Dear Bored Me: No One Can Tell Your Story Like You Can

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Have you ever started a new job and had to do all those crazy trainings?

You know, the ones about slipping and falling?

Or HIPAA?

Or the ones that just replay at every job?

Today, I started a second job in the same field that I work in.

And all of the training is exactly the same.

I'm Being Paid to Be Bored

Which, like, I understand.

Just because it's my time to do it again doesn't mean that everybody else is due to do it.

But one of the things they asked me during my interview was what I had experience with.

That.

And that.

And that.

Well, you're gonna take CPR training.

I'm CPR and AED certified.

CPI certified.

I know how to use your program already.

I'm good.

And yet today I sat at my desk and did the same trainings as people who are brand new.

But I can't really complain about it.

Because while I'm bored?

I'm being paid to be bored.

And it's a nice refresher.

I can acknowledge that.

I can acknowledge that while I'm not learning new things, I'm refreshing on things that I'd learned before.

But man.

How do you keep from pulling your hair out when you're sitting through a session like that?

I Was Doing Everything I Could to Stay Focused

The first hour was orientation.

Which meant I had to listen to someone talk to me for an hour.

And I was doing all I could to keep focused.

But I could not focus.

It was me eating a bag of gummy bears.

Me fidgeting.

Me looking at my phone.

Me trying to do anything I could to appear that I was interested in this presentation.

I wasn't.

And then the usual me kicks in.

I get bored.

I get annoyed.

Because I'm getting the same information over and over again.

Can We Please Stop?

It's the reason why I haven't finished college.

I love certain aspects of school.

Love taking new classes.

Love learning.

Love learning new things.

What I don't love?

Repeating the same things I already know how to do.

Take an English course.

I don't need to take another English course.

I think I'm pretty sufficient at writing a paragraph.

A thesis.

A main idea.

Supporting evidence.

We've been doing that since elementary school.

Can we please stop?

No.

No, we can't.

Okay.

I thought, well, let's take another biology course.

But we did that in high school.

Biology.

Yes, certain things have changed.

But the things that they're learning?

They haven't.

So I get bored really quickly.

If it's not challenging?

Then I want nothing to do with it.

And I find that that's where the problems begin.

I've Never Met a Stranger

In elementary school, I was a talker.

Chatty Cathy.

And my teacher was like:

Hey.

We'll just move her seat.

No.

I've never met a stranger.

You move my seat?

I'm just gonna make a new friend.

I'm gonna find somebody else to joke and talk with.

And I keep telling myself:

Okay.

This is a new job.

We're gonna be serious.

We're gonna be grown-ups about it.

We're not going to make jokes that are inappropriate.

Guys.

I'm at a middle school.

I Need an Adultier Adult Than Me

The kids were playing a game today.

They had to put their little names on the board through their computers.

What did the kid name himself?

Dill Doe.

How am I supposed to be the mature one?

How am I supposed to look at that and not laugh?

But I kept it together.

I kept my composure.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm the adult.

Or how I made it to be the adult.

I need an adultier adult than me.

Someone who maybe has a maturity level that supersedes my own.

I am a millennial, if nothing else.

We are the most unserious generation.

I'm surprised we've made it as far as we have.

Because we don't know how to take anything seriously.

Mainly because we're still crying that our lives are the way they are.

We've gone through so much.

And we're still just like:

And we're still here?

We're still doing this?

It's not over yet?

Okay.

Well, we'll just enjoy the ride.

However bumpy it is.

And that's what I'm doing.

Enjoying the ride.

Even when I'm bored to tears.

I Signed Up to Do It

I am excited about my new job, though.

I've made a beautiful schedule so that I'll be working Monday through Friday all day.

Don't know necessarily why I decided I needed to have two jobs.

Because I didn't.

But I wanted it.

So I did.

Then I sat down to do my second job.

And all I could think was:

I really didn't want to work today.

So I have to get those two ideas to coincide with each other.

I may not want to do it.

But I signed up to do it.

Therefore?

I have to do it.

And I think it'll be more interesting when I'm hands-on.

I'm really good when I'm hands-on at work.

But if you tell me to sit there and listen to something drone at me for hours and hours?

That's not gonna work.

Whenever My Journal Writing Is Done, I'm Done

Which I think is why my podcast is done the way that it is.

If you've noticed, for the most part, my podcasts are under 20 minutes.

One, I don't think anybody wants to hear somebody drone on for that long.

I recognize that there are people who are fantastic and interesting.

I don't give myself the credit for that.

I think 20 minutes is fairly solid.

And I don't even have to keep it at 20 minutes.

Whenever my journal writing is done?

I'm done for the day.

We All Have TikTok Attention Spans

I don't know when it got so bad.

And I think that's kind of the crux of the world at this point.

We all have TikTok attention spans.

We could listen to a 30-second video and we're just like:

Bored.

Go to the next.

Versus taking the time to really immerse ourselves into whatever we're learning or looking at.

And getting deep into it.

I think that's what I miss most.

She Was Buried in a Book

I used to be an avid reader.

Loved reading.

Still love reading.

I just haven't done it the way that I wish I could do it.

