A Post a Day in May 2019 #8: Nothing doing

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I have pledged to write a new post for this blog every day in May.

The scene: two people passing each other in the hallway —

Person One: “Hey, how’s it going?” 
Person Two: “Busy. Really busy.”
Person One: “Yeah, me too.”
Person Two: “Gotta go. So much to do.”
Person One: “Right, me too. See ya’.”

I hear this exchange in the hallways at work quite often and, I must say, the one-up-manship disguised as banality is breathtaking. Being busy is, apparently, the new status, and I have no ambition for it. I’ll be active, engaged, productive, interested, committed — any of those, I’ll happily be. But busy as a status? No thanks. 

I think that people are afraid, these days, to have nothing to do, to have a calendar without appointments, to have time without something filling it. A friend once told me that she was learning to be “with herself” rather than “by herself” when in her own company, alone. And I really like that notion: that I can be my own best company, at times, and that, at times, I might, in that company, choose to be not at all busy but, instead, to be quiet, maybe. Possibly contemplative. Maybe daydreaming. Or maybe doing nothing at all — not mentally, not physically. Simply being, doing nothing. 

Because in this mad-cap 21st century world, doing nothing — slowly and with intention — might just be the most radical status of all. 


Thanks for reading. 

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Comments

  1. FintaMay 8, 2019 at 5:28 AM

    Doing nothing -- brain rest? Yes. I suspect that is something best done once retired. Then the work place pressure, which was always there, is absent. Before I stopped working, I worried about the past week/month/year and about tomorrow, what was to come. It was difficult to be. I wish I'd had your thoughts on this before. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MargueriteMay 8, 2019 at 10:42 AM

    I have read and am now reading the work of Eckart Tolle (Power of Now and New Earth) respectively. Tolle addresses this very topic.

    For the past few weeks I have made a point of taking my beloved little Phoebe Gonzales (long-haired chihuahua) for an afternoon walk along the River's Trail. At first I considered it a form of exercise for both of us. One day I noticed a bench and asked myself, what would happen if I just sat down for a few minutes?

    I sat and those minutes became thirty then sixty and now each day I sit on that bench and allow myself to simply be. I am in no hurry to get-to-the-next-thing. And neither is Phoebe. She is happy to just be and to be with me.

    Thank you for today's thoughts.




    ahahar

    ReplyDelete
  3. laughing_birdMay 10, 2019 at 8:42 AM

    Spot on post.

    I just wrapped up a big project at work that I had been working on for month. The reduced intensity in my days and the openness of my schedule (at least for now) has been an uneasy adjustment. I continually wonder if I am forgetting something or will be viewed as idle, even though I have many little tasks to do that have been ignored for months. Being busy is overrated - I was certainly not as engaged with my work as I could have been, had I been allowed more time to stop, review and reflect on my work.

    In response to this work pace I have made a point to make time for myself to 'be' - walk the dog, listen to a podcast, crochet... activities where I can let my mind wander and relax. It helps me to recharge.

    ReplyDelete

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