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You won't find yourself by seeking distraction. You need to eliminate distractions and feel the pain of boredom, which will motivate you to try things.

• stanislavb 5y ago
  This.
  • moffkalast 5y ago
    There was this Veratasium video recently about this very thing, apparently boredom is indeed crucial for creativity.
    • eloff 5y ago
      There's also talks by Cal Newport and Michael Easter on this subject, you can find them on YouTube.
• eloff 5y ago
  It's late for me to edit this, but I want to add that I think this is why so many young people seem to be struggling to find themselves. We live in a world of constant distraction and you will only find yourself in the quiet. I didn't struggle with this, but I had that quiet being homeschooled in the woods with no TV and Internet too shitty for gaming. That's when I discovered I loved computer programming, and I never looked back. I don't want to imply that finding yourself is just about work, but it's probably the biggest part given how much time we spend doing it. My wife on the other hand is constantly inundated with distraction and she is still struggling to find herself. I strongly feel that's part of the problem.
• eyelidlessness 5y ago
  I found my self by seeking distraction, but go off.
• PikachuEXE 5y ago
  People need the empty time/space/gap (whatever you call it) to do more thinking. Some people intentionally created more time/space/gap to do more thinking. Distraction like social media filled that gap too easily compared to thinking. We need more people preferring more thinking or even "overthinking". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28158435 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28158435
• infinitezest 5y ago
  As a child I used to complain about going to bed because I "can't sleep". My father would often say, "well, you usually need to close your eyes for it to work".
  • mbg721 5y ago
    I'm going to shamelessly steal that line. The part the stories usually leave out is how doggedly tired the parents are, all the time.