How do you cope with boredom at meetings?

by MMXIV 32 Replies latest jw friends

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  MMXIV

  What did/do you use to cope with boredom at the meetings?

  As sad as this sounds, when I was a kid and desperate for anything to do at a meeting, I used to count the punctuation in each WT study article. I had a system. Skip it if you find it boring

  I'd count all punctuation per paragraph .,()"':;?* including footnotes. Cited scriptures would be good because they would often be worth 'four' or more i.e. (John 3:14-16). I'd then keep a running average for each paragraph and total it up at the end. In the 80's when the articles were more scriptural they'd normally be over 600 items of punctuation and sometimes as much as 800. In the 90's and early 00's there were less scriptures quoted so it dropped to around 500. (Yes I did sometimes keep up the game when an adult for old times sake).

  Mostly as an adult I'd keep myself awake by planning building projects, calculating where every timber would be placed and where each screw would go. I'd keep redesigning it to look better each meeting overcoming the numerous issues. I finally got to build exactly to the plans in my mind and it worked near perfectly.

  What did you do to fight boredom at meetings?

  MMXIV
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  cantleave

  On the occasions I do go, I do a lot of walking around and .....oh lets face it the whole time drags by because I am bored out of my f*cking head.
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  Quillsky

  Sorry, I fell asleep reading that.

  Bless you MMXIV.

  I hope you've realized that not going to meetings is the best cure for boredom.
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  Titus

  I usually read 8th chapter of Romans.
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  gubberningbody

  Sometimes I'd write poems...

  On the stage there's a tapestry...

  A still life with peacock in gardens so rare

  A fanciful place of peace and repose

  A place my mind lights to leave off its cares

  Four hours per week, the Bible to know

  Distracted I'll be, thought brothers prepare

  And do their just best, attention to hold

  I know I'll dream on and wish I were there

  So that I might pass those gates that are closed

  And climb purple hills to places unknown

  Perhaps I'll find peace, the present I had

  When I was too young to see all these lies

  That hide from your eyes until you are grown

  And cannot pretend that you still feel glad

  As you see life's "truth", that everything dies

  "Don't bother me. I'm rapt with attention on these marvelous truths the faithful slave has prepared!....NOT!"

  (not everyone busily taking notes is taking note)
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  Black Sheep

  I blanked it out.

  I don't remember.

  I remember singing my own perverted versions of the King Dumb songs, but the rest of the time in KHs is deleted.
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  troubled mind

  I found the cure for boredom .......I no longer go
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  dozy

  As a MS or elder it was easy - just do the sound or be an "attendant" & wander to the car park or in the back lobby on a regular basis. I would sometimes prepare service meeting items during the TMS.

  As a child , it was torture , especially as I wasn't allowed out to the toilet during the meeting. The family always sat in one of the front rows , so couldn't even check out what the rest of the cong were doing (or check out the talent when I was a teenager). Just spent a lot of time daydreaming - the number of times I scored England's last minute World Cup winning goal , orchestrating a 5-4 victory after being 4-0 down at half time!

  JW kids are luckier these days - shorter talks and meetings and a lot more going on in terms of demos and interviews to break things up a bit. No more "Mans Salvation" or similar Fred Franz books either.

  The training to appear interested for long periods of time when being extremely bored while mentally keeping a cocked ear for anything interesting or any cues has proved helpful in my working life to manage endless meaningless secular meetings.
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  MMXIV

  Yeah - long since escaped.

  I wasn't allowed to take notes. I did once write down all the scriptures in a PT but my mum asked if I was going to look them up when I got home. No more pen and paper after that.

  I used to practice holding my breath as well.

  MMXIV
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  Broken Promises

  The final year I was going, I used to sit with a family I was “friends” with (found out they were complete backstabbers) and play with their toddler (in the guise of giving the mum a chance to listen to the meetings). I remember one night the little tot fell asleep in my arms 5 mins after the Ministry School started, and slept right through the meeting until the last song!