tdl:
While reading this NBN article, I came across the same concept I’ve been noticing around me more and more. “…I love the gym; it’s the place where I de-stress and don’t have to think about anything.”
The only way I can run is if I have something very specific to think about to distract me. If running is on a treadmill, this means watching a TV show (note: music is rarely sufficient). If running is in a game of frisbee, that means thinking about my next move.
Why are we striving for an absence of thought? Thinking is great. Given, thinking can sometimes lead to the crazies— but that isn’t a product of thought itself, but rather misguided though. If I have some extra time and don’t want to spend it thinking about my neurosis, I read an article and think about the consequences. If that is too exhausting, I watch a TV show and think about what they’re saying. If I don’t want to think about anything, I take a nap.
To be fair, I’m not always thinking when websurfing or watching TV. In fact, I find it incredibly easy not to think. But I’m usually having more fun when I’m thinking.
When “working” boils down to thinking, you can do work anywhere. (that is, if you’re a waitress, you can’t clear that table on your commute, but if you’re a student, you can think about that problem set on the train.) Therefore, if you are like me, you feel like you “have no excuse” to not be doing work at every minute of the day.
Taking a portion of the day and blocking it off, giving yourself permission to “not think about anything” means a small vacation. some people find this on a treadmill, others find it in front of a television or around a dinner table with friends. Whatever it is, “time off” for your brain is super important, though it is not necessarily spent without thought. That television program might introduce you to a new period of history or that dinner table time might be a delicious discussion of philosophies. It’s not “not thinking” its just a different type of thought.
And you totally just started talking about this in the kitchen right now. Ha.
Ya. I agree with everything said here. But I think some people specifically strive for this type of vacation to be not a different type of thought, but an absence of complete thought. Which blows my mind.
