Do you ever feel guilty by doing nothing? We often hear the wise man quote that “keep yourself busy, because a busy person never has time to be unhappy”.Being Busy is often seen as the sign of success and productivity. Is it possible to be productive all the time? . Absolutely not. Sometimes you want to do something but you feel you don’t have that energy. Then you think that you are lazy or you are not productive. Many are going through such situations where your energy is low and you want to do some work. The mistake that everyone makes is to force yourself to do that specific task though you feel that you have low energy to do. The output is more stress and anxiety.
During this pandemic most of the people have a routine which is totally different from normal one.Lot of people are still working from home. Despite staying at home many are complaining that they have work overload without any off days. Most of them are stressed out too. Remote work makes them more busy in different ways.Right now our lives are far away from normal.We are living a digital life. Now it is much needed to stop the rat race after webinars,zoom meetings,online courses etc . If you are in a hustle mode and juggling too many things then it is necessary to take a break and do nothing.There comes the habit of practicing “Niksen”.Niksen is the dutch concept of “doing nothing”,an excellent stress management technique when you feel stressed or exhausted from day-to- day activities.It is a conscious decision to allow your mind to disengage from the work world. In our society we are taught in such a way that “doing nothing” means laziness. However , there are positive sides of laziness too.Research suggests that when we do nothing ,our brain does a makeover. It makes us more creative, organised and productive.Usually it is advised to do meditation to release stress. But some people struggle to do it though they hate every second of doing it. Such people can do “niksen”. Without any postures, and instructions, anyone can do it. Everyone has a different idea of what doing nothing looks like. For some people doing nothing means listening to music, reading,watching T.V, scrolling through social media etc. However the best way of practicing niksen is to keep your phone away and sit in your favourite chair for some time. You can even close your eyes and daydream. 10 to 15 minutes is enough. It can do wonders.
If you feel that you have no time to do nothing, be true to yourself and find out the reasons. After that, reprioritize your to-do-list and follow time management tips.Women especially, mothers find it very difficult to practice the art of doing nothing. If they force themselves to sit on a couch, their mind is definitely packed with laundry,dishes in the sink, what to cook for dinner and the thoughts never end. This could be fixed with a change in your mindset. Train your mind to stop thinking you need to do more. Think that the act of doing nothing is for your own physical and mental well being. So if you are a busy person and If you feel overwhelmed or stressed out, hit pause and spend a few minutes literally doing nothing.
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