Doing Nothing

It’s been another long stretch of me not posting here. Must do better. Actually I have a really good excuse for my absence. For the past couple months I have been working diligently on my dissertation while also working full-time at a job that I originally thought would be temporary but has turned into something more. Time to write for myself  has been sparse, to say the least, but the good news is I’ve finally  finished the dissertation. It’s  submitted to the university and no longer consumes my thoughts and time. I’m also thrilled to report that, despite months of being engrossed in the topic, I still love social media and I still adore theatre.

I just spent over an hour writing something that, while very much on my mind, does not necessarily have a place here. There is a lot of negativity hovering in my mind because of things that have occurred around completing the dissertation but there is plenty of negativity out there, you don’t need to visit this blog to read more! So I’ll lighten it up and tell you about this crazy phenomenon that I’ve experienced every time I’ve finished up my studies. It’s called “Wanting to do absolutely nothing.”

When I was working on my undergraduate degree I could not wait for the moment I was finished so I could the read books I wanted to read, write things I wanted to write, and have time after work that wasn’t spent completing assignments until the wee hours. When that time finally came and my final portfolio was submitted, you know what I did? Nothing! Okay,  I cried because I had finally finished something I had worked for 20 years to complete but other than that I did nothing. I didn’t…no… couldn’t read. I couldn’t write. All I could do when I got home from work was veg in front of the telly! My brain was fried and it took a bit of time for it to clear up.

Two years later, I’m at the same point. I finished my dissertation in a stretch of two weeks that involved waking up early to write before work, coming home every night to work on it, and two straight weekends locked my room mainlining coffee and tea and writing and editing, editing and writing… All the work I had done for months before all came together in those two weeks and turned into something I hope will earn me good marks. It was very stressful and I was convinced I would end up getting sick afterwards because of lack of sleep and a very poor diet. Luckily, I managed to avoid illness but, wow, it’s nice to finally get a good night’s sleep.

Working like that makes you long for the normal things like reading a book or going out with friends….or just being outside! But when it was over I still couldn’t manage to do any of those things. All I could do was binge watch the 3^rd season of House of Cards, re-watch several seasons of Doctor Who and, oddly, knit. I spent my entire first weekend of freedom in the same room I had locked myself in for the two weeks prior and did pretty much nothing. Sure, I knitted two hats and am now caught up with the rest of the world on House of Cards but I didn’t go out and enjoy my freedom. I didn’t even make it to my writing group which I had already missed for two straight weeks.

It’s now time to ween myself off the nothingness. I live in an amazing city that is full of things to do and see. Spring is really starting to make a good showing which makes staying in my room really silly. Besides, if I don’t go out and experience things I have nothing new to write about and you end up having to read posts like this one!  Next weekend I have scheduled a few exciting things to do so, with any luck, you’ll have something more interesting to read. Until then, bear with me. Go out and do something fun. Doing nothing is needed sometimes but you miss a lot when you’re doing it.