The Life Sabbatical: Is Doing Nothing at All the Secret to Happiness?

YYou might imagine that if you want to escape your everyday life, you might have to move to a farm in the Hebrides or attend a series of rejuvenating retreats. But according to Emma Gannon’s new book project, A Year of Nothing, it could be as simple as staying home. “I did nothing,” Gannon wrote. “I stopped answering emails. I used my savings. I slept. I borrowed a friend’s dog. I ate bananas in bed. I bought miniature plants. I read magazines. I lay down. I didn’t do anything. It felt completely strange to me.”

For Gannon, the sabbatical was forced after she experienced burnout caused by chronic exhaustion from work stress. “All this time I kept diaries,” she says. “Writing down the ‘nothingness’ of my days. I wrote down all the things that stood out to me, the things I usually ignored, the people I met, the kindness of strangers, the magical coincidences – the tiniest, tiniest glimpses of cheer.

Am I the only one who feels a wave of jealousy when I read Gannon’s litany of aimlessness? It’s not even like I need a break. I recently went on a relaxing holiday to Málaga. I admired the Center Pompidou, stared at the sea, at the distant haze of Morocco and slurped bitter orange-filled dark chocolate from the supermarket. In other words: bliss. When I returned after two weeks, I jumped back into my working life recharged and ready to get to work. But inexplicably, days later I found myself intensely longing for more free time and experiencing a mild dissatisfaction that only grew in the days that followed.

Was I having some kind of existential breakdown? I turned to the psychologist Suzy Reading, author from Rest to Reset: The Busy People’s Guide to Taking Purposeful Breaks, for advice. She suggested that, like many people, I probably have trouble determining what kind of rest I need. “For people who do a lot of socializing and interacting with other people for work, they may find that what they actually need to supplement is silence and solitude.”

This certainly struck a chord with me, an extrovert who gets energy from being with others, but I was skeptical that spending time alone could be rejuvenating. “If you’re having trouble recharging, you can start by thinking about how you normally use your body and mind. Ask yourself: What types of environments do you find yourself in on a daily basis? says Reading. She cites the example of a teacher who spends all day guiding and directing others. In that case, taking a break might mean letting someone else make the decision, even if it’s just about where to eat.

“Many people often confuse resting with sitting quietly. But since many of us spend our working lives sitting and staring at a screen, for some a better form of rest may involve listening to music or doing some form of exercise. For some people, rest can mean taking on a creative project that allows them to express themselves in a new and different way.

Taking a very large chunk of time off, perhaps a year, is obviously not financially feasible for most of us. But the good news is: it’s not necessary. “The key is to take some time away from the hustle and bustle of life to regain some head space,” says Reading. “When we take the time to step away from our routines, it gives us the opportunity to realize what we can’t wait to get back to. It can help us appreciate the things we really enjoy.”

This all sounds great, but my Calvinist work ethic is too strong to take more than a day or two off. “Even though my book is called A Year of Nothing, you can just do nothing for a weekend,” Gannon suggests, although she warns that this can lead to resistance. “People always ask me what I’m going to do on the weekend and I regularly say: ‘Nothing’. The answer is often, “You probably have some plans,” and I answer, “No, none.”

Some people even find that taking time out leads to an increase in productivity. Tamu Thomas, the author of Women who work too much, believes that as a society we do not value peace and quiet. “We have to understand that this is the driving force behind everything else in our lives. There’s an American sports coaching rule that says, “The rest is as important as the race.” It’s so true.”

A former senior social worker, Thomas was conditioned from an early age by her family in Sierra Leone to prioritize productivity and performance over relaxation. She began researching the mind-body connection by getting plenty of rest after suffering a severe panic attack, before giving evidence in a high-profile case. “I discovered the work of physician and researcher Saundra Dalton Smith. Her Ted talk explains that we actually need seven different types of rest: physical, mental, emotional, sensory, creative, social and spiritual.”

Thomas notes that for many of us, especially women, emotional peace is often the most overlooked. “For those of us who have been conditioned to over-function and who believe that our worth comes from caring in every area of ​​our lives, emotional rest is one of the most necessary forms of break. To address that, you need to start by identifying the people who are endangering your emotional well-being and then make choices about whether you want to continue hanging out with those people.

Taking time out of your day to make your responsibilities a regular part of your life can be helpful, even if that poses logistical challenges. Shirley-Ann O’Neill, arts advisor and director of the Association of Visual Artists, organizes her life around taking a reset week every seven weeks. “I consciously leave my calendar open with no set plans, allowing for spontaneous moments of rest and rejuvenation. I enjoy a relaxing morning with a cup of tea, taking gentle walks in nature to clear my head, engaging in creative pursuits such as journaling or painting, and taking impromptu trips to explore new places or try new cuisines . I’m a busy mother of three, so this really helps me rest. At first I felt guilty; now it is an absolute must.”

Sometimes it takes a traumatic life event for a person to realize they need to take a step back and set new priorities. When she lost her mother and then a close friend, health mentor Sophia Husbands decided to make 2023 a reset year. “The circumstances made it inappropriate to fly anywhere,” she said. So she took radical steps at home. She used her savings and scaled back her freelance work so she could reevaluate her life. She reviewed her core values ​​(a preferred coaching exercise). personal development authors such as Brené Brown) and executed a relationship audit. “I looked at all the people in my life and asked myself whether they made me feel neutral, depressed or uplifting. I analyzed both old and current relationships and identified who did not make me feel good. I decided to kill people who didn’t serve my interests, and I felt much better.”

I decide to reset myself and plan a mini-sabbatical on Sunday. Unfortunately, I quickly realize that unless I impose a structure of aimlessness from the start, I run the risk of being stuck in doomscrolling. I go back to Gannon, who suggests, “Look at your journal and ask yourself: What can you get out of it? Find things you want to cancel. It may surprise you, because many of the things we feel obliged to do, we actually don’t have to do at all.”

I find this surprisingly difficult. I don’t like letting people down, but I’m going to continue anyway, although I do justify it because it’s for an article. “Sorry, I can’t come, I have to work,” I say to a family member, and then to a good friend I was so looking forward to.

I take an aimless walk to a park I rarely visit. It is a gloomy day, but still surprisingly beautiful. I sit on a bench and watch the world go by, then go home and wonder how on earth I’m going to spend the evening.

I iron more than I managed the rest of this year, and then I go through the laborious process of repotting a snake plant. How come it’s only 7pm?

To be honest, I go to bed early feeling like this has all been a huge time-wasting exercise and I’m feeling quite grumpy. The next morning, however, it’s a different story. For once, I slept well all night and had an unusually vivid dream that provided the solution to a problem I had been struggling with for a while. That morning I have an idea for a new project. As I go about my day in an unusually cheerful mood, I realize something I’m sure wise sages have always known: doing nothing can be surprisingly productive.

A Year of Nothing, a two-book special by Emma Gannon, is available in limited quantities until June 4 Pond Project.