My mom used to tell me so many stories about her childhood. She would tell me about how on weekends she would go up with her family to the mountains (in Taiwan) and pick young bamboo shoots to take home and cook and eat. She would tell me about her groups of friends from middle school, high school, and college, everyone's characteristics, how they were all different or the same, and what they all did together. I used to think about this a lot. Growing up, on weekends, I played sports or did homework. My friends and I got ingredients from our pantries (prepared by our parents) and baked cookies. I lived a relatively privileged life. I told her, kind of depressed, once, "I am going to have nothing to tell my future children. My life is so uninteresting." That was when she explained to me that it's not about how interesting your life is, or what you do. It's about how you tell it. Upon reflection, this is what I learned--
Most answers here refer to external perception - how someone views another as boring. I think someone is boring only if theythemselvesthink they are uninteresting. These people do not know how to frame things in the right way. Every aspect of life is a story.
Take, for example, someone who lives life on the edge: Person A. Person A works at a cool young startup that tries to influence charity by making giving simple and accessible. In his free time, Person A likes to drive to the coast and go wake boarding, even if the Pacific Ocean has rough winds and huge waves that make the sport choppy and challenging. Person A has also taken a year off between jobs to travel across Asia and take photographs with a fancy camera (photography is one of Person A's hobbies). Note: Person A does not exist (to my knowledge). But he sounds fascinating! He is living an amazing life, traveling the world, making a difference in society. But if Person A thinks nothing of his life, that no one cares, that all the things he does and has done isn't interesting, then when he talks to people, that will be the only thing people hear and see. The conversation held could easily go like this:
- Hey, good seeing you, it's been forever! How was your weekend?
- It was okay.
- What did you do?
- Nothing really. Same old.
Person A sounds like he has nothing to add to the conversation, when in fact he probably could have started an epic conversation about waves and sunsets or saving the world. Person A is boring, but his life is not.
But let's assume there is a Person B. Person B literally does nothing. He sits around in his room, lies in bed, and sleeps. Perhaps he has a dull, mindless job, and can't figure out what his interests are, so he has no hobbies really. Occasionally he walks outside to get food and groceries, or be in a social environment that perhaps has landed him in the middle of the following conversation:
- Hey, good seeing you, it's been forever! How was your weekend?
Here the conversation could easily go two ways:
Scenario 1
- Hey, good seeing you, it's been forever! How was your weekend?
- It was okay.
- What did you do?
- Nothing really. Same old.
OR
Scenario 2
- Hey, good seeing you, it's been forever! How was your weekend?
- I did absolutely nothing. I managed to stay in bed for 40 out of 48 hours.
- Record! How'd you manage that... etc. etc.
Person B in Scenario 2 is a storyteller. Sure, he may do nothing in life, but he still loves it. And he knows how to hold a conversation. Even if he doesn't have much to add to it, he can make anything "boring" sound like a story.
*Obviously, it's important that the listener is active and interested. A conversation, or any social interaction, goes both ways. People should help each other out when one or the other is telling their "story." People can be mutually boring, like as below.
- Hey, good seeing you, it's been forever! How was your weekend?
- It was okay. How about yours?
- It was okay.
(end of conversation)
This can be useful if you really don't actually want to talk to the other person.
I know both Person As and Person Bs in my life. IknowPerson As are interesting, absolutely fascinating, but if I can't talk to them, eventually, I start to think Person As are boring. Meanwhile, I know Person Bs do nothing, but if they can talk about their nothingness with great enthusiasm, I would talk to them all day everyday. These people embrace every aspect of their life.
Conclusion: don't think you aren't interesting. You are. Everyone is. Life is a story, and as long as you can tell it right, no one can disagree.
