I love that whoever made this list only managed to complete one task (and the easiest one by looks of things) before either throwing it away or losing it. It kind of sums up for me how we all feel we should be productive during this ongoing period of inactivity but are having varying degrees of success. Some folk are actually getting things done whilst others are permanently hovering around the contemplation stage. I am partly in the former group but frequently in the latter. Eg: I have finally painted the bedroom wardrobe (I bought the paint just under a year ago) but my summer shirts are still in the dirty laundry, yes I know, its February. Don’t judge. I figure I still got a few months till I need ’em again.
As I walk around at the mo it is very clear that people are clearly clearing out a ton of shit (can you have too many ‘clears’ in one statement? Clearly you can) While actual humans are very thin on the ground, their discarded objects are making a consistent appearance on the streets. These items have lingered in the shadows for years, niggling at us from the periphery of our consciousness to be thrown out but now lockdown has shone an unbearable light on them and they have now finally been cast asunder. (note to self: use the word asunder more) In fact, these pavement dwelling objects are about the only thing you come across as you take a break from your own steaming pile of shitty tasks.
Over the years we have all convinced ourselves that if we just had a bit more time we would finally get around to doing all those things that permanently lurk on the edge of getting done. But even after almost a year some are still very much ‘undone’. Turns out that time wasn’t the problem, it was desire. Turns out that even in the midst of the most prolonged period of inactivity in living history there are things that you simply cannot ever be arsed to do….do not see this as failure, see this as liberation. You now no longer have to concern yourself with these things ever again.
Our previous lives were chock to the brim with ‘doing things’. Let’s be honest. It was exhausting. You lunged from one thing to the next with no break, no reprieve. The in-tray was never empty. Life never stopped..or it didn’t…until now. So now that it has, why are we so desperate to fill it in the same relentless way? Why don’t we just enjoy the nothingness? Embrace the quiet? I think it’s because when everything goes still we are left with ourselves who, it turns out, are possibly the last people on Earth we want to be alone with…but what are we so afraid of? How bad can we actually be? And all we have to do to find out is to do sweet F.A. That feels very doable to me.
I think I touched on this in the last lockdown but I actually think doing nothing is very underrated in our society. I am actually now developing a book/podcast/cult called “Stop doing, start living”. I am currently at the research stage which involves doing nothing for long periods of time. It’s arduous work but very rewarding and I hope all the effort I put in now will hopefully one day lead to people putting in no effort at all…and that doesn’t just have to be my dream, that is something we can all not work towards…