The Importance of Taking Time Out and Doing Nothing (2023)
Hello friends, regular readers will know I am taking some time for myself at the moment and this is my second week of just focusing on myself and doing nothing. By doing nothing I mean, not worrying about cleaning the house, or thinking about jobs that need doing but instead, just taking the time out for myself to do the things I enjoy doing.
So what have I done last week and what are my plans for this week? Last week was focused on well-being, I did this by ensuring I ate well and focused on ensuring I drank enough water, and kept hydrated. Just these two things alone have been impactful. I’ve had a few aches and pains too which I have been stretching out with guidance from my physiotherapist and more of this to come this week, to help me get back to my best self.
I’ve recently read a book called Why We Play – How to Find Joy and Meaning in Everyday Life written by Joanne Fortuna – book review to follow soon.
The author talks about the cultural demands we put on ourselves to always be busy and see that busyness as a badge of honour – I know I am guilty of that and how during this mindset we stop sensing the cues that our minds and bodies need to relax and unwind, instead we turn to reliance on caffeine, alcohol, sugar to create a false sense of energy and in the process, we encourage ourselves to push further beyond our limits to get more done.
The author states that these temporary strategies we deploy to keep us energised give us a false sense of control and reliance here leads us to find distractions to our underlying unease, we may do this by being distracted by social media, binge-watching Netflix (another one I am guilty of) – even things like socialising with friends, or going to events just add to our emotional exhaustion – it’s just more ‘doing’ rather than concentrating on doing nothing. The author calls this ‘nervous system dysregulation’ – whereby we eventually become ill manifesting either mentally or physically or even both.
So that’s where I’m at and trying to embrace the art of doing nothing to reset and get back to equilibrium.
These are a couple of other articles you may find useful reading around this topic area: BBC Radio 4 - Naturebang - Should we be doing a whole lot more... nothing? and Why You Should Spend Time Doing Nothing, According to Science | Live Science
Other noteworthy things that have caught my attention this week:
I’ve been loving the lighter mornings and evenings and just paying attention to the beautiful skies we have been gifted the last few days – even the sun has been shining
I love listening to podcasts and watching YouTube and a particular favourite at the moment is Diary of a CEO – Steven Bartlett, especially interesting last week was the interview with Romesh Ranganathan the comedian, and especially his thoughts on imposter syndrome (the voice inside my head). I coach many people with these self-doubt thoughts and will delve into this area very soon.
Photo of the Week
Doing Nothing
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic area – what do you do when all you need to do is nothing?
Quote of the Week
“Life is all about balance. You don’t always need to be getting stuff done. Sometimes it’s perfectly okay, and absolutely necessary, to shut down, kick back and do nothing”
Bye for now. Jackie