitude and sometimes Acceptance. What about yours?

Written by Thao Pham
Executive Coach

Boredom: “There is nothing here of interest to me”
Faith: “I believe it even though I don’t have any evidence it is true”
The Field Guide to Emotions by Dan Newby and Curtis Watkins.