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After a full day of running around chasing deadlines, people and keeping up with endless appointments, you finally get home. Then the joy begins. You sit on the couch, finish an intense session of scrolling through TikTok, and now you’re in that sweet spot of nothingness. It’s too early to take a nap, but you don’t have the energy to do anything else. You don’t need to do anything else. This is the moment when you truly understand the beauty of doing nothing. It’s a life choice. A power move.

In our society, we’re constantly bombarded with messages about how we should be doing more, achieving more, being more. Eventually, you reach a point where your body just says, “Nope, not today.� And that’s when you find yourself, lying in bed, binge-watching Netflix, and feeling like a genius or sloth. “I’m resting,� you tell yourself. “This is self-care.� And the best part? There’s no guilt. Well, maybe a little guilt, but only when you realize you’ve spent 12 hours watching true crime documentaries and haven’t even considered doing the dishes.

But here’s where it gets really good: doing nothing isn’t just a form of relaxation, it’s an art form. You can master the fine art of sitting perfectly still and convincing yourself that you’re being incredibly productive in the process. Have you ever just stared out the window for an hour? Now that is a masterpiece of leisure. Birds? You’ve seen them. Trees? Oh yes, absolutely. But the best part? You’re not thinking about anything at all. And in that silence, you realize-this is the secret to life.

Some might argue that I’m just procrastinating, avoiding the laundry, or putting off that grocery run I definitely should have done two days ago. And to that, I say: probably. But that’s the beauty of doing nothing� there’s no schedule, no list of tasks, no clock ticking in the background. It’s pure freedom. Time is on pause, and the universe has granted you the divine right to simply…be.

And what about naps? For me it’s just an extended session of closing my eyes and pretending to sleep. I don’t fall asleep, I just lay there. Maybe I drift off for a few minutes, but mainly, just enjoying the sensation of your body sinking into the couch while your mind floats aimlessly through the void. No one can interrupt. You’re a sovereign of your own peaceful, slightly awkward nothingness.

What happens when the guilt creeps in? And boy does it creep in. The part of your brain that whispers, “You should be doing something right now. You could be working out. You could be getting ahead on that project. You could worry about something, anything. You could, you know, be productive.� To that, I say, “Shhh, little voice.� The art of doing nothing isn’t a choice-it’s a lifestyle. And sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is absolutely nothing at all. Seinfeld knew it when he created a show about nothing.

So, to all the ambitious overachievers out there-those who’ve mastered the art of running around and ticking off every item on their to-do list, their children’s to-do list, and their friend’s to-do list -I say this: try doing nothing for once. It might change your life. Or at the very least, it’ll give you the perfect excuse to ignore the dishes for just one more hour.

Because in the end, there’s no such thing as wasted time when you’re fully enjoying the sweet, blissful joy of doing absolutely nothing. And trust me, at my age, I’m doing it better than anyone.