When my youngest sister was 3 or 4 years old, she’d walk around the house saying, “Mommy, I’m boring!”  What she meant was, ‘”Mommy, I’m bored!” but she hadn’t figured out the nuance of correct grammar yet.  We’d all chuckle and never corrected her, because it was so darn cute.

Last week, I was driving home from work thinking about what I should write for this blog.  I couldn’t come up with anything good.  I keep spouting off ideas that didn’t excite me and the words came bubbling up.

I’m bored.

“Wow, that’s true,” I thought. I’m just bored. Nothing exciting or inspiring has been happening in my life.  I’m bored.

And then I heard the faint echo of my baby sister’s sweet whine…

I’m boring.

And then it hit me.  That’s the real problem.  It’s not that nothing around me has been exciting or inspiring.  I am not exciting or inspiring.  I am the boring one.  It’s not an external problem; it’s an internal one.

What risks have I taken lately?  What person have I scheduled a coffee with because I know they need encouragement?  What great book have I recently read?  Heck, what inspiring article have I recently skimmed?  When was the last time I tried to live a great story?  When was the last time I stepped outside of my comfort zone to do something daring?  When was the last time I did anything relatively interesting, meaningful, exciting, or adventurous?

The worst part is that a lot of things have happened to me recently that are awesome or major change.  My boyfriend proposed; I’m experiencing a lot of change and transition at work.  But the change at work isn’t occuring because of anything I did and my fiance is the one who created an incredible engagement story.  If I’m honest, I don’t remember the last time I took initiative to do something great.

What about you?  Are you bored?  And if you’re honest, is the real problem that you are boring?

Several months ago, my boss started encouraging me to take a risk every day.  A risk doesn’t have to be grandiose.  It could be asking a difficult coworker out to lunch.  It could be confronting your roommate on some issues you’ve been having.  It could be to reach out to an estranged friend.  It could be to buy coffee for the person behind you in line when you’re at Starbucks.

When was the last time you took a risk?  Reached out to someone who needs encouragements?  Sought out to learn something that is challenging or inspiring? Did something outside your comfort zone? 

I don’t know about you.  But I’m tired of being boring.  I’ve got 14 more days of 2013 and I’m going to choose risk, excitement, adventure, and discomfort.  What about you?

Don’t be boring.