This Is An Article About Nothing…

At each turn you make, there is a blaring message that is directly telling you how essential it is to achieve. Be it at work, school or climbing the social ladder, there is always something pinned that ought to be done.

These most certainly have made our plates full— so full that it is sometimes nearly impossible to see this metaphorical plate. The thing is, we all have something going on in our individual lives that takes up the entirety of the 24 hours we have in a day. That notwithstanding, there come those rare days where you wake up and feel like doing absolutely nothing.

And by absolutely nothing, we mean not getting any ‘productive work’ done. You just wish to live in that state of nothingness where you feel there is nothing to be done. Where there is no account to be balanced, no students to teach, no groceries to pick, no meals to prepare but just staying idle, whiling time away.

You will have yourself believe that in a fast-pacing world as we live in, where messages are responded to instantly with active internet, varied social media and streaming platforms coupled with tons of books to read, you will get hooked to any one of these when those days show their unwelcoming faces. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.

And this is because, all our lives, we have equated success to activeness. We have succeeded in eliminating the idea that, there are times for action and there are times when you need to give yourself a deserving rest. Truth be told, it is understandable— life comes with responsibilities with a  continuous ring of doubts. What if life passes you by while you stay doing nothing? What if all your dreams and aspirations move past you like a ghost? What if nothing happens while you do nothing?

In the end, the back and forth play of these leaves us surrendering and getting back to whatever needed our utmost attention anyways. But as adults, as we are, we can weather through such days. We can engage in conversations, we can escape with a movie or two while we work or perhaps, tell a white lie to our superiors to have our way. This begs the question of how children live through such days— what do they do?

You see, there is this underlying myth that doing nothing means you are wasting the limited time you have at your disposal. And today’s multi-tasking world where there is a strong expectation for children to do more and faster, children seem to experience the same time crunch as parents.

We have become a society that has talked ourselves into believing every moment should count so most parents end up filling their children up like they will do an empty vessel, with no malice intended of course.

It may start with ballet lessons, once or twice a week. By the time the child gets to grade 3 or 4, they are already taking art lessons, music class, gymnastics, robotics, and soccer. This child will still manage to squeeze in time to complete and submit his homework before the deadline while tackling project works on the side.

That is not to say that allowing children engage in such activities will be detrimental. Busy parents depend on these extra-curriculum activities to keep their children safe. These activities additionally foster confidence in children among others.

What we are trying to point out is that children just like adults have their plates full and are likely to wake up with an edge not to do anything. Luckily for adults, as mentioned previously, there is always a way out but children, unfortunately, do not have that luxury. They have no other option than to obey the routine, come to school, unwillingly sit through class, and grasp and understand what the teacher has to say until the day comes to an end.

If that is the reality, can we all agree that we need to recharge our batteries and assume that those days are just reminders that, we should pause on everything we are doing and have our batteries charge to their brim? Without having to feel guilty or useless?

After all, this is an article about nothing and you don’t feel guilty or useless— do you?