Boredom

[Lena]

I might start homeschooling this year (I'm in 10th grade). If I do, Im going to have a lot of free time. I'm probably going to get a job... but besides that... what am I going to do? I don't want to sit around watching music videos all day when not working.

whats something I can do for hours everyday that won't be materialistic or boring? something that will develope my spirituality and/or metaphysical skills? I can't meditate the whole time... I dont know what to do with myself!

any suggestions?

[thephantomblue0]

Bored...I got an idea..Study your life up until this point you're living and see where you could have made better decisions.

Draw, write a book, chat rooms to study behavior. There's not much I can think of, maybe the others can help.

[trumpet_is_cool]

Why do you not make music instead of watching/hearing music ? Start to play an Instrument (if you didn`t do it already), it will be fun, a challenge , you will do something for your Intellect (and other`s...It so much fun to make music for an audience) and it wouldn`t harm your spirituallity

[Vesko]

I think both thephantomblue0 and trumpet_is_cool have given you good ideas. You can also do all of the following -- guaranteed substantial positive effect (from my experience; some of it I understood to be true in hindsight, unfortunately):

1. If you have not, take up sports to be better fit physically for your increasingly complex studies/work ahead. A great combination is jogging and hatha yoga, for example.

2. You are 10th grade, now is the time to quickly broaden your interests, so you have a much greater perspective on life and know how to proceed ahead in the best way. Get on the Internet, the library, and books you have at home, and search and read about all kinds of science and humanities fields. Try to read deeply about things that have not interested you up to that point. Try to read about things that popular opinion says are crazy or reserved only for a few experts. Also read biographies of people who have been dubbed genuises -- again from all fields. Search for the detailed bios, not just encyclopaedic entries that say born, discovered that and that, and died. From the detailed bios, try to get intricate details of both the psychological and material side of their life. To sum up: try to get a deeper universal view of everything you can. It will help you solve problems, because you will be able to approach them from many different angles.

3. Study yourself -- feelings, thoughts, habits. Think about yourself -- but be sure not to do it in a selfish and partial way. People think about themselves very often, but very little of it is non-selfish. You do not want this. Think about yourself unselfishly and passionately, as if you were someone whose job is to study you as an external object. In other words, try to see and analyze yourself from outside and as you are in reality.

4. Armed with the new information from the above activities, think very carefully what direction your life should take after you finish high school. Do not allow any material factor to be involved in your judgement of that, e.g. "I will study and work such and such because the salaries of people involved in that are big." You do not want to entertain and follow any of that flawed view -- a guaranteed way to become mediocre in life later. Also, make sure you don't go after degrees and titles themselves, but only knowledge. Also, do not feel forced to do anything even though your peers are doing it -- everyone is unique and has his own unique path of development which is the optimal one for him/her, from a mental and spiritual perspective, as well as material.

5. After you choose your life direction, and if there is some time before you start your post-high-school life, try to focus on some study and work related to your choice -- start studying subjects or create something relating to that direction. You should not wait for study or work to start formally and to start attending any given place or institution before you study or work hard on something on your own. It is easier to do in our times when information, both simple and complex, is abundant and widely accessible.

I think the above is enough for a start, what do you think?

Be extremely careful with parents as well as with any person that tries to guide you, including myself. Hear them but do not follow them blindly even if they threaten you with the most horrible things or offer you things that you have only dreamed of. Parents could be extremely dangerous because they often incorrectly perceive themselves as "the creators" of their children in all or most aspects, and because they live closely together with them. I think that parents, in general, are benevolent murderers -- they are adept at all kinds of ways to murder their children's dreams, while thinking they commit a great loving act on them instead.

For every advice, opinion and disagreement relating to you on their part, ask them to justify their statements fully and do not just take "because I love you" for an answer. Do not take partial answers. Then check on your own, without any of their influence, whether their justifications are valid for you -- not just valid, but valid for you yourself. Do not think "I am a little, my parents must know better if they are yelling at me and are so agitated. I'd better listen to them because I'd like to please them." You are not a baby any more -- you can check the validity of what they tell you on the Internet, in books and encyclopaedias, and most importantly, by studying yourself (looking within). Be sure to check as many sources as you can, and as deeply as you can, so that you are not misled in your judgement of the validity of their justifications. Then, try to reason with your parents, tell them where they are wrong and explain step-by-step to them why. Be sure also to watch out for them telling you valid and complete advice truly pertaining to you, but which is not the best possible thing for you to do. If you feel something is better, do not suppress it.

If you have more questions about what to do, do not hesitate to post.

[Lena]

these are all good ideas, thank you for your suggestions, people! however, I think it would be counterproductive to "Study your life up until this point you're living and see where you could have made better decisions." imo it's better to look at the future and present instead of dwelling on the past. we've all made mistakes in the past but there's nothing we can do about it now.

I will take up guitar and singing again, and excersice.

Vesko, finally someone who is on my side! all of my friends and family are against what I want to do with my life. they want me to go to traditional high school, university, then get a "good" job and make money and live in a house and pay taxes. but my dream is the opposite: I don't want to make money. I want to create and live in a community as described in the back of TP. no one believes I can do it. They say I'll end up starving, homeless, and lonely. I'll show them!

