It’s Okay to be a Fallow Field Sometimes
The wisdom of doing nothing
Hi, it’s me, your neighborhood annoying productivity cheerleader. I’ve learned something in the last few weeks — it’s okay not to push yourself to achieve something every single day. Is “write every day” good advice? Of course! Is it realistic? Well, that depends. Should you punish yourself for not being able to do it? Absolutely NOT.
I suffer from anxiety and perfectionism, all rolled up together with a bow of horrific, crippling guilt on top. So when I get up at 6:45 in the morning, my whole day is GO GO GO until I pass out, exhausted, somewhere around 1 am. That’s IF I fall sleep — anxiety likes to keep me awake, worrying about what I will have to do the following day or what I didn’t achieve today.
In these strange and unprecedented times, we are asked to cope with or even ignore an ongoing, mass trauma, and to try and be as productive as we were not that long ago. Don’t hold yourself to the standards of the world as it was three months ago; that world is gone.
Don’t punish yourself for not being “productive,” and don’t internalize capitalism so hard that you think you’re only valuable when you’re accomplishing something or making money. My god that’s unhealthy.
