Rejuvenate with nothing

Like many, I occasionally take breaks to look at my phone. Sometimes I’ll fall into a rabbit hole, extending what was meant to be a quick session out to 30 minutes or so wondering after with my shoulders raised where all the time went.

It’s ironic — I call these sessions ‘breaks’, but they hardly feel like breaks in the end. I don’t feel refreshed or energized, as a break should leave one feeling. In fact just the opposite: my brain feels like a panting mess having just run a marathon, processing miles of news feeds.

In reflecting on this and what activities actually manage to leave me feeling rejuvenated, the answer turned out not to be another activity but rather the absence of one.

It’s idle time — it’s the walk between classes in college, it’s laying on the bed daydreaming while staring at the ceiling fan… all things that over time and by virtue of technology becoming ever more advanced have become a relic of the past.

We don’t need to doing more to counterbalance the cognitive overload and stresses of life, it’s doing less.

Do not underestimate the power of silence, of hitting pause, and allowing yourself to not always be preoccupied with something.