Maintaining a balance between work and personal life has become exhausting in the present world. You expect yourself to compromise with your sleep and self-care. However, sometimes it’s necessary to sit back, relax and do nothing. In this blog, I am sharing 11 feasible ideas, to find out what to do when you feel like doing nothing.
Once in a while, do you also sense the feeling of emptiness and mystification about what’s going on in your life? You feel unmotivated and apathetic. The feeling of confusion troubles you.
You’re not alone. At times, it is normal to feel like doing nothing. It’s a temporary feeling. Often, the mind relies on so many things at a time that you get confused and exhausted.
There are days when you feel tired and low. You might get stressed from doing so many things at the same time. Even if you try to do everything by yourself, you end up doing nothing.
This situation seems daunting. But the only way to deal with it is to take a break and rest. Give time to your body and mind to heal. Be kind to yourself like you would be to someone you love. Surrender all your thoughts and relax.
Hence, in this blog, you will learn the 11 practical ideas to try, when you feel like doing nothing.
What To Do When You Feel Like Doing Nothing? 11 Simple Things You Can Try
Accept yourself the way you are and believe that you can rise from anything. You will welcome anxiety and stress if you push yourself too hard.
Always working out of your comfort zone and keeping high expectations from yourself can lead to stress. If you don’t get the desired results, it leads to discouragement.
Our brain reacts very fast to fears and emotional things. These factors boost exhaustion and make you feel like doing nothing. Negative thoughts are a natural human experience. Battle with it and remind yourself of your positive traits.
When you feel like doing nothing, just be present at the moment. You don’t have to be productive. Release every expectation from your mind. Doing nothing might sound difficult, but it is not. However, the only way to deal with this feeling is to let go. Refrain from imagining any worse scenario for yourself.
So, here is a list of soothing ideas you can try if you feel like doing nothing:
11 Simple Things You Can Try When You Feel Like Doing Nothing
Often there are situations where you try to be excellent at everything and get so excited about it. Suddenly, at the very next moment, you feel lost. You feel clueless about where to focus and what to start from. This might bring lots of anxiety.
This situation may also arise when you are busier than usual. Eventually, you start to experience apathy, lack of motivation, and low stamina.
Productive activities might be different for everyone. Here are 11 fruitful recommendations you can try when feel like doing nothing:
1. Take A Good Rest
It is necessary to take a pause and relax in your life. Give a break to your body and mind. When you feel overwhelmed, merely be present at the moment and just exist.
Energize your mind with a power nap. Appreciate yourself for previous achievements. Don’t indulge yourself in any stressful situation. Take a leave from your regular responsibilities and let yourself rest.
Allow time for your body and mind to take a rest so that you can pursue those future achievements. This way you also prevent burnout.
2. Develop Self-Compassion
Acknowledge that your experience is a part of human life. Your own negative opinion about yourself can harm you. Don’t be so hard on yourself, and believe that you’re doing the best you can. Your self-criticism can ruin your peace of mind. Be compassionate to yourself.
It is okay to have failures in your story. Focus on the bright side of the situation. Celebrate the opportunities you have had. Sometimes all it takes is a mindset shift.
Try to get a fresh perspective because often, difficulty is all in your mind. Change your perception and look for good. It will help you to improve your mental well-being as well.
3. Seek Help
You may need an empathetic approach to encourage more positivity in your life. A friend or anyone you can talk to. Ask for help if needed, and always remember you are not alone.
Even if you want to distance yourself from people, hide away so you don’t have to socialize. But not for the long term.
If you occasionally feel like doing nothing, it’s completely normal. But if this continues to be more than two weeks, then you may need a therapist.
4. Explore Nature
Staying close to nature improves physical and mental well-being. It makes you feel automatically calm. Nature is a great place to heal and recover.
Go for a walk in the garden, or visit a local nursery. It will help you to reset your mood and boost your emotional well-being.
The healing power of nature is also beneficial for physical well-being. It prevents diseases and promotes a healthy lifestyle.
5. Journal All Your Thoughts
Start journaling about what you’re feeling without any judgments. Take a white sheet and pen, and start writing your thoughts. You can also create your DIY journals if you wish to explore your creative side.
Pour everything you have in your mind into that blank sheet. Either write the things you are grateful for or just let your thoughts flow. By doing this, you get to know which thought has been haunting you for so long. If you still feel clueless about it, you can check out my free list of +200 journaling prompts to begin with.
Make a habit of practicing gratitude in your day-to-day routine. Be gentle to yourself and believe that it’s okay to struggle. Note down every good time you have had in your life.
6. Meditate
Meditation helps to regulate your emotions. It is a great way to purposefully utilize your time, even if you feel like doing nothing. Meditation can benefit you from getting free from the feeling of burden and emptiness.
Meditation helps to deal with your stress and anxiety. Moreover, it improves your focus and memory and enhances productivity to work hard. Mediation is the key to connecting with your inner self.
