{"id":119470,"date":"2021-04-14T09:10:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T13:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=119470"},"modified":"2021-04-14T09:10:59","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T13:10:59","slug":"in-defense-of-doing-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/in-defense-of-doing-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Doing Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you always doing something? Always working, studying, reading, writing, clicking, typing, teaching, meeting, Zooming, cooking, cleaning, washing, wiping, folding, planning, prepping or just plain worrying?<\/p>\n

I know I am. And it was time to do nothing about it!<\/p>\n

So I took a day off. I wasn\u2019t going on vacation. I didn\u2019t have a doctor\u2019s appointment or need to care for a sick child. And I wasn\u2019t taking my car in for service.<\/p>\n

I had no to-do list. No home repair to tackle. Nothing.<\/p>\n

I was a stick on a river called Nothing and I let it take me for a ride.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I just took a day off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Film fans may recognize that line from Office Space<\/em>. In the dark comedy, the main character, Peter, is asked what he would do if he had a million dollars. He says he would do nothing \u2014 and soon after, he does exactly that. A whole day of nothing. Doesn\u2019t it sound grand?<\/p>\n

Doing nothing, so to speak, is still doing something<\/em>, just as avoiding a decision is still a decision. But on my day off \u2014 on Nothing Day \u2014 I had nothing planned, and it was everything I needed to reset and reenergize.<\/p>\n

So, yes, I did do something on Nothing Day. But I did it all on my time, without any distractions. Even household chores felt relaxing without the constraints of a schedule or clingy children. I washed a load of towels, vacuumed the house and happily put away a basket of folded laundry that had been perched on the dining room table for days, silently taunting me every time I passed by. (I see you, baby clothes! And I will put you away whenever I feel like it! You\u2019re not the boss of me!)<\/em><\/p>\n

I got takeout from a new spot. Played with our pups in the backyard. And soaked up an audiobook uninterrupted.<\/p>\n

I also listened to big band jazz as I leisurely prepared dinner, a refreshing change from the hastily thrown-together meals I concoct on most evenings. And I successfully took a short nap, which, for my anxious mind, is quite a feat.<\/p>\n

I was a stick on a river called Nothing and I let it take me for a ride.<\/p>\n

Between kids and work and chores and more, there\u2019s always some to-do list lingering and lurking in the back of my brain.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget dog food. Need a new rug. Mail that birthday card. Call a plumber. Update the sprinkler timer. Buy more toddler socks. Try to decipher the size charts to transition from toddler socks to children\u2019s socks. Ponder the great expanse of the universe and assume it\u2019s where all the toddler socks go.<\/p>\n

But not today. Not on Nothing Day.<\/p>\n

In a sense, it took a pandemic for me to take a day for myself. With my COVID-19 vaccination the day before, I requested this otherwise random Tuesday off in case my side effects were difficult to work around.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, other than a tender arm, I felt a lot like I normally do \u2014 tired, sore and a bit run-down. You know, like a working mom with two young kids. Like most people these days. Like you, perhaps?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny to think about, but I actually had to make a plan to do nothing. I used to do nothing on a regular basis. Nothing and I were good friends. But this was back when email was exciting not exhausting and shopping resembled a saunter rather than Supermarket Sweep<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These days, it seems there\u2019s always something<\/em> and no time for nothing. We fill every bit of free time, every moment of silence with scrolling and swiping and streaming on a variety of glowing screens.<\/p>\n

But if all the somethings are leaving you with nothing, it\u2019s time to unplan, unplug and unwind, just for a bit.<\/p>\n

I recognize there are different jobs, different life situations and even different personalities that make it easier or more difficult to enjoy a Nothing Day. But I hope that no matter who you are and what you do for a living, you can find time to pause, take a deep breath and take a day or an hour or just a few minutes away from your worries to do a whole lot of nothing.<\/p>\n

Take a walk. Take a nap. Take the long way home. Just take a break! Turn nothing into something. You deserve it.<\/p>\n

Bree Watson \u201904<\/em><\/strong> is senior copywriter with 麻豆原创\u2019s Communications and Marketing team. She can be reached at bree@ucf.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0麻豆原创 Forum<\/strong>\u00a0is a weekly series of opinion columns from faculty, staff and students who serve on a panel for a year. A new column is posted each Wednesday on <\/em>麻豆原创 Today<\/em><\/a> and then broadcast on W麻豆原创-FM (89.9) between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday. Opinions expressed are those of the columnists, and are not necessarily shared by the 麻豆原创.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A day without plans or obligations was everything I needed to rest and reset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":119476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6,21],"tags":[36336,7882],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-119470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-opinions","tag-bree-watson","tag-ucf-forum"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Defense of Doing Nothing | 麻豆原创 News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A day without plans or obligations was everything I needed to rest and reset.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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