"The beauty of doing nothing."
So has my sabbatical period taught me so far.
I was just talking to parents of a talented 9-year-old pianist who was complaining about how their son is not practising enough. We just organised a piano recital together and Toru, my pianist friend who played for the recital, after listening to them worrying, said that he seems like a perfectly fine, normal boy and it's important for him to be a happy kid first and foremost. Something which I immediately agreed on.
Many parents, especially those with gifted children, sometimes worry that their kids may not be using their time to do "important" or "useful" stuffs and that because of that, their time and talent would be wasted. But Toru said childhood only lasts a few years and actually it's very, very short so kids should really enjoy that while they can. Ditto.
My French teacher, who is trying to write a book, called me last week and after a while she began to confess that she's been struggling with depression because she hasn't been able to write anything worthy for the past 5 weeks. But every time she tried, she felt so tired. So I told her that she should maybe take a break and not trying to do anything because even trying can be very tiring sometime. I also told her that it's absolutely all right to do nothing. She wrote me today and told me that she actually felt better after she released the pressure of accomplishment and just do things she feels like doing.
In the competitive world today, people often forget or even fear that when they do nothing, they will be left behind and life will pass them by. But I really learn from this first four months that doing nothing has its own virtue and value. Of course everyone has different idea about "doing nothing" (my idea of it consists of teaching 20 hours a week and not doing any projects), but I think the concept is to slow down and take it easy. In a way it's paying respect to ourselves and our body and not letting ourselves become machines.
I am really happy that I made that decision. It was hard at first, but with the break I actually liberate myself from that tendency to do bigger, better and more, and not taking a step back to re-think. It's always good to think, and I can say and recommend to anyone right now that it's always good to do nothing. It's a luxury. Not everyone can do that. If you have the opportunity to do it, you should grab that chance.
