Creatively Bored: or "No, I'm Not Distracted, I'm Thinking!"

Don't give up before the miracle happens.

~ Fannie Flagg

F

or the iNtuitive Feeler, brilliant ideas are to be had at will: they are as numerous as the stars, and more often than not, just as untouchable.  And yet, the moon was once thought unreachable.

The problem is not that one dreams the impossible, it is that one fails to make the dream a reality.  NF’s are exciting, creative, and are often gifted in many different areas.  However, they are sometimes easily bored, discouraged or distracted, which leads to the failure of many of their varied projects. 

This is especially true of the ENFP (Extroverted iNutitive Feeling Perceiving). 

For a long time, I described myself as an introvert.  But no one believed me.  I found joy in most of life and laugh quite a lot.  And as you know, I like to entertain and throw parties, and I love people.  Such goings on would frighten make an introvert run for the hills!

But an ENFP needs to have alone time to center and meditate.  Otherwise, the water runs out and boredom, despair and discouragement fill in the cracks and crevices left behind.  This is the pattern of my life.  Sometimes I forget to center.  More often, I just can’t find the time to be alone. Or to set the proper boundaries so I am left alone.

Those are dark days.



Where an NF wants to be sometimes...



But recently, I discovered something.  That on those dreadful days when I’m running low on dream fuel and am bored to pieces over simply everything, ideas are born.  And that I’m not alone in this strange place of creative boredom.  That creating something new and beautiful when I should be doing something entirely uncreative and boring is kind of normal.

Whoa.

That’s what Austin Kleon says.  And he’s an artist and a writer.  So it must be true! At the least, it is true for a good many creative people, of which NFs are one group.  In his book, Steal Like an Artist, Kleon says

Take time to be bored. . . .Creative people need time to just sit around and do nothing. . . .Take time to mess around. Get lost. Wander. You never know where it’s going to lead you.

Or in other words, take something negative (boredom) and make something positive out of it (creativity).  We’ve all heard that it's good to step away from a project in order to gain a new perspective on it.  And often, that leads to fresh ideas, editing, or a complete re-write.  Well, that’s what NFs do; only we step back by fiddling with another project.  And being alone with our creative thoughts now and then.  



So show some love to the NFs ~ give them lots of encouragement and some space.  You may think we’re abandoning you, but we are as loyal and affectionate as puppies ~ we’ll be back and more creative then ever.



I feel so much more affectionate  after my alone time!
Romeo & Juliet, Sir Frank Dicksee

NFs ~ love yourself enough to set aside alone time.  You’ll actually have more creativity to give if you do.  And dream big, impossible dreams.

Just remember to continue dreaming once you wake up.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

When is the last time you scheduled alone time? Did you think you were being selfish for doing so?  What do you do to get out of a discouraged mindset?