The Beauty of Doing Nothing

The day has arrived - I am on vacation and have 9 glorious days off.

In anticipation of this time-off, I sat down 2 weeks ago and made a list of things I wanted to accomplish during these 9 days. As some of you know, I love making lists. So I scheduled my tasks...they included everything from cleaning my carpets to taking my recycling to the depot to booking a massage to lunch with friends to painting my bedroom and much more.

However, I was absolutely dismayed when I saw how fast my precious 9 days filled up with errands, to-do's and obligations. As much as I love lists, this list left me unsettled.

That same day, I started reading Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love". The author spends 4 months in Italy where she discovers the Italian phrase "il bel far niente" which translates to "the beauty of doing nothing." This phrase hit me like a...I want to say "a bolt of lightning or ton of bricks" but it seems rather cliche. Regardless, the idea of doing nothing shook me to my very being.

Now, I can procrastinate with the best of them and accomplish nothing but that is not the same thing as "doing nothing". If I am procrastinating or not doing anything, I can become overwhelmed with guilt. We live in a world where what you do defines you. So, if I do nothing, am I nothing? Doing nothing would be challenging for me because I like to accomplish things. I like to check things off my list. The busyness energizes me.

After contemplating this idea for awhile, I realized to truly enjoy "the beauty of doing nothing", it boils down to your intent and pleasure derived from it. In light of this revelation, I re-visited my list of things to do. I decided that I would only do things that will bring me pleasure for my time-off. I do want to return to work somewhat rested. So, I took some things off the list and re-organized some other things. I now have 3 days where I have no plans...oh, I can't wait to do nothing intentionally. Perhaps I will go to Banff and do nothing up there...or walk to a coffee shop and doing nothing there for a couple of hours...or sit and listen to the silence for a while.

I have a sneaky suspicion this may be easier said than done but perhaps this is a lesson I need to learn.