One of my favorite things to do is nothing, absolutely nothing. It’s not going out drinking with friends. It’s not going to a Condors hockey game. It’s nothing.
Sure I have fun going out, I might meet some interesting people or maybe even a cute girl. But so often when I’m out, I just wish I was at home doing nothing.
Of course, when I say nothing, I don’t mean it literally. I’m usually eating some junk food watching Internet videos or listening to podcasts. But by nothing, I mean my brain is off. I’m not worried about a thing. School, whatever, ambition can wait. I just love turning off my mind and not caring.
People call this wasting time, but the time is not being wasted. I, like I imagine many people, spend a lot of time worrying or thinking or whatever you want to call it.
You think about your future, you think about your past, your homework assignments, where you are in your major, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, money, it’s all enough to make you go insane.
So you need that time to tune out. We can’t make it through life every minute, every day, doing stuff.
Sometimes that stuff just needs to be put aside. Sometimes that worry, that thing that is knotting up your mind with stress, can wait.
I think it’s getting harder and harder to do nothing.
With our cell phones, anyone can call or message you and wake you from the sublime joy of not thinking.
With social networking like Facebook, we can absorb ourselves in people’s personal lives. We can look at those stupid comments under the multitude of pictures, see some dumb thing someone wrote and think, “Oh, my God, I can’t believe she said that” and get all angry. Does anyone really need that in your life?
It seems like more and more, you have to make an effort to not make an effort. But I always find a way to do it. It keeps me sane, I always find myself in a better mood when I’ve “done” a proper block of nothing. I’m always happier so maybe you should try it too.
And you know what else is awesome, napping. Sometimes I take a nap and want a good nice and long nap.
The ones where when you wake up and you’re lips are dry and you’re eyes feel all crusty. But then I only nap for like 20 minutes, I actually get a little bit angry. I get angry at my internal clock for robbing me of a blissful few hours of sawing logs.
That’s because napping is doing nothing distilled down to its core. When you’re asleep, you can’t do anything; plus people seem to leave you alone when you’re napping. They respect the power of the nap.
Plus, dreams are pretty cool too. Sure, you get the occasional dream about an ex, but in my dreams I’ve fought ninjas, saved worlds, flown through the air, and even eaten a delicious cheeseburger.
It can be a blast seeing what crazy stuff your mind can think up.
Plus, when you wake up, you’re refreshed. You’re ready to take on the day. You’re ready to fold that laundry!
If you’ve read my writing in the past, I’ve talked about inspiration, the moments that inspire you as a human being, and I’ll get back to that, but what I’m telling you now is not every moment needs to be significant. You don’t always have to look at a blade of grass and see a painting. Sometimes you need to lean back, close your eyes and just not think.
Irma Arredondo • Feb 7, 2013 at 10:52 pm
Thank you for writing this article! I’m going to save it. A lot of people wonder how I deal with all the problems in my life & how I keep up with daily demands, and seem to do so well, well my secret all along has been “to do nothing at all”. Not all the time, but when I do as mentioned in the article in a way it’s like i’m recharging & just relaxing, letting go of all my worries, & resting my brain. It’s both good for our mind, health, & body.