I read an article recently that stated that creative people get bored a lot. My natural interest was surprise. It’s extremely rare that I consciously think ‘I’m bored’.

But then I thought about it a bit more, and realised that I actually get a lot more bored than I think. I tend to just move on to something else before I reach that stage consciously. I like to dip in and out of different things. There will always be the constants (blogging, photography, baking, etc.), but there are so many things that feed off other things. Recently I’ve been reading up on pre-classical economics, and I started reading up on that because I was bored of UK politics, and I can’t even remember why I started reading up on that.¹

I also have a habit of reading up on random things on Wikipedia. This evening it was the Berlin Wall, because I’ve just finished reading The Summer of the Bear. But really it could be anything, from air crash investigations to murderabilia to rich kids who break into celebrities’ houses. I’ve always liked knowledge, and I’ve always been unhappy when I’m not learning. One of the best times of my life was college, and a big part of that was the depth of learning.² I adore random facts. Quiz shows are my guilty pleasure. My aim is to always be able to have a worthwhile contribution to a conversation, regardless of what it’s about. It’s often surprisingly challenging.

I subscribe to the ‘five people theory’ that states you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. A lot of time that’s not been a choice I’ve been allowed to have. I’ve ended up having to force situations, both consciously and subconsciously, and get help to make that happen. It’s getting better. It’s still a work in progress.

I’ve been a lot more analytical about the people I choose to have around me. They need to be interesting and funny.³ But more importantly, they need to be people who are happy and positive and healthy for me. They don’t need to be anything close to perfect, but they need to have traits I admire and aspire to.

Another theory I subscribe to is that you can learn something from everyone, no matter who they are. You can learn from the youngest baby and the smallest vole. And when that happens, it’s a hell of a lot more humbling than learning from a peer or senior.⁴

The sum of all this is that I’m a lot happier than I’ve been in a long time. It’s a gradual process. It’s not a constant upward swing. The important thing is not labelling anything as a ‘failure’. The important thing is to keep trying and keep fighting. And keep learning.