The Power of Doing Nothing

Now, I don’t mean doing nothing overall – there’s no power in that.

What I’m talking about, are those moments where you are in between things – or you’re in a crowded social situation, you feel uncomfortable so you do what most of us do – you whip out your cell phone and pretend you’re doing something.

It’s okay, you can admit it to me, you’re actually doing nothing – you’re simply preventing yourself from social embarrassment – or you’re killing time.

I started this as a bit of a social experiment, I decided one day – that instead of feeling uncomfortable and trying to avoid this feeling, I would lean into it. I would fight the urge to dive into my cellphone and avert the gaze of anyone around me.

This was not easy at first. But, I slowly got used to it. It definitely lead to a few awkward moments, but more often than that it has lead to some good times. It’s lead to meeting some interesting people, even to friendships, but more than that – to just being in the moment.

In a world where we are so engaged – disengaging feels almost liberating.

Now, get off this website and get back to your life!

Hi, I'm Derrick Persson - I write about mindfulness, productivity, software development and creative writing.