When was the last time you gave yourself permission to just be? Not do. Not fix. Not hustle. Just be. Like most of us, that feels pretty foreign. A little uncomfortable. Maybe even impossible.
Humans like feeling busy. And when we are not busy, we get antsy. We create tasks when there really isn’t enough to do. We scroll, organize, recheck email, anything to avoid feeling like we are ‘doing nothing.’
Somewhere along the way, we started treating the word rest like it was a four-letter word. We call it “rotting” and place shame on ourselves (and others) for not being productive 100% of the time. We joke about being lazy, but there is often shame behind the laughter. We have begun to equate stillness with unproductivity, and that is a problem. We’re quite literally addicted to ‘doing’.
When did we go from our title as a human BEING to a human DOING?
There is a great buzzword that can be heard in every workplace: “work-life balance.” It started in the 1970s with Baby Boomers who were trying to balance their careers and life outside of working their typical 9-to-5s. But in recent years, when our work literally entered our homes, the lines between work and life became even more blurred.
Leaving work “at the office” was impossible when the office was the couch. And even if we had a home office, it was hard to separate work and life when it was easy to respond to a message during dinner since the office was mere steps away. But regardless of your physical location for work, we are all tethered by technology. We carry our tiny computers in our hands, and with a ding or vibration, our Pavlovian response to get our dopamine hit engages us to respond to whatever stimuli have distracted us from the task at hand. Sounds like a recipe for burnout.
It’s the perfect time of year to give ourselves the permission to gift ourselves some well-deserved, much-needed rest. Some of us have spent the better part of our lives always doing something, so we might be unsure of what doing nothing looks like.
Closing Shop. Really.
Here at Orange Leaf Consulting, we have a strict two-week vacation policy at the end of the year. We toggle on our away messages and shut our work brains off (we really look forward to Dr. Cindy’s elaborate away messages, so we recommend giving them a read!).
Believe it or not, we’re not rushing to bring on new clients to meet revenue goals in the nick of time or working 60+ hours a week and missing kids’ holiday recitals. We close our doors for the final weeks of the year to spend time with friends and family and simply do nothing. That’s right. Nothing. But we plan for this. We’re not advising that you ghost coworkers and clients. In the fall, we start preparing to be out of the office and set client expectations. But we really do close. Now that might be a bit drastic for some, so how about starting with some small shifts like these?
- Redefine rest. Rest is not laziness. Rest is recovery. Smartphones need to recharge. So do we.
- Set “off” hours. Even when working from home, set a clear end-of-day ritual. Shut the laptop. Go outside. Take a walk.
- Stop “busy bragging.” We’ve all said the phrase: “I’m SO slammed.” It’s not a badge of honor. It’s a cry for balance. We are in control of our time. Really.
- Schedule nothing. Literally. Block out time for doing nothing. And then honor it like a meeting with the CEO (because we are the CEOs of our lives).
Stop and Breathe
Doing nothing doesn’t mean sitting and staring into space (although that is called meditation and we very much recommend it as an option). We mean literally stop working. No checking your phone for work messages, not taking any calls, etc.
And for those who must fill the time with something, here are some of the acceptable ‘human doing’ things during the scheduled ‘nothing’ time:
- Reflect on the year/life by writing in a journal
- Go for a daily walk – or two!
- Take a long solo or family vacation
- Read a novel
- Get more sleep
- Practice being bored
Wait, did that last one say practice being bored? Yep!
It may sound wild in our go-go-go world, but boredom is actually really good for our brains. When we’re not constantly chasing pings, our brains get to relax, and that downtime helps us come back more focused, more emotionally balanced, and a whole lot less frazzled. Doesn’t that sound lovely?
Allowing ourselves to be, rather than do, is really an investment in our future. Who doesn’t want to come back from break feeling renewed with a sense of purpose? We don’t have to earn our rest. We just have to allow it. So, how about trying to be a human being again?
With that, we’re off to have a delightfully boring holiday break and hope everyone does the same, and when we all come back, we’ll kick off the new year ready to help y’all “Grow Big, Or Go Home!”®