For many, the summer break conjures images of lazy days on the beach. But for one writer, the reality is a recurring nightmare of digging a hole against a rising tide, symbolising the endless cycle of tasks that never seem to diminish. Despite working 50 to 70 hours a week and accruing seven weeks of leave, the idea of doing nothing remains elusive.
This constant busyness is not unique. Australians work among the longest hours in the developed world, often doing up to two months of unpaid overtime. Yet productivity has slowed over the past 50 years and plummeted since the 1990s, suggesting that more work does not equate to more output.
The pressure to fill every moment with activity leads to guilt when taking time off. Even Guardian columnist Adrian Chiles reportedly spent 7,300 hours lazing in bed, but such downtime is often viewed as wasted compared to commuting or long meetings.
However, doing nothing can prevent burnout and refresh the mind, body and spirit, much like sleep. Religious figures from sages to monks have withdrawn from the world to find enlightenment through stillness. Yet, like meditation, doing nothing requires effort to quiet the rush of thoughts and to-do lists.
The key may lie in achieving a state of flow, as described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, where one loses sense of time and self in the moment, leading to joy and fulfilment. Perhaps the answer is not trying so hard to relax, but simply allowing oneself to do nothing.
This summer, the writer plans to embrace the word 'nothing' when asked what they are up to, aiming to truly mean it.
