What if boredom wasn't something to dread but was, rather, something to value? Boredom is your brain's built-in program to grow, to extend yourself, to let you know that your current trajectory is off track. It's encouraging you to push through the discomfort and write new neurological code. 🎧AIRPODS MAX GIVEAWAY🎧 To enter to win the Airpods Max with an "If Then Podcast" engraving, here's what to do: 1) Screenshot this podcast and share on your Instagram tagging @ifthenpodcast 2) Follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram 3) If we get to 200 shares by the end of Season 2, you have an opportunity to win the Airpods Max! But don't forget, that each week, for those of you who share on Instagram, I also give away two 1 month Audible gift cards which include a FREE credit for an audiobook + 1 MONTH ACCESS to their Plus Catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed. WEBSITE: https://www.ifthenpodcast.com EMAIL: [email protected] CREDITS: Written and produced by Jordan Taylor TRANSCRIPT: My name is Jordan Taylor, and welcome to the If Then podcast. Our brains our a conglomerate of if/then statements, like in computer code, and oftentimes new lines of code are hard to write in our mind when we’re trying new things, for example if I want to play piano, then I need to read music. Sitting down and coding that particular if then statement could take years of dedication, but when we do sit down and create new then statements for a complicated if, it feels freaking amazing. This podcast is your weekly motivation, and mine, to get uncomfortable and write some neurological code. “Boredom is your imagination calling to you.” — Sherry Turkle There was a storm that evening—outside and within. The wind blew the limbs, and the leaves came down like an autumn colored rain, and I sat inside, unprotected, from my own rain of thoughts and a cell phone. I was battered by stimuli in my electrical brain storm. A notification here. A suggested video there. An instagram like. An Elon tweet. Hmm… I wonder how many downloads my last episode got? I was in the thick of it like most evenings—until, outside, there was a strike. *lightning strike* *sound of breaker* And all went dark. All, that is, except my illuminated face now contrasted in the bright light of the screen. My eyes dilated. The screen froze. There was a glitch in my brain as my video stopped. “No no no, not again…hhhhhh…” Out in the country, you run on wifi. I pulled to refresh. *roulette wheel sound* “Come on come on.” Nothing. And then another pull. *roulette wheel sound* Even though I knew what the outcome would be. *ding* “Error loading Tap to retry.” And then it set in. My new reality as I pulled 3 more times out of desperation. How long would it be? Could it be all night? The storm is pretty bad this time. *thunder* And then it hit me. Withdrawals. I could feel my stress rise as my pattern was broken, as urges hit and I couldn’t react, I just sat and stared at the Home screen swiping left and right through icons, another urge. Another sequence of apps opened and closed, their patterned order engrained in me, top left, then close, swipe, bottom right, then close. Opening and closing. Desperately searching for a fix, and the stress rose and kept rising, and another urge, and another, and then Sara came in, “Jordan, let’s get that lantern from downstairs.” “Yeah, okay. Can't you just get that yourself, Sara? You know where it is, right?” “Uh…yeah…I think I do. You just kind of have your tools down there and I thought you could help me maneuver around it so we don’t get hurt in the dark.” I looked up. And I saw. I finally saw it all. Myself. The darkness. Her flashlight across the room lighting her little corner I put her in. The black void between us. And the feeling. I can’t think of anything else in my life that if it were taken away right now, I would experienc