How to make the necessarily boring parts of your life more entertaining.
I started treeplanting in 2008, and I love it, but that doesn’t mean it can’t seriously suck. Every job most probably has things about it that are stimulating and unique and fascinating, as well as those that are loathsome and tedious yet necessary to it’s accomplishment.
Yeah, that giant water hole? Just walk right through it.
The scenery changes, but planting is nothing if not repetitive. It has all the right ingredients to drive you absolutely insane. It’s kind of like data entry, but the data is a seedling and the program is a cutblock. And then your cubicle gets hit with toonie-sized hail. You can hide under your desk and take a nap, but you’re getting paid by the piece, not the hour, so if you want to make money you put your hood up and keep at it while mother nature kicks your ass.
Or you hide under the tarp and take ridiculous selfies
Sometimes you forget the repetitiveness because planting can be mind-blowingly awesome. Knowing that you’re one of the only human beings that will ever gaze on a particular piece of land, and that there are so many more that will never be seen, is an incredibly humbling feeling. I’ve looked up to see breathtaking mountain ranges, looked over a cliff to a gushing river, stumbled upon fawns napping in mound holes or gazed up to see majestic birds of prey.
I’ve also drowned in a sea of blackflies while wading through an even bigger sea of stupid ass grass mat while it’s so obliteratingly fucking hot and shade is like a distant dream because hey it’s Northern Alberta at the end of July and the sun doesn’t even ever really set at this point and the forest is mostly a bog with twigs jutting out of it.
Which is great, if you’re a moose.
Ok, but what does this have to do with Planet Earth?
When Planet Earth came out it was a total game changer as far as documentaries go. I worked at HMV at the time, and we played it constantly. We also restocked it constantly yet were always sold out. There was nothing quite like it, but not just because of the visuals (it was the first time a nature documentary was filmed in HD). Sir David Attenborough has been doing wildlife documentaries with the BBC for years, but usually you saw him talking directly to the camera. Planet Earth’s whole schtick was to have a series void of human presence in order to really give the feeling of peeking into a world untouched by humanity. All guided by the disembodied fascination of it’s narrator. It made for a truly magical experience (yes, I am a massive dork, thank you).
At one point, when I don’t know which season was wearing out and I was deliriously plugging through an aforementioned field of shitty stupid grass, I started to hear David Attenborough’s voice in my mind, narrating my movements and purpose…
The treeplanter, although often an urbanized creature like most of it’s species, becomes a wild animal once it is thrust into the open land to lonesomely hack away at it’s unforgiving task. Through the enthralling tone of my amazing narrative skills, we will come to find new appreciation and a sense of wonderment for the lone human amidst the banal vastness of the boreal forest.
Somehow, his voice accompanying me made so many days more bearable, even if I was just being entertained at the extent of my bush craziness. It was like the ultimate cure for being bored by what I was doing because he has this power to make everything sound seriously majestic.
And what I found out this morning is that HE KNOWS.
The BBC released a clip of the man narrating the british women’s curling match as if it was a nature documentary. When I saw this video, I was shocked, I was so happy. It was everything I had ever imagined. Everyone bashes on curling and how it’s kind of ridiculous and boring right? It’s like the running gag of winter sports. BUT a bit of David Attenborough breaking it down for you and it’s like you’re watching something completely different altogether.
So I encourage you next time you’re doing something boring, routine, and repetitive, fire up your imagination and let Sir Attenborough walk you through it, or Morgan Freeman. I promise it’ll put a smile on your face.
These problems matter 