On stress and how doing nothing can help you with your well-being.

Many years ago, in my early twenties, I had an acute pain in my shoulders, so I booked myself a treatment with a physiotherapist. He said: “Your shoulders are extremely tense, are you stressed?”. I told him that there are so many things that I had to do, and that my to-do list was always endless. “Well, you must have one day a week, when you do absolutely nothing“, he said . Then he added: “Just like taking a page out of your calendar. You need to learn to do nothing”.

That was a statement that surprised and bewildered me. How can I do nothing? Even worse: do nothing or a whole day!? But I did try it. Small steps, one at a time. It took me some time to perfect my self in this new skill: sit and do nothing. As a result, I started to listen to music and do for walks on the very busy days. I started to draw, paint,  read novels on weekends. Later, through my career as a psychologist, I learned about the science behind the effects of relaxation and its importance for well-being.

So,  physiotherapists advice on learning “to do nothing” was a start of my personal journey in learning to relax and sometimes I give this same message to my clients who suffered from acute stress. “Doing nothing” can be as little, as taking a pause at work: It could be 15 minutes long, but where “musts” or “shoulds” do not apply.

Surprisingly, it can be really difficult if you are not trained in “doing nothing” discipline. What holds us back are often our internal barriers. But this will be a theme in another blog. I would like to say bye for now and thank for reading this post.