I used to hate mindless, boring jobs. My mind unoccupied with rote tasks performed for charity or minimum wage. Sure, you'd hit a point where the daydreaming started, but more than anything you yearned to be utilized. Challenged. Pushed and pulled mentally; your mind like taffy.
And then I got my wish. My mind is stimulated much of the workday by either the task at hand or by the banter from my co-workers. It's not a bad way to spend the day. Until that day runs into night into weekends and you become exhausted from over-thinking.
It's in those moments when I realize the beauty of the right amount of boring. The meditative tasks that are just interesting enough to hold your attention, but not enough to require concentration. Like weeding a garden. Or mowing the lawn. Or balancing a checkbook*. There is a purity to life in these moments. Like a lucid dream--not yet awake, nor fully asleep.
*With an abacus. What?
