“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott

Around 6:30pm I walked through the door, kicked off my shoes, threw my jacket and Lululemon waist pack across the room in dramatic MJ-performance fashion, and did the only respectable thing one can do after a fully booked day that started at 5:45am:
I plopped onto the couch and reached for the remote using nothing but spatial intuition and sheer willpower.

And of course, as if on cue, I got the ping.
My custom notification for a good friend… the same friend I’d made dinner plans with for that night. Plans we’d set a week ago. Plans I’d completely forgotten about.

My body was begging to slow down, recharge, and just exist.
But the moment that ping hit, my energy shifted: agitation, a deep breath like I was about to summit Everest, and a hurried snatch of the phone. It was obvious I wasn’t in the right head space to go out…
And yet I replied:

“Hi! Yes, I’ll be there. Can’t wait to catch up! :)”

And that was the start of a long night I barely remember—paired with the very familiar inner battle of, Why didn’t I just say what I needed?
Time to do absolutely nothing.

The “Should” Spiral

Looking back, I can still hear the chorus of shoulds that flooded my mind:

• “I should go because we planned this.”
• “I should go because I don’t want her to think I’m flaking.”
• “I should go because I’ve powered through before.”

Reasonable? Sure.
But the deeper truth is this:

It was easier to should myself into going than to sit with the guilt and anxiety that came with telling the truth.

I was so busy worrying about how my friend might feel that I completely overrode how I was feeling. And honestly?
It shocked me how natural, almost effortless, it was to put my needs to the side to avoid a discomfort that hadn’t even happened yet.

My friend is lovely. I know she would’ve understood.
But guilt is loud. And for many of us, guilt wins.

Where This Comes From

I grew up believing rest should be minimal and only taken when absolutely necessary. Productivity was praised; stillness was suspicious. Rest and achievement weren’t treated as partners—they were treated as opposites.

Which meant I internalized this:

Rest is something you earn.
And only in small doses.

No wonder my nervous system treats “doing nothing” like a moral crime.

We live in a culture that worships performance.
Push through it.
Grind now, rest later.
Tired is a badge of honor.

And sure—there are positive feelings that come with it: accomplishment, security, pride.
But have we ever paused long enough to ask:

What good comes from allowing moments of doing absolutely nothing?
What if rest isn’t the enemy of productivity… but the prerequisite?

Stillness gives your brain space to reconnect with meaning.
Presence.
Self-awareness.
Truth.

So I’m not here to hijack your goals.
I’m here to show you why doing nothing can actually help you reach them.

Why Doing Nothing Helps You More Than You Think

1. It gives you clarity, purpose, and meaning

When you stop long enough to let your mind wander, your deeper questions finally surface.
Your inner world gets a chance to breathe.

There’s a Harvard study on boredom that shows this exact thing: when we’re not overstimulated, our brain naturally drifts into creativity, meaning-making, long-term thinking—basically everything that makes you wiser and more grounded.

Doing nothing is how your purpose taps you on the shoulder.

2. You make better decisions

Remember my lightning-fast “Yes, I’ll be there!” text?
That was survival-mode decision-making.
Fast, reactive, fear-based.

Had I slowed down, even for ten seconds, I could’ve asked:
What do I need? What’s true for me right now?

When you pause, you create room for right decisions instead of rushed ones.
Fewer regrets.
Fewer “why did I do that?” moments.
More alignment.

3. You become less reactive and more intentional

Many of us sprint through life like we’re putting out fires on a moving train.

Stillness creates a tiny but powerful pause between what happens and how you handle it.
That pause is where wisdom lives.

Reactions lead to:

• overworking
• overexplaining
• overthinking

Responses lead to:

• better follow-through
• aligned priorities
• sustainable energy

4. You stop wasting energy on the wrong things

When you’re constantly doing, it’s easy to operate from habit, fear, or pressure.

That’s when you wake up asking:
“WTH just happened?”
“How did I get myself into this?”
“Why do I keep repeating this pattern?”

When your actions aren’t aligned, you fast-track yourself to burnout and emotional depletion.
Stillness helps you recalibrate toward what truly matters—your ROI on time and energy skyrockets.

5. You strengthen your intuition

When you hop from one thing to the next, your inner voice gets drowned out by noise—people, social media, the world, and yes, even AI.

But when you create space for nothingness?
Your intuition gets louder.
Your desires become clearer.
Your boundaries sharpen.
Red flags become almost laughably obvious.

Stillness strengthens discernment.

6. You get back your emotional bandwidth

Your nervous system is always communicating with you.
Pleasant, neutral, unpleasant—it’s a built-in compass.

But when you’re always doing, your body slides into fight-or-flight without you even realizing it.
Too much of that leads to emotional clutter, miscommunication, irritability, and mental fog.

Doing nothing calms your system.
You communicate better.
You feel grounded.
You lead yourself with clarity.

7. You build a life that supports you instead of drains you

Nothingness can be uncomfortable because it forces us to face the real stuff—the misaligned commitments, the draining relationships, the routines that have expired.

But stillness helps you see what needs to:

• enter
• be maintained
• or leave

You get to reclaim space for what moves you forward meaningfully.

There’s a subtle power in doing nothing. It’s the space where you meet yourself fully, where clarity rises, and where the noise finally fades enough for you to hear what truly matters. The choice to pause, to slow down, to do nothing, is a choice to invest in yourself and your life in a way that actually makes everything else easier, more joyful, and more effective.

Start small. Start now. And let yourself notice how life responds when you finally give yourself room to just be.

Written by: Grace Alexis

Timestamp: 8:00am PST