Nothing is as nothing does
The constant battle between resting and being productive
I’ve been trying to reflect on doing nothing. Which is quite hard. How do you form thoughts around the literal absence of something? I don’t want to end up getting too meta about it. Or go off on a tangent. But I can’t promise anything.
Sometimes you need to do nothing. Especially when you want to be creative. You must allow yourself the time for inspiration to arrive. You can’t always be in a state of constant flow and produce your best work. But when you wish you weren’t doing ‘nothing’ there’s no feeling worse. I’ll be sitting at my laptop, fingers hovering over my keyboard waiting for something to come. Other times I’ll be gripping a pen tightly between my fingers praying the words find me. It’s a fork in the road. You have to decide whether to push through or admit defeat in the face of “nothing”.
Elizabeth Gilbert says to never give up. I read Big Magic a couple of months ago and practically didn’t come up for air. I was overwhelmed by her wisdom on how to cultivate a creative life and in awe of her approach when it comes to channelling inspiration. Three hundred pages of galvanising encouragement.
“Keep working steadily and trust that creativity is always trying to find you even when you have lost sight of it.”
“When feeling sluggish and useless and as though your creativity is hiding from you, dress for your creativity. Seduce the big magic and it will always come back to you.”
When I’ve spent too long doing nothing, or I struggle to get going, I try to adopt some of Elizabeth’s unwavering positivity on believing that creativity will always come back to you. To make it clear to the ‘big magic’ out there that I am here and ready to accept.
My biggest problem is that when I’m doing nothing, I’m not really doing nothing. I’m on my phone, reading, writing, or trying to sneakily be productive and multitask alongside my nothing. Which means I’m never really switching off. I’m not resting. I’m not unwinding. So I end up in a cycle of getting small bursts of energy when it comes to writing or general productivity that dips not long after. This all compounds to make me feel like I can’t do it and that I shouldn’t be spending so much of my time doing nothing. When in reality, I’m half-arsing my nothingness. I think admitting you need some time or rest is still hard. It’s something shameful. You’re just plain old lazy!
's new book The Success Myth looks at our obsessive nature when it comes to the concept of achievement and explores how to break free from its clutches. I love the idea of dismantling what success looks like and rebuilding it from the ground up with healthier boundaries and more realistic principles. I think we can start by chucking the trope of being a woman who “can have it all” out the window. It’s basically synonymous with “you must do it all” which is not only impossible but a lie. I tend to bite off more than I can chew. I schedule too many tasks and don’t give myself enough time to complete things. My need for rest then comes a-calling sooner than it should because I’ve taken on too much.It’s important to take things slow when you need to and actually lean into rest and nothingness. It provides the balance you need to reach your goals and be consistently really great at what you do. Taking inspiration from Emma, I’m going to try and work on breaking down the myths that surround what it means to be doing nothing. Indulging in switching off, resetting and putting my phone away.