I wish I could just curl up with a book and get lost in a world.

Being back in California actually makes me miss it just that much more.

I am sentimental.

I don't live too far from where I grew up.

I really would like to go out there and go to the library.

I grew up at this library.

I used to walk there every Saturday to get a bazillion books.

And I would read them as I walked back.

I was that talented.

To read and walk.

I miss that part of me.

She wasn't bored.

She was buried in a book.

She thought she was some of the characters in the books that she read.

And it was fun.

Now I'm Writing and Becoming a Character

But now?

Instead of reading and becoming a character?

I'm writing and becoming a character.

It's a different twist.

I thought it would be harder to sit down and write.

And I'm not saying it's easy by any stretch of the imagination.

But I find that when I actually take the time to sit down and write?

It comes just as naturally as sitting down to read.

And I think that's where my basis comes from for my books.

It's where my basis comes from for my journals.

Everybody has a story.

Every night you guys hear me tell you that it's just another page.

That's because I truly believe that everybody has a story.

Every Day You Get to Decide How That Page Is Gonna Go

And every day it changes.

Every day you get to decide how that page is gonna go.

Sometimes we wake up and that page is already just:

Nah.

It's a bad day.

It's broody outside.

I'm not gonna get out of bed.

It's just dark.

Which in a book?

That's not always a bad thing.

Because you like some contrasting events.

If everything was all happy-go-lucky?

That's not really a book you'd wanna read.

Even Mary Poppins had some twists and turns.

I enjoy the fact that I get to learn my story.

And other people's stories.

No One Can Tell It Like You Can

When I wrote my journals, I wrote them with questions in mind.

Questions that would evoke thought.

That would evoke the story that's in you.

Because again?

No one can tell it like you can.

I may be a part of your story.

But I haven't walked through your story the way that you have.

Even as I sit here and talk about my experiences?

My thoughts?

My process of things?

Some of you agree with me.

But I know that even though you agree with me, you still see it differently.

You still experienced it differently than me.

And I think that's what makes your story unique.

But also what makes the world unique.

We could have similar lived experiences.

But they're still gonna be different.

Because we're all gonna be affected by them in a different way.

I Just Want to Hear People Pour Out Their Stories

I think if I could just sit down and pick people's heads all day long?

I would love it.

And not in an:

I'm your therapist, so I can tell you that's not right.

Or that doesn't make sense.

I just want to hear people pour out their stories.

I remember sitting as a kid at my great-grandmother's house.

I remember her telling us about our history.

She was talking about slavery and where that fell in our line of family lineage.

And I listened.

I was fascinated.

But I didn't pay close attention.

Because we were visiting.

I had cousins to play with.

My thought process was:

Okay.

Are you done so we can get outside and play?

But older me appreciates what she was trying to show me.

Older me wishes I would've paid more attention.

Wrote things down.

Thought about it some more.

Everybody has an interesting story.

And I think there are so many hidden layers to it.

Our life story.

How it's turning out.

How we want it to be.

Who we are.

Who we were.

Your Story Is Important. You're Important.

I know there are a lot of people who sit and think:

No.

Not me.

I don't have an interesting story.

I'm just boring.

I'm not worth it.

No one can tell your story like you can.

Your story's important.

You're important.

And I wish I could somehow dig into your brain.

Into your soul.

Into your heart.

And show you just how important you are.

I know what it's like to feel unworthy.

Unloved.

Unwanted.

Not good enough.

And I am challenging those thoughts.

I'm challenging those thoughts for me.

I'm challenging those thoughts for you.

I want us to look at ourselves and think:

Damn.

We did good.

We made it.

Even if it's just through the day.

My Bite of Pie

My bite of pie today?

I went to my first job.

Had a great day.

Made the whole commute home in, like, record timing.

Came home and got straight to work.

Got off work.

Went straight to my podcast.

I am feeling productive.

I am feeling like I'm accomplishing things.

I'm excited for things to come.

I reached out and asked about an old friend.

Got to message him today.

See what happens with that.

I'm a little excited.

A little nervous.

We grew up together.

So it's really interesting when you get a blast from the past.

He and I were really great friends growing up.

I'd love to see where his life has led.

What's he up to?

What's he doing?

He said he was tired and working recently.

So I'm gonna see if I can get him out of the house.

Maybe we can go do something together.

Doing Something Different Makes Life Better

Doing something different makes life better.

And I say that as somebody who loves routine.

So if you're sitting at home and you're bored to tears because you're watching some training?

Or because there's nothing to do on a Friday night?

Or you're like me and just don't like going out, although you want to go out?

It's a whole complicated mess.

It's okay.

We'll just hang out.

We'll watch movies.

What's your favorite type of movie?

I am a scary-movie kind of girl.

So I'm thinking:

Darken the room.

Throw on the TV.

Eat some chips.

Relax.

Celebrate that my week went better than I thought it was going to.

And then I'm gonna take my own advice.

Today is another page in the story.

It does not have to be perfect.

It just has to be written.

Before you close your journal tonight, ask yourself:

What was your bite of pie today?

Until tomorrow,

Love you loud.