A ‘Do Nothing Day’

How often do you allow yourself to do nothing?

When you’re ill? Or just worn out? Or do you push yourself to keep going?

I’ve always been terrible at doing nothing. I think part of it is anxiety – that constant need to be busy so that I don’t have to listen to it. Even when I’ve been ill, I will push and push myself to keep on going. Learning the hard way that constant busyness just makes me feel worse.

The past couple of weeks the girls and I have been ill, a bug followed by a cold, and while I slowed down I didn’t stop. Then this week I’m still not feeling 100% {as well as having a tough time with my mental health right now}, plus both boys have come down with a bug.

They’ve just not been well enough to do anything, and by mid-week, I was done. My mood was really low, and a trip to a home ed group showed I needed some downtime to clear my head. When we woke up on Wednesday to a sick Oren after a restless night, I knew that we just needed to do nothing.

So, we grabbed some drinks, lots of blankets and we all cosied up in the living room. We binge-watched all six episodes of ‘Our Zoo’ and that was our day. Asides from getting drinks and snacks, I did nothing all day. No work. No housework. Nothing.

Honestly, a do-nothing day did wonders. It was bliss for me to shirk off responsibilities {well most of them} for the day. To forget about my to-do lists, forget about all the shoulds and musts, and just be.

While none of us is still feeling 100% physically, and I’m not mentally/emotionally on top of the world, I do feel calmer, my mind clearer. It gave me space to work through some things in my head, to sort my thoughts and feelings out and to make some decisions.

We’ll be planning in ‘do nothing days’ more often – even when we’re not sick. We live life at 100mph, so giving ourselves permission to stop and slow down, even for a day. It’s a good reminder that we don’t have to be productive all the time, that not every day needs to be a day of achieving or ticking of to-do lists. Rest is just as important.

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