[Vesko]

these are all good ideas, thank you for your suggestions, people! however, I think it would be counterproductive to "Study your life up until this point you're living and see where you could have made better decisions." imo it's better to look at the future and present instead of dwelling on the past. we've all made mistakes in the past but there's nothing we can do about it now.

thephantomblue0 will probably comment about the advice, but as it is written, it tells you to study your past, not to dwell in it. You could study it without dwelling in it. Dwelling means that you get attached to negative or positive sides in your past, wasting valuable time and other resources, but you can train yourself not to get attached. Although there is nothing we can do to prevent the existence of mistakes that have happened in the past, it is useful to revisit past experiences when you have new information relating to them, because you may uncover lessons that are useful for your present and future, enabling you to avoid making mistakes.

I will take up guitar and singing again, and excersice.

I hope you are going to keep the rest in mind.

Vesko, finally someone who is on my side! all of my friends and family are against what I want to do with my life. they want me to go to traditional high school, university, then get a "good" job and make money and live in a house and pay taxes. but my dream is the opposite: I don't want to make money. I want to create and live in a community as described in the back of TP. no one believes I can do it. They say I'll end up starving, homeless, and lonely. I'll show them!

Sorry to hear about your problems. But you know, you are far from alone. I can give you a list of more than 10 real parents I know, or whose children I know, who try to manipulate their children severely. Some of them unfortunately have already succeeded and have derailed their children's lives, preparing them for depression and unhappiness because the latter are prevented from following their dreams for no good reason. I know good illustrative examples with families from the past, too. In fact, I personally do not know a single family that has logical and equal-footed interactions with their children -- by equal-footed I do not mean that parents should succumb to the whims of children and vice versa, but that both parents and children should treat themselves not as fixed superiors and subordinates, but as partners, hearing and negotiating with each other in a logical, civilized manner. Sometimes the parent will be right, sometimes the child will be right, and if the parent is wiser, as they should be because they are older than the child, they will be right more often and that will make them indeed superior as a whole.

Do not shun conventional institutions unless you have a very good and clear reason why. If you forgo or drop out of conventional school after enrolling, you need to make sure that you get at least the equivalent education on your own and in a similar amount of time and effort -- otherwise, what is the point of not following convention and traditions? Also, if you truly need a certain official certification, are you going to be able to take official exams in a short time and/or very little effort and get the certification if you study unconventionally? You should be, in that case. In any case, think outside the box and aim for the variant in which you are actually able to learn the most in the most efficient manner.

You should also not shun earning money because with knowledge, you can use money wisely, and it will not be an evil for you, on the contrary, it can be a great aid in spiritual development considering the global economy is money-based. If you become good in a worthwhile field or fields and do things honestly, you will be able to make choices of whether you want to live directly in touch with the global money-based economy, or in a barter-based smaller community one. Whatever you choose, you will be able to contribute to your and others' well-being, but you are going to be able to do so in neither economy if you lack knowledge.

It is nonsense that you will end up starving, homeless and lonely, as long as you focus on knowledge. Knowledge is the ultimate resource and if you have it, you can exchange it for anything, whether in a monetary or barter deal. Could it be that your parents are under the impression, justified or unjustified, that you will become some weirdo without valuable skills? You need to assure them this is not going to happen, I mean, the "without valuable skills" part .

[bomohwkl]

I might start homeschooling this year (I'm in 10th grade). If I do, Im going to have a lot of free time. I'm probably going to get a job... but besides that... what am I going to do? I don't want to sit around watching music videos all day when not working.

whats something I can do for hours everyday that won't be materialistic or boring? something that will develope my spirituality and/or metaphysical skills? I can't meditate the whole time... I dont know what to do with myself!

any suggestions?

So young! Boarden your skills and your knowledge. If you want to take a job, do it in order to acquire new skills/understanding at the widest perspective.

[creativekey]

yeah learning an instrument takes an immense amount of concentration. that would be something worth learning. something you can gain real understanding from and that wouldn't be temporary. Also since you have an interest in art, I would try to get involved with like a city art council or something where you still are socially active and learning something you actually want to learn. What's a better way to compliment the Creator then by creating? Home school IS boring, you just need to find stuff to do with your time. Take a martial arts class, and try to take an art class somewhere. Do fun stuff that makes you happy! ha ha.

Oh, I thought of another thing, you could grow a little garden outside or in your room and just have a quiet time thinking and learning about plants and nature (pondering the universe). After all nature is a huge tool/gift here for us, so its probably a good place to hang out.

[Lena]

I hope you are going to keep the rest in mind.

yes, of course. I'm always thinking/reading/learning anyway

If you want to take a job, do it in order to acquire new skills/understanding at the widest perspective.

I'm hoping I can get a job at the farm down the street from me this spring so I can learn about agriculture.

Do not shun conventional institutions unless you have a very good and clear reason why.

there are several reasons I don't like school, but mainly, it all comes down to how they are constantly supressing my freedom of choice. also, I've realised I have learned more outside of school than inside. I love learning, but ironically I don't think school is a good learning enviroment for me. School is instead a source of stress and depression