When you pratice meditation, you are shortening your telomeres
7. Enjoy Your Favorite Music
When you feel like doing nothing, listen to your favorite music. Music fills the silence. It soothes the mind and heals the heart. It also helps to endure and balance your emotions.
Music is a prominent therapy option to reduce anxiety, as well as improve sleep quality. Music has the power to make you smile and calm your souls.
8. Listen To Podcast
Listen to your most loved creator or industry leader without doing anything. Listening to podcasts serves great benefits for you. Besides this, you must have heard books are people’s best friends. Audiobooks are a great option to use when you feel like doing nothing.
9. Self-Care
Self-care is a helpful approach to show love to yourself. Protect your happiness during stressful times, and pamper yourself with self-love.
When you feel overwhelmed, take good care of yourself. Prioritize yourself and do the things that make you happy.
There is a famous saying, “Letting yourself be forgiven is one of the most difficult healings we will undertake. And one of the most fruitful.”
10. Avoid Any Toxic Content
You shouldn’t consume any content that makes you feel negative about yourself. Avoid content that feels like a comparison or failure. According to statistics, 45% of people cannot go without checking social media for more than 12 hours because they’re afraid of missing out on event updates, irrespective of how it makes them feel.
When you don’t want to do anything, motivational content may also not work for you. Hence, when you feel like doing nothing, the most important thing to avoid is the use of social media, to not worsen your feelings by feeding yourself anymore Iies.
11. Emotional Acceptance
Emotional acceptance is the art of admitting your emotions without judging them. There is no need to escape from your emotions. Practice self-compassion and make space for emotional pain.
If you learn to regulate your emotions, it benefits you with less distraction. It helps in self-soothing and encourages self-love.
These were 11 simple approaches you could take when you feel like doing nothing. Now, let’s take a look at the 5 causes that give rise to the feeling of exhaustion, due to which you feel like doing nothing.
Why Do You Feel Like Doing Nothing?
Here are the 5 causes that make you feel like doing nothing:
1. Lack of Purpose
It is essential to have a purpose in your life. If you don’t have a purpose and passion to follow, then this could be a reason to feel clueless. You start to think that there is no meaning and direction to your life.
Your dissatisfaction and restlessness increase. Anxiety and fear will get hold of you. Eventually, this makes you feel like doing nothing.
2. Overwhelmed By Negative Thoughts
At times, you set your expectations too high and want to excel in every situation. The moment you fall short of your expectations, it becomes very tricky to handle these feelings.
The burden of responsibilities and disappointment bring anxiety and doubts. These negative thoughts affect your mindset and compel you to feel like doing nothing.
Understand the significance of regulating your emotions to handle difficult circumstances. If you fail at this, your feelings pile up as you experience a flood of negative thoughts. Later, you feel fatigued, exhausted, and unmotivated.
3. Burnout
Burnout is when an individual works for extended hours without taking any breaks. This leads to low productivity, low energy, and exhaustion. A person becomes emotionally drained. This encourages the feeling of tiredness. Therefore, you feel like doing nothing.
Here is a tip to maintain your productivity at work:
Follow the Pomodoro Technique- Work for 25 minutes and take a five-minute break. Repeat this four times, and then you can take a long break.
This way you won’t get unproductive and will get time to rest as well.
4. Trying To Be Perfectionist
Setting high expectations for yourself might lead you to feel stuck. By any chance, if you fail to accomplish those standards, it will give rise to disappointment.
Understand that it is not necessary to be perfect. Life is all about ups and downs. If you celebrate your achievements, you should also learn to deal with failures.
Start embracing your imperfections. You don’t have to be perfect to inspire others. This way you can avoid feeling empty.
5. Lack of Motivation
Find something that excites you to work, learn something new, and help to build relationships with others. Lack of motivation will only harm your mental health.
You start to feel like nothing interests you. There is no enthusiasm and you tend to experience lots of stress. At last, you will begin to feel like doing nothing.
Perhaps, the lack of motivation may occur because you focus more on the problems, not on the process of working on your goals.
Conclusion
An unnamed feeling arises within you and leaves you feeling apathetic. You are left with emptiness and you feel like doing nothing.
You feel bored, fatigued, low, and nothing excites you. The activities you loved doing before, don’t excite you anymore.
To curate these emotions, embrace the highs and lows in your life. Remember, that time passes. Nothing is permanent. The overwhelming feeling is also temporary. Learn to be more patient and calm in your life. Be grateful for the opportunities and good times.
Find a purpose and motivation to keep going. Be empathetic to yourself. Practice positive affirmations daily and avoid any negative self-talk. Opt for a mindful approach to deal with your emotions.
Eliminate loneliness by setting priorities beforehand. Get organized and schedule your tasks. Practice a conscious effort to acknowledge difficult situations and emotions. Learn the art of emotional acceptance. Besides this, keep reminding yourself to prioritize self-love.
Hence, pick any activity and amuse yourself when you feel like doing nothing and constructively utilize your time.
