I often find myself feeling a bit unsettled in moments where I’m doing nothing. It’s nice to do nothing but I then start to feel like I should be doing something. Does anyone else on Micro.blog have this same kind of restless Western brain?

@martinfeld I am feeling like this right now. I officially should lay around all day and rest. And I should be happy to have the time to finally do nothing for once. But I feel guilty to just do nothing... feels like wasting time.

@martinfeld my wife is like that. But I enjoy idling my mind. I grew up with lots of unstructured "play" time.

@martinfeld I certainly do. Somewhat similar: after putting in months of huge extra efforts at work I’d end up thinking “man, I gotta slow down for a few weeks to recover”. Followed about two days later by “man, I’m bored, I gotta start pushing again”.

@martinfeld Yup. It especially afflicts me on Sundays for some reason.

@hutaffe That idea of wasting time is very interesting—that’s really the basis. It's strange that we think this when we really do have to stop sometimes to gear up for the next thing.

@jasonekratz We're on the same page then! What do you do to move past it?

@khurtwilliams It's funny how that works! My wife is also the opposite to me. Do you think that it works well, having one who's a bit antsy and the other who's quite relaxed?

@ronguest Yeah like everything, it seems like the key is moderation. Balance is hard to achieve though, particularly when we have devices going off all the time and constant stimulus.

@martinfeld I guess it works. At least until her restlessness makes her focus her attentions on me when I’m in the “act” of doing nothing. 🤪

@Miraz That's really interesting! From the photos that you post, it seems like you live in quite a calm, relaxed location. What is it about Sundays that gets to you specifically?

@khurtwilliams Haha yes! The whole 'So, you're really just happy sitting there doing nothing?' thing!

@Miraz Right, I understand what you mean. It's nice to look back at the day and tick off something from the list that needed to be done. Achievement! Perhaps that sort of thing just needs to be of a leisurely nature sometimes though.

@martinfeld Yes. I usually end up creating a list of things I need to do. I don't do nothing well. At parks I end up picking up trash, in waiting areas I stack the magazines, in long business meeting I have to have a notbook to write anything in, etc.

@martinfeld It’s not so much a looming ToDo list. Perhaps it’s more of a personal worth thing. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I dunno…

@MrGibber It's nice of you to pick up rubbish! That's a good use of your time and it is helpful to others and the environment.

@jasonekratz The monetary motivation is interesting! How long do you meditate for?

@Miraz Whatever the cause, it's good to be aware of it and set time aside for yourself. 😊

@martinfeld This feeling is very common for me too. Doing nothing should be relaxing, but it rarely is. Guilt over "wasting" time when there are so many "better" things to do is indeed unsettling.

@amit After the various responses that I’ve received, including yours, it sounds we all need to learn to relax without guilt! I’m obviously not the only one.