When you really think about it, what's so terrible about doing nothing? And I mean really, positively, doing nothing at all.
Sometimes we get so caught up in keeping ourselves busy that we don't take the time to slow down. We all need to slow down. Society moves so quickly and constantly pushes you to "do more" and "be better." But who says constantly "doing more" is "being better." Do people ever really take the time to decompress and make themselves better? You may have started thinking about things like this. Slowing down. Taking a day off. Maybe even doing nothing at all. What does that even mean, though? Does it mean sitting on the ground and staring at a wall? Not necessarily, unless that's what floats your boat. Do you have a tv series you need to catch up on but have been too busy to even think about doing something so trivial and pointless? Or, maybe you have a booking sitting on the shelf you've hypothetically been wanting to read for 2 years now. It's really up to you what "doing nothing and enjoying it" means. But you need to do it, I can promise you that.
Okay, so you've decided what sort of nothingness you want to do. But how do you actually enjoy this and keep those guilty thoughts of "laziness" out of your head? Let me give you a few pointers.
This may sound silly or just plain stupid, but tell yourself (in your head or out-loud), "i deserve this. I need this." You may not think so, but dedicated time of doing nothing is just as important as that list of responsibilities you have. It's sort of a luxury taking the time to not think about stressful things. If you have to think about it this way, how are you supposed to be functioning at your best to complete those responsibilities if you never take time to relax? You'll end up burning yourself out, which can create a serious setback on that important list of things to do.
Just to clarify, I'm not saying to become a lazy person and never put in effort. Being a lazy person is never a good trait to have. But a good trait is to be someone who is balanced to their core. Being selfish every once in a while and even sitting around doing nothing can be beneficial to your mental health and daily functioning. You don't want to waste precious time, but if you have any extra time at all, at least give some of that time to yourself. I doubt you'll regret it.
The main reason people tend to have a hard time enjoying doing nothing is because they think they should be doing something else. Anything else. That may be true if people actually have things to get done. But even if they have nothing they need to do they still can't enjoy that downtime. How sad is that? This is maybe one of the few times you don't have anything you need to do but you can't just relax without feeling guilty. It's time for that to stop! Imagine wasting one of the few times without any responsibilities to just think about how you could be doing something more "productive." I promise you, nothing will blow up because you actually enjoyed your day off. It's really that simple to enjoy doing nothing. You don't need to plan and you don't need to overthink it. In fact, another tip is to underthink it.
So, next time you have a free day, or even just a free half-day, do nothing and enjoy it. Really take in the nothingness and dive into it's purity. You may just find yourself refreshed and ready to take on the crazy day you have tomorrow or the awful week lying ahead. Don't let that annoying brain of yours keep you from not thinking about anything.
