In Praise of Doing Nothing

[sky]

You have your urban farmers, you have your nomad adventurers, you have your side hustlers.

As summer winds down, I would like to recommend the Do Nothing Lifestyle.

When you wake up in the morning, and your calendar says "You have no events on your calendar" and its sunny and cool outside.

Of course there are always things to do, even in the Do Nothing Lifestyle. Such as basic hygiene, a daily walk, making food, cleaning up, basic house maintenance and lawn work. So that covers an hour or two each day. Other than that, sit outside in the garden and enjoy the sunshine, have an ice cream, nap, play the guitar, watch mindless videos, play mindless games.

Simplify your life and free yourself from ambition. Enjoy the day.

[Alphaville]

hear, hear!

i want more slack

[ertyu]

The question breaks down in neat ways for each activity.

What would it mean to exercise without ambition?
What would it mean to garden without ambition?
What would it mean to read without ambition?
What would it mean to watch movies without ambition?

Etcetera.

[Alphaville]

The question breaks down in neat ways for each activity.

What would it mean to exercise without ambition?
What would it mean to garden without ambition?
What would it mean to read without ambition?
What would it mean to watch movies without ambition?

Etcetera.

wu wei?

[ertyu]

More than that I think. So, I am here reading. Why am I interested in this particular book? Why have I picked it up? I guess you could argue that one would inevitably unearth some sort of striving or forcing, but not necessarily.

And let me tell you, when I want to "not force it" with respect to exercise, I do gentle stretches on the couch (youtube has educated me that there is a term for this: yin yoga. So I can feel half-way legit in my laziness now). But to get an actual benefit from exercise, you do have to do some forcing. So, is there a forcing that is "skillful," and if so, what would be the difference between forcing/striving that is skillful and forcing/striving that is not?

Etcetera.

[UK-with-kids]

+1 for doing nothing, or at least as little as possible

For me though I enjoy my very small scale urban farming more than I enjoy playing video games or videos (or lawn work). I've just done an hour or so outside in the autumn sunshine and it feels great for my mental wellbeing.

[tonyedgecombe]

I'm guessing the title is a nod to In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell. It's worth a read.

[Campitor]

My favorite activity in non summer seasons is to wake up and take a walk in the mountains/woods when it's very sunny, cool, and dry. It literally lifts my soul and gives me a deep serenity. It's the best "idleness" in my book.

In the summer it's being at the beach and listening to the waves come in while staring out to the horizon or sitting by a waterfall/river. Too much stock is put into being "busy" when in reality we're just engaging in dopamine hits and not anything of substance.

[2Birds1Stone]

This is one of my favorite things to do, nothing.....of importance at least. It's been nearly a year since I left work, and aside from biking, hiking, running etc, I've done nothing productive/income generating, and feel zero guilt/regret. Simply being, and enjoying the here and now took 30+ years to reach.

[Western Red Cedar]

“The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s so easy to make it complex. What’s important is leading an examined life.”

-Yvon Chouinard

[Campitor]

“The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It’s so easy to make it complex. What’s important is leading an examined life.”

-Yvon Chouinard

+1

Thanks for sharing that.

[BookLoverL]

This sort of lifestyle is how I want to live if I manage to achieve FI.

Doing nothing that I don't want to, organising each day by following my whims, having plenty of time to visit with friends if they ask, if it's sunny then don't have to reschedule anything and can simply go outside and sit under a tree in the park...

That would be the life.

[ertyu]

@BLL: I feel you. The simple freedom means a lot. I am unemployed and quite depressed now, but thank you for bringing this up. Reconnecting with this feeling - cherishing my freedom - is likely to bring me a long way forward.

[BookLoverL]

I try to think back to how I felt when I was younger and it would be the summer holidays from school. There was no homework during the summer, and there was no financial pressure on me since my parents were doing reasonably well. I wasn't made to get a job until my very last summer holiday. Apart from chores I could basically do what I wanted, without thought to "is this profitable later". Whatever thing came into my brain that I was mildly curious about, I would google and spend a day reading about. If the weather caught my eye, I went outside. If I wanted to play guitar I did. If I wanted to stargaze at midnight, I could. If I wanted to try writing something I would, and if I got bored of it I abandoned it half-written. I think everything I've done since my last free summer holiday has been with an overlay of wishing I could go back to that time in some way, except with more friends around because I wasn't very good at social skills back then.

[ertyu]

Agreed. That *would* be the life. good luck getting there as soon as you can

[daylen]

Two perceptions of nothing are as zeroth-order attention and as maximal data-collection mode. In some cases, it may correspond to the minimization of free energy (i.e. surprise) on short and/or long time-scales.

[classical_Liberal]

I think everything I've done since my last free summer holiday has been with an overlay of wishing I could go back to that time in some way

I think, mostly, the constraints to living this life are internal, rather than external.

______________________

In more direct news, I picked up a new release book from the library a few days ago Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee. It's an easy read and, although related to this topic, I can't say I overly recommend it to this crowd. I don't think the average ERE'er will get much from it, but it would only take a couple/few hours to read, and it may be useful as a gift to close friends or family who want to understand why we praise idleness.

[unemployable]

Jeez, if doing nothing is praiseworthy, I'm Mother Theresa.

[Campitor]

Jeez, if doing nothing is praiseworthy, I'm Mother Theresa.

Idleness gained via effort, reflection, and intention is praiseworthy. You can rest knowing you are aspiring to resiliency, self sufficiency, and self discovery and contemplation.

Idleness gained by sloth induced dependency is worthy of no praise. Not an accusation against anyone on this forum - just adding context.

[stand@desk]

Restlessness could eventually set in. People also need to be stressed to survive longer. The do nothing lifestyle could quickly become go on twitter and youtube and watch the news 6-12 hours a day. The thing is you can enjoy the do nothing lifestyle for a while, then circumstances or tastes change and then you do something different and that leads to something different after that etc. We are always changing.