There is no such thing as doing nothing.....?

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I was ill with Covid and prostrate in bed for days, unable to do anything.

Not good for anyone, but especially not for my ADHD brain.

Confinement and physical restriction, for a restless hyper-achiever, is a bit of disaster.

Or was it?

One hand, I was frustrated (having been born to this world with an innate and over-powering sense of urgency). On the other, it had taken me to be flattened by illness, to lie around and do absolutely nothing. I believe, this is called – relaxing.

My partner is expert at it.

His brain (so he tells me) has an Off Switch. Imagine that!!!

My frustration stemmed from having a Plan and Goals that had been completely scuppered.

I am an effective planner and (SMART) goal setter. This forms the scaffold of my life. Like many ADHDers, I have an interest-based nervous system, not one based on importance, so this is something I need to keep well in check.

I had a publishing deadline, two social events, a course, a webinar, business admin and coaching sessions, all mapped out (on a Gantt Chart, of course)….

To me, that isn’t a lot of stuff, but apparently, this was quite ambitious.

Where am I going with all this?

It put me in a situation, where I was forced to do something else. Something that I was not prepared for, not wired to do, but I did it and, found value in it.

That’s right. Value in doing, Nothing.

But there is moderation, of course.

In my last coaching session, my client described how they felt guilty about their inertia. They were spending too much time ‘doing nothing’, whilst a whole pile of stuff that needed her attention, grew bigger. I asked for her definition of Nothing.

Nothing, equated to sorting out her sewing stuff, playing games and scrolling around on LinkedIn ( job hunting). She felt she had squandered hours doing this, instead of vacuuming, putting the washing on etc.

What were you thinking about, when you were doing these things, I asked.

It transpired, that in her head, she had devised a social event concept for crafters, had gained a firm understanding of her market place and latest developments and then had some fun, playing a ‘mindless’ game for an hour or so.

She had in fact, rewarded herself with some leisure time, for having created something innovative as well as reading/absorbing information that was educational. Definitely something – not Nothing!

So it depends on your definition of Nothing and what else it is, you are supposed to be doing – or rather, what you think you should be doing.

I stopped feeling frustrated when I accepted that being stuck in bed, or on the sofa, didn’t mean I was doing Nothing – it would be merely, doing something else.

Since my brain doesn’t shut up – I would definitely be fully occupied one way or another, whether I liked it or not – just not, on what my heart was set on.

I did lots of thinking. I embraced the concept of Relaxation. I had completely overlooked the fact that from relaxation comes recuperation. I was so focused on what I couldn’t do, I had neglected my body and had excluded getting better as – something.

From this time doing, Nothing, I refined and improved my approach to two major goals. I also became reacquainted with respecting my body and treating myself with care. Slowing down and reflecting, was a beneficial exercise.

So the next time you do Nothing all day, don’t be so hard on yourself, because it’s likely you aren’t.