Alice Catherine

I’m pretty sure we all fall victim to the guilt of doing nothing sometimes. We are often flooded with a feeling of not seizing the opportunity that awaits us when we commence our duvet and Netflix day. Especially when it’s a sunny day but you’d rather stay inside and hibernate than be outside in the fresh air where there’s people. I have never felt this guilt more than when I started my freelancing adventure, a day doing nothing often feels like a day completely wasted. This is because I’m constantly side eyeing my To-Do list, and I’m aware that ultimately, there’s always something more productive I could be doing other than getting stuck into my Ryan Gosling colouring book…

It might sound like a sad state of affairs, but I’m here to remind you that sometimes doing nothing is a success too. We all need time to recharge our brain power and return to the real world feeling refreshed. Don’t feel guilty if you want to prune in the bath and watch trashy TV for a few hours – often when we are craving an activity of this nature it means our brain just well and truly needs a break.

We all get caught up in the fast paced routine of modern life, and sometimes it becomes overwhelming. We often associate doing nothing with being irresponsible adults, or wasting our lives away…

This shouldn’t be the case, we are all entitled to do a little more of what we love, and a little less of what makes us feel drained. It’s also important to note that doing nothing and being bored are quite different – my idea of ‘doing nothing’ has more to do with having a day or two to myself. Whether that’s catching up on my reading list, or having an extra long lie in followed by a day pottering about the flat. Listening to records, organising my crap – basically all of the things that make my head feel clearer. Boredom usually arises when I’ve had too much time in one space – it starts to leave me with the back-to-work itch, and the drive to start creating things again. Workaholics often praise being busy like it’s the best thing ever – often this type of behaviour is celebrated because it’s useful to employees and means that everything usually gets done on time.

However, that doesn’t mean that workaholics are superhuman and aren’t at risk of burning themselves out. Balance is key, and not everyone can handle a fast paced lifestyle… 

I’m someone who is very much addicted to working, it somehow makes me feel like I’m making good use of my time on earth, and I find it hard to switch off and recognise when I need some time out. It’s important to remind ourselves that we can still work hard without having a hard time. We can be smarter when it comes to time management, and remind ourselves that we are all just doing our best with the hours of daylight we have. There are also studies to show that lazing around/doing nothing is sometimes essential to bring unconscious thoughts to the surface – perfect if you’re a creative person who’s struggling to put an idea into motion. Having a break might suddenly make everything look a little more colourful. 

If you’re feeling out of sorts and a bit on the foggy side, take a day off if you can – take time to nurture your imagination and good things are likely to happen. I am someone who is guilty of keep myself busy to ward off certain thoughts and feelings that I may not feel like addressing, but they always catch up with you eventually. I guess you could say that keeping ourselves busy is one of the best defence mechanisms we have. I have numerous friends who can’t stand doing nothing for more than a mere few hours, but I’ve seen this relentless kind of activity completely overwhelm them at times. It’s so important to have time away from our usual routines and to return to them a better version of ourselves. Or, as that cheesy saying goes, sometimes we need to fall from the mountain to realise what we were climbing for… 

Alice x

Photographs by Adriana

Trench coat | H&M

Jumper | And Other Stories

Jeans | Topshop Boutique

Bag | Simon Miller

Boots | Miista

Beret | Topshop

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