This is my bed.

I spent most of last Sunday here, doing nothing.

Doing nothing but drinking ginger tea and eating fruit cake and DAYDREAMING.

For so long I thought that doing nothing was a waste of time.

In all honesty, doing nothing made me feel afraid.

Afraid of not earning enough money … every self-employed person knows that TIME IS MONEY.

Afraid of missing out … who knows what world shattering hashtag might be trending on Twitter.

Afraid of feeling lonely or bored … surely it would be way more fun to see who wants to come out to play.

But here’s what happens if you never do nothing; if you never let go of all the crutches and succumb to sweet solitude.

Your brain goes into overload, so full of ‘should‘s and ‘have to‘s that there’s no room for the fresh and the new. There’s no room for inspiration. And there’s every chance you’re going to short circuit.

As I lay on my bed, listening to music and watching the tree outside bobbing in the breeze, all the thoughts that had been cluttering my mind for the past week – about the unfinished projects, and the imminent house move, and the frickin’ cupboard that I still haven’t cleared – began filing themselves away.

I felt light and summer breezy.

The only questions that troubled me were which album to listen to next and which side to lie on.

It was blissful.

And then, completely unexpectedly, some brand new dreams began budding into life.

Instead of being plagued by ‘I should‘s I entertained myself with ‘I could‘s.

I could write this. I could create that. I could travel here. I could have an adventure there. 

It was as if inspiration had been waiting patiently for all the din to die down.

When’s the last time you intentionally and deliberately did nothing?

When’s the last time you carved a serious chunk of time out for some serious daydreaming?

When’s the last time you disconnected from the outer world so that you could reconnect with the inner?

Take out your diary now and make an urgent appointment with NOTHING.

Underline it for emphasis.

Don’t break your appointment with nothing for anything.

You’ll thank me for it, I promise.

And so will your dreams.

 

If you’re in need of some dream-spiration my new novel, The Moonlight Dreamers is available 

on Amazon here.