Unlike most people, I aspire to boredom, and today is a day where I'm succeeding. On most days, I have a laundry list of things I want or need to do, and I'm usually short of the necessary time to do it all. This state of mind is so ingrained that when I really have nothing important to do, I tend to get a little anxious, either worrying that I missed something or fearing what pseudo-emergency is going to crop up next. I've spent a lot of effort over the past couple of years trying to unlearn that anxiety and just allow myself to be bored. In my case, the secret was a career pivot.
I've spent the majority of my life working in the IT industry. I started out on workstations, and over time built an expansive expertise that includes servers, networking, cloud, and security. The IT industry has been a great field for me. I appreciate that there's always more to learn. I love designing and building things. Solving problems brings me pleasure. I enjoy being a resident expert and feeling needed. The downside is that I've been expected to be available essentially 24/7.
My current job is IT security compliance. What this means in plain English is that I recommend and implement well-established best practices and make sure that we actually follow them. It's not a particularly exciting field. Sometimes it's downright mind numbing. But there's no such thing as a compliance emergency. I can take a day off, knowing that nobody will call to ask me why my compliance can't send email, and nobody is going to call me at midnight to say that my compliance is down and the company is at a standstill as a result. In fact, the primary reason my job exists is to meet regulatory requirements. Yep, my entire industry was effectively legislated into existence. Compliance is a way to prove that a given business is doing what's legally required, such as keeping health records private, and reducing the likelihood of getting hacked. But I'm digressing.
My point is that I like boredom. It gives my mind a chance to wander, and my body a chance to rest and recharge. I've spent enough of my life on edge or chasing adrenaline. I welcome the sedate life and I'm happy that I'm reveling in ennui today.
