Is
“doing nothing” a good use of your time?
Is
doing nothing a good use of my time? Well, that depends. What do you mean by
“nothing”?
As
defined by Merriam-Webster, nothing can mean “of no interest, value, or
consequence.” According to this, I don’t ever really do “nothing,” as
practically everything I do is of some interest, value or consequence to me. In
this sense of the word, I never really do “nothing.”
When
I think of myself as “doing nothing,” it usually means me lying down and listening
to music. I’m doing nothing productive at the time, but doing it is very
important to me. In fact, I can do “nothing” for hours at a time if given the
opportunity.
The
truth is, I am quite busy. With the combination of school, preparing for the
SAT, Boy Scouts, theater, Rube Goldberg, and all the little things in between,
I don’t have much free time. That’s why I make the most of the free time I get:
I’m not productive in the slightest. I just put in my earbuds, turn off the
light, and relax. After a chaotic day, this is a great way for me to recharge,
and be ready to take on the challenges of the next day.
The
other important thing that happens when I do “nothing” is I get a chance to
think. When I say think, I don’t mean it in the sense of thinking about how to
solve a question in school, or what my lines are, or anything like that. The
things I think about are almost always unrelated to the rest of my life, and
they range from deeply philosophical to shallow and meaningless. One minute
I’ll think about what we can discover out in space someday, and the next I’ll
be wondering why I can curl my tongue. And in my mind, both questions are
equally deserving of an answer.
The
other thing I do is I let my mind wander. I start to daydream. I imagine I’m exploring
the deep sea, for example. Then I start having questions, and I let my
imagination answer. What does the environment look like? What animals do I see?
How did I get here? How am I being kept alive? How did – OH NO IT’S TRYING TO
EAT ME!!! GET AWAY YOU FREAKY FISH!!! Where was I? I can’t remember. Oh well…
Anyways,
I love to “do nothing,” because it really helps me to relax and recover form a
long day. At least, by my definition of “nothing”…
I thought that your essay was really good, especially the funny part at the end. I think that you hit the nail on the head when you talk about how you don't need to be productive for your time to be spent wisely. One suggestion I have is to make it a little more personal. Maybe talk about specific times that you've needed to relax and recover and what you did to do that. But, overall I think this is a great start for an essay, especially because of the humor that you use :)
ReplyDeleteI like the idea you've got here, especially given that I too chose to point out how important the definition of "doing nothing" is. Rather than standing around, drooling from the mouth, relaxing in your room, listening to music is certainly a beneficial form of "doing nothing", one that I indulge in quite frequently. Solid piece with a nice, relatable, conversational tone.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you started out the essay by defining "doing nothing" so you know that you and the reader are on the same page with what you are explaining. I like how you sort of gave an example into your thoughts in the third to last paragraph but I think you could expand on that more. Instead of just saying oh what will we discover in space, maybe also talk about what you came up with as answers to those questions that you had? I also liked the casual tone you use throughout and the humor at the end. Over all good job!
ReplyDeleteI think you do a good job of using your true voice when you write. I can hear you saying everything in your essay, in real life. The reader gets a little look into your life and what you are involved in, without being overly informed. The only thing that I might add are some more details. I like the sections about letting your mind wander. These are very telling. But I would add more to the beginning paragraphs. For example, what kind of music do you listen to usually? Why? Answering these questions can help the reader to better understand you on a slightly deeper level.
ReplyDelete