I Will Never Again Apologize For Doing Nothing

Why the very important work of recharging is key to a creative career

Photo by Cris Saur on Unsplash

I’ve been looking forward to this week off for a long time. This summer was a dizzying blur of starting a new job (remotely), working a surprising amount of overtime and launching a business.

I know the importance of downtime. I’ve experienced the exhilarating creative spark that comes from clearing your mind enough to allow the big thoughts to flow. I had every intention of doing this on my glorious week off from my news writing gig.

And then I started putting together a to-do list for the week.

1. Revamp website with brighter, more inviting colours
2. Expand on the new services I can offer
3. Create more social media content promoting said business
4. Promote the mini online course you spent a month creating but never tell anyone about
5. Create a business plan (finally)

I also added other household projects like purging and reorganizing the storage closet, finally fixing the printer, and painting a feature wall in the bedroom.

I was all set to tackle this list starting Monday when the alarm went off.

I didn’t even hit snooze. I turned it right off.

In full disclosure, I did devote yesterday to taking care of some client work that came up. But for the most part, half-way through my week off I have achieved the following:

1. I made chicken broth in the slow cooker
2. I used said chicken broth to make soup
3. I went to the gym
4. I finally fixed the printer (although I don’t actually know how. I just left it connected to the laptop to “deal with it later”. When I turned it on, the printer is now connected to my new wifi, which means it’s now connected to my new laptop. Still, I’m counting this as a win for productivity).
5. I watched Free Guy, two episodes of Loki and a few episodes of The Golden Girls (I have Disney+ free for a year with my cable provider so I’m hoping to watch as much Disney as I can before the year is up).

Basically nothing on my lofty to-do list.

So why do I feel so productive?

When you’re in the thick of it, learning a new job and a new business at the same time, your focus is always on the future. Ways to improve, be more efficient, expand your service offerings and client base. Your brain runs like a treadmill. You need to be aware of your foot hitting the track as it’s being pulled by the machine and plan where to put your other foot at the same time. If you lose this concentration you’ll fall off.

But ask anyone who runs on a treadmill for any length of time and they’ll tell you, at some point you need to stop. Rest your muscles, catch your breath, bring your nervous system down to a level where you can restart again.

Your brain at work is no different.

Even though my brain is delightfully forcing me to stay in vacation mode, I can feel the big thoughts percolating. They’re not quite ready to pour out, because I’m not ready to hit the ground running just yet. I might need a few more days at rest, catching my breath and appreciating how far I’ve run.

And if my brain needs to reset while watching Tom Hiddleston, then so be it.