I fail at doing nothing

I'm not very good at doing nothing.  I'm on Spring Break right now, and a week ago, whenever anyone asked me what my plans were for Spring Break, I emphatically and happily replied, "Nothing!"  March was a busy month packed full of activities and plans, so I was very excited to have a whole week to myself of just doing nothing.

But it's Wednesday now, and I have yet to have a day of "nothing."  I started Spring Break with an 11.5 mile long run on Saturday morning.  Then I walked through Discovery Park with Lucy and some other human and canine friends.

A beautiful day, for humans and canines alike.

I then spent the evening celebrating the start of Spring Break with just the human friends.  Sunday, I woke up intending to sprawl on the couch for a few hours, but the day was just too beautiful.  I walked Lucy.  I went for a recovery run.  I had some quality FaceTime time with my sister.  I found every excuse possible to be outside in the gorgeous weather.

Monday, I woke up with an hour long yoga session.  Then an hour long Lucy walk.  Then I took a solo trip to the zoo and wandered around for over 2 hours.  And I followed it all up with some happy hour time with Erica.

Got my first view of sleepy mama with 4 sleepy lion cubs!

And then yesterday was the busiest day yet including two doctors appointments, another longish Lucy walk, helping a friend move, cleaning my car, replacing my chipped and cracked front door mat (more work than it sounds), and then a very hilly and difficult run with Team, rounded out with drinks/watching the Sounders lose again with some Teammates.

Today I woke up intending to do nothing.  Really.  But instead, I walked Lucy, went for a sore-legged run, went grocery shopping, did laundry, sorted through the massive stack of mail that has been piling up since before Christmas, and finally put up some wall hanging things that have been on the to-do list since I got them for Christmas.

I put a bird on it.

My list of to-do's for the rest of the week is still pretty long.  I have several hours of prep work/grading to do for the first graders.  I need to vacuum my car now that I have some quarters.  I want to do some deeper spring cleaning on the apartment.  And I need to go dress shopping for my little brother's mid-May wedding.

In fact, that list looks really daunting with only 2 days left in the week and a plans-filled weekend ahead of me.  It seems like my Spring Break priority of "doing nothing" fell to the bottom of the to-do list.

I wasn't always like this.  I used to be really good a doing nothing.  In fact, I used to be able to do nothing all day long.  Sometimes for multiple days in a row.  I used to be a pro at doing nothing.  But not anymore.  I think my constant go-go-go schedule has rendered me incapable of doing nothing.

But I'm a wholehearted believer in the fact that doing nothing can sometimes be just what is required and necessary.  I believe that we busy-bodies, who continually move from one task to another, one activity to the next, and one crossed-off item on the endless to-do list to the next item, I believe we miss out on something.

There's a peaceful calm associated with doing nothing.  A calming of the body and the mind.  There's an internal serenity that can only be reached by simply being still sometimes.  And I'm not talking about meditatively still.  Just allowing yourself for a few hours to feel the peacefulness of forgetting the burdensome to-do list.  For me, doing nothing means sitting with a cup of coffee or tea and becoming absorbed in a good book for a few hours.  Or curling up on the couch with Lucy and watching a sappy movie or marathon of TV shows.  Doing nothing is forgetting everything.  Becoming immersed in somebody else's fictional life for a little while.  Forgetting Facebook and email and communication of any kind in our overly communicative world.  Doing nothing is not thinking.

And I think I need at least a day of doing nothing, since I obviously can't manage to give myself the week of nothing I'd intended.  So tomorrow, which is supposed to be not-so-nice weather here in Seattle, I have 2 concrete things on my schedule: a run and a lunchtime walk with Lucy and Cristin.  The rest of the day, I am going to try my best to make it a priority to do nothing.  To read until I inevitably take an unintentional nap.  To watch some endless mindless hours of movies.  To bond with my couch.

I'm moving myself to the top of the to-do list.  Everything else can wait for just a little while.  Wish me luck that I can actually manage it.