Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.
Ubiquitous availability is now the standard. Cell phones never stop ringing. Emails barrage you round the clock. Being available is a 24 X 7 expectation. Burnout is not a badge of honour but that is exactly what is happening because the culture is calibrated that way. People like us do things like this. FOMO is a malaise that is not helping any way.
Even our rest times are ‘ active rest ‘ at best. You stop work and your idea of rest is listening to a podcast or reading a book or playing the music of your choice, or watching a movie- all of which needs the mind to use its processing power. These are all fun diversions, a way to switch the mind’s tracks without completely stopping its journey. We are never at complete rest- it is almost as if complete rest makes us restless.
The pandemic only accelerated this evaporation of boundaries. There are perks of working from home, but one of the drawbacks is that we have lost one of our last safe havens.
Taking time to escape isn’t just a luxury – it’s essential. No need to fill in the blank. Use that time(blank) to think, plan, dream. The Republic of Not Enough that we all are willing | unwilling citizens of, will never let you slack. Because we are deeply buried most of the time in our ledger of lack. It’s ironical to know that our best creations and inventions come during periods of slack not when the mind is furiously occupied(or pre occupied). So is it almost an aberration that there is a productivity tool used by many organisations around the world called Slack? Probably not. Brilliantly counter intuitive branding.
But one thing is certain, we won’t get this time by default – only by design. Complete shut down of all senses, however short a duration it may be.
Listen to the old bray of your heart. Not to the piercing shrill of your mind. “Sometimes sitting and doing nothing is the best thing you can do,” reminds Karen Salmansohn, best selling author of THINK HAPPY.
Only by taking time to think, dream, and plan are we able to discern the essential few from the trivial many in our lives.
As I conclude I am reminded of a brilliant campaign line of the chocolate brand 5 Star– ” Eat 5 Star, Do Nothing “. Don’t dismiss it as a Sweet Nothing!