To all of you who like to say ‘I’m bored’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/04/2012 (5285 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BORED: Feeling weary because you are unoccupied or lack interest in your current activity.

I have never understood boredom, because I am never bored. Yup, you read that right, I am never bored. Why not? Well, I think I have come to a point where I realize I have a lot of things that need to be done — for my work, for my volunteering, for the relationships of people that I have in my life. I have things I need to do to take care of all of these elements, but also myself so I CAN do all of those things. Like eat, get a job, do laundry, go talk with people, sharing ideas and brainstorming. But bored means you aren’t occupied or you don’t like what you are currently doing. If you aren’t doing anything right now, and you don’t like your current situation, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

If you don’t know what to do, come and see me. I have a never-ending list of things that need to be done in order to help our community. I once heard a quote that changed my life: “Until all of us have made it, none of us have made it.” And what that means is no matter how good things are for me, I want to make sure all of the people in my life can enjoy that same level of goodness. That usually means people need to be able to have control over their own lives.

Do you have a solid place to stay? Do you have your school completed? Do you have a job? Do you have all of your IDs? Do you need help getting your challenges taken care of (addiction, relationships, violence, etc.)? Are you sharing your gift? Do you even know what your gift is? Do you have a baby, little sibling, smaller cousin that needs something (anything)? Is your family 100 per cent comfortable, safe and secure?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you have zero reason to be bored. There are things that need to be done. There are people who don’t have houses, jobs, safe places to be, friendly faces to talk to. We all have such capacity inside of us to do good, and help those around us. Many of you reading this will think “I have nothing to offer,” but I disagree.

I disagree because we all have a gift. We are all good at something. My something happens to be talking. It’s what people ask me to share with them most of the time, and people tell me that I am good at it. Once you have realized your gift, you can’t keep it to yourself anymore. Once you have realized you can do that one thing better than most other people, now comes the responsibility. Responsibility to share that gift. Not only with the people you love, but that’s a great place to start.

Until all of us have made it, none of us have made it.

Sharing. Responsibility. Patience. Humility. Courage. You can do it.

 

— Michael Champagne lives in the North End and blogs at http://emceezlog.blogspot.ca