About doing NOTHING!

On what was suppose to be yet another relaxing Sunday afternoon, I realized that its time for something new. I need something to fill my day, something to devellop my writing skills (and my English) and last but not least a bit of activity to keep my brain busy... Therefore this new - and for me exciting - Blog!
For the past month (or two... actually soon to be 3!) I've had the priviledge to take time off from work, take a deep breath and a big step backwards and have a serious look at my life.

The first couple of days of my retreat I was not really able to rest (keeping in mind that I was used to working up to 50 hours a week), and within little time I found my self on a plane to Kenya, going to visit a very dear friend for 24 days. I had the time of my life, finally accepted it was time to relax, saw The Big 5, enjoyed time with my fiancee and went back to Denmark full of a new kind of energy that I hadn't felt for a while.

The whole concept of travelling to Kenya, was to do something 'special' for myself, something that I wouldn't be able to do if i worked 5-7 days a week, and while enjoying the beautifull savannah in tha Masai Mara National Park, admiring the big smile of a Masai-guide, watching the most beautiful sunrise or being face to face with a lion digesting a wilderbeast, I realized that doing NOTHING would fit into that cathegory as well.

So after a couple of days back in DK, time became such an unfamiliar factor. Didn't really do much during the day, and when talking to friends or family, they would suddenly all ask me: "So what have you been doing today?" And with a big guilt in my mind, I would answer "Nothing..." or fill in exciting stuff like "oh.. I did dishes, laundry.. bla bla bla"

But why is it that we humans (or "workaholics" like me) seem to not being able to relax, or feeling comfertable doing NOTHING? And why is it that when somebody is doing NOTHING they will soon be labeled as lazy or unintelligent, or people may wonder if you are suffering from a depresseion, got fired or caught a lifethreathning desease..?

Is relaxing such a bad thing, resting within yourself and taking time to do NOTHING?

That's what I've been doing now for a while, well needed, and I'm starting to like it, admitted! I do know that I cannot continue like this, and I do know that I will get bored at some point, not to mention the bedsores from laying on the couch all day... But right now it feels great and I feel blessed to having the option to make that choise for my self. And when asked, I answer "NOTHING" proudly!

I have finally accepted the calm dailyday and turned the restlessness into something constructive. I have never spent so much time with my self, and I've come to learn that I'm quite a nice person being one-on-one:) I will probably never get the chance again to "waste" time this way once back to work, so I feel gratefull when waking up at 9 am, turning in bed onto the other side and ressurect at 11 am after watching the matinee-tv-programs like "dr. Phill", "Oprah" and other talkshows that only "stay-at-home-mums" have the time to watch.

So when friends and family - and other busy human beings - rush out the door in the morning, miss the bus, work all day thinking to them selves if the day will ever take an end, I sit here with a smile (and my behind gone numb) on my couch, with my lap-top, blogging and enjoying the perfect coffee blend personally brought back from beautiful and unforgettable Kenya..