Serenity in Stasis
I embraced doing nothing, staying still for the first time last year, during a two week vacation in southwest of Turkey. I would sit & relax under the sun, next to the pool or beach. Let my thoughts wander, just observe them as they come and go.
I think one of the underestimated or unnoticed side-effects of being an engineer is trying to optimize everything in life. A lot of times, for years, I have been asking the questions to myself:
- How can I be more efficient in my daily life?
- I need to walk for 15 mins to the station or this is a 40 minute drive, which podcast should I listen to in order to make the most of this otherwise useless time?
- Oh, this task will take some time to complete. Can I do something else while waiting?
And so on.
But this got only worse in time, to the point whenever I am free for even 30 seconds, I will reach out to my phone to check my mails, respond to people, try to strike-through some kind of a task. I'm sure I'm not alone.
Absolute Stillness
I embraced doing nothing, staying still for the first time last year, during a two week vacation in southwest of Turkey.
I would sit & relax under the sun, next to the pool or beach. Let my thoughts wander, just observe them as they come and go. I didn't read a single page of book and I repeated myself:
It's OK that I'm spending time doing nothing. There is nothing wrong with it. I will let my body relax, pyhsically and mentally.
The result was incredible. I don't think I have ever felt that relaxed for a very long time. Since then, I have been practicing this randomly in life. I try to do nothing and stand or sit still, and purposefully try to get bored.
Don't read anything when traveling on the Tube.
Listen to nothing when driving.
Observe the environment when waiting for someone.
It is boring, but getting bored worked wonders for me to stay in the moment and ironically, has increased my focus, hence productivity.
Boredom is underrated.