A Day To Do Nothing

I know today is a day when you’re supposed to go out and do a bunch of things to celebrate Independence Day. But the introvert in me desperately needed some alone time. I spend most of my days at work talking and I really value the fact that, in the evenings, I don’t have to talk to anyone since I live alone. However, I’ve had family in town since last Thursday so it was day and night of non-stop conversations and lots of people to engage with on some level. The last of them left yesterday and today I just wanted to be alone.

My original plan was to simply stay in the house and work on a few projects I needed to get done, including editing pictures from my sister’s party this past weekend. But when I woke up this morning I decided that what I really wanted was a day to do nothing. No projects, no assignments, no obligations, nothing except whatever felt right for me in the moment. For a type-A person this was a lot harder than you might think. The biggest thing I had to overcome was the guilt I felt over not being productive on some level. I also struggled to keep at bay thoughts of how overwhelmed I’m going to feel tomorrow when I realize just how much I could have gotten done but didn’t. I’ve chosen to not think about it until I have to and maybe it won’t be as bad as I think it’s going to be 🙂

So what did I do on my day of nothing? Well I watched TV which I almost never do normally, mostly because I don’t have time but also because there’s never anything good on the television. Today I watched a Back To The Future trilogy marathon which was a lot of fun. It’s so funny to see their perception of the future. The second movie was based in 2015, which is only two years away, and so much of how they thought we would be living was really hysterical. I also saw Mansfield Park for the first time. I haven’t read the book but the movie intrigued me enough for me to add it to my reading list. I am also working on a 1000 piece puzzle that I haven’t touched in weeks. So today I spent some time working on it and actually made some really good progress.  I also spent quite a bit of time reading which is one of my favorite things in the world to do. I’m currently reading 3 or 4 different books (I’ve lost count which is probably slightly problematic 🙂 ) but I spent today reading Chasing Francis by Ian Cron. It’s the story of a pastor who goes through a crisis of faith and in the process of finding his way back, learns about the life of St. Francis of Assisi. It has been a really great read for me because of where I am in my own spiritual journey at the moment.

All in all it was a good day and I will do it again for sure. Not exactly sure when but I think unstructured days like this are good for me on a deeper level than I might realize.

How about you? Have you ever had a day to do nothing? How did your nothing day end up looking?