Dispatch #2: Where the Whispers Are

April 29, 2025

I don’t think it’s a surprising observation that people here absolutely loathe being bored. You don’t have to look far to see someone doomscrolling on their phone, playing another level on some throwaway app, running an unnecessary errand, and so on.

Buzzing. Flitting. Darting about aimlessly, lying to ourselves that there’s some purpose to it all.

And I get it. I’ve lived here long enough to have gotten swept up in it. That siren song of an inviting screen just within reach, offering quick relief through escape to a digital world that dulls the deep, aching questions we all face.

A way out of the silence.

A way to escape that feeling of just... being.

If I sit and consider it, I have to admit my fear of boredom is often a fear of something deeper. Of things that lurk barely below the surface of my consciousness.

Guilt, shame, disappointment, regret… just to name a few.

We try to lock them in a cage of noise and busyness. The problem is… they’re still there. Just waiting.

And deep down we know… when the noise stops, there’s nothing to distract us from their whispers.

Here’s the thing… what we’re running from is stuck to us tighter than our own shadow. We know we cannot outrun it. It is woven into the very fabric of who we are. It’s the story that makes me me and you you.

Yet still we try our damnedest to drown it out.

But, just for a moment, consider this question: What if boredom isn’t the enemy?

I’ve decided over the past few months to sit with those whispers.

Listening. Not always agreeing with what they have to say but not trying to shout over them either. Letting them speak. Letting them teach instead of torment.

I won’t lie. It hasn’t been comfortable, and it hasn’t been easy. But it has been enlightening.

The most interesting thing is, among those voices, I found some quiet parts of my soul that I forgot existed. That whimsy and curiosity that marked my younger days. A place where my mind can wander free and explore spaces that I had locked away years ago.

A place of half-formed dreams, forgotten ideas, and discarded questions. A space where more seems possible than it did the day before.

Among those whispers I found a quiet part of me I forgot was still alive. And I am looking forward to finding out what he has to teach me.

I used to think that boredom was a curse. But now… I see it as a signal.

Not a place full of emptiness, but of possibility.

When I stop running, and I let the silence speak… I’ve found there is still something there worth listening to.