D.S.Y. "Do SOMETHING Yahoo"

As "tough" as we think things have gotten here in the US, we've still got it easy compared to 95% of humanity on this planet. I guess this week's question is a fair one for our time & society... but how would any of us explain this guy's problem to say, a working mom or a homeless Vet, or someone on another continent who has to walk 10 miles a day just to find potable water? sigh.

Dear AAP=
I'm writing this on my mobilephone while riding on a crowded commuter train so please correct any misspellings. I love this city (Chicago) but I'm not so sure I'm loving my life at the moment. I think that is somehow different from most people's questions to you. Most of them want to leave or getaway from something. I want to stay here, but I want some things to be different. Winter is coming and that means A LOT of time spent in the apartment keeping warm but bored, or out at bars keeping warm and bored in a different way. I like my friends but drunk or sober I feel like I know every single thing they're going to say before they say it. Boring! Always talking about the same band, or the same hockey team, or the same girl they're too chickshit to ask out. What is the point? I find myself going home, drunk and bored and wondering what the point of the evening was. Then I go online and have to read what my friends wrote about the night we just had. The bands are all starting to sound the same. It feels like something, ANYthing short of a plane crash to change the routine would be welcome relief. - Go Bears.


DEAR GB=
Not only did I correct misspellings, but I expanded all of the text-specific contractions (like plz=please etc) ...I hope saying that doesn't open the floodgates because it was, frankly, a bit of a pain in the ass. I decided to answer your question in spite of the text-shorthand, so please, dear readers... type the stuff out. Now back to your question.

I can understand wanting to stay in Chicago. A great American city in every way. I've been there three times and enjoyed every minute... of course I was always there in the Spring, when it is easy to get seduced by the city... I haven't had to survive a Winter (or a Summer) there. Anyway - if you're a regular reader, then you've gotta know that my first reaction to your letter is going to be: DIY !

The portrait you paint of your current lifestyle is enviable in many ways, but it is also sounds woefully self-centered. Your friends bore you? ... Have you considered that perhaps you bore them too? You make no mention of any cares or interests aside from your own entertainment or lack thereof. Do you do ANYthing for other people? I'm not shouting, I'm just asking the question.

"Do It Yourself" means that it is up to you to create the change you crave. I've given this advice before on this site but it remains true. Being "bored" is no one's fault but your own. If you have the time to be bored with your life, you're as lucky as you are self-indulgent. There are a million ways to fill your time that might also help fill your soul. Can you teach something? Can you volunteer? Can you get a dog? Start a community garden (in the Spring.)? Is there something you want to learn? How about you book a flight to Madrid in October 2010 and between now and then you learn to speak Spanish?

You could write a book. Build an app for your beloved mobilephone. Teach yourself how to make bread, or brew beer. Form a band that DOESN'T sound like all the others. Find some human-sized way to make Chicago an even better place. Call your mom more often. Host a weekly film night at your apartment (or a local coffeeshop) Find a girlfriend, or boyfriend. Write the next great Chicago novel.

Being "bored" is a pose. It is also unforgivable these days when so many people don't have the luxury of boredom.

Come on man. Get off your ass.

What Would Ditka Do ??