Today I find myself in a Costa Coffee with some dear friends from college, friends I have not seen in months. Pat, who’s in med school, is busy transcribing notes into her tablet. She sits across her schoolmate who’s doing the same thing. Beside her is her brother Carlos, who’s currently listening to a song about Glycolysis while working on his thesis. And then there’s Ymara to my right, who, like me, has nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon than to tag along with our friends who do.
With nothing on the agenda, the first instinct is always, look for something to do. So we did just that as we took out our books. Ymara highlighted her copy of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck while I opened the 12 Rules for Life on my tab. And we read.
But why? Why this constant need for productivity? For months, I’ve been feeling this constant desire to make something out of every waking hour. Every minute spent not doing anything or not thinking about doing anything has always felt like time wasted, time I could’ve used for something useful, something of impact. But after months of thinking this way, I’ve found myself getting less done while spending more time overthinking.
Next thing I knew, our friend Alex was also in the area with Jessie, his 3-month old Pomeranian. Suddenly, what looked to be another afternoon trying to get things done became an afternoon of walking Jessie and changing her dog diaper. Books down, work set aside, it was decided: Today was about doing nothing. Nothing accomplished today would mean a good day, and anything over nothing is just bonus. Truly, there is much to do and definitely much more to think about, but sometimes it’s by doing nothing that we actually do the things that matter.
Today, even for just a few moments, actually felt like a Sunday.