Raise The Rouf Health The Fading of the Attention Span
When is the last time you did absolutely nothing? No, seriously… literally doing nothing but take in the present moment with yourself. For many of us, we can’t even recall.
We live in a society that has become hardwired to have every waking second filled with something. In fact, it’s often uncomfortable when we don’t have anything to do.
Why Doing Nothing is Important
As discussed in previous posts, the importance of living in the now is essential for a fulfilling, purposeful life. Becoming comfortable with having moments in your day with absolutely no stimulus allows you to break away from the constant “go go go” state. This is important, because while stress is a natural and necessary part of life, it’s a state that we do not want to be in every waking minute of the day! Always being in a state of stress doesn’t allow the body to rest and recovery like it needs to to function properly.
Everyday Examples
Think of some moments everyday that you could start to fill with “nothing.” Whether it’s waiting in line, sitting in traffic, breaks at work, the elevator ride, the short gaps between classes, or when you’re simply just bored, it has become so easy to automatically default to pulling out our phone and sucking up those minutes scrolling and looking at other people’s lives. Now, by no means am I saying there isn’t a place for doing this, but when it becomes something that we turn to whenever we don’t have anything that we “need” to do, it can become harmful by accumulating stress and hindering confidence in ourselves.
You will find that spending a few minutes with yourself, even incorporating some box breathing within that if you’d like (discussed in a previous post), has the power to change your perspective of how you approach your days.
Wrapping Up
Initially, this is going to feel unnatural. We have developed such strong tendencies to reach for our phones, craving some stimulus at every moment of downtime we have. However, the more you do, the stronger you will feel. Gaps like these can now be a way for you to calm the body and be present with yourself, rather than add an overwhelming amount of additional stimuli to our already existing stressors!
It may seem stupid, like a complete waste of your time. However, developing and possessing comfort while doing nothing but sit with yourself is a skill that not many people possess or think about today. So, I challenge you… the next time you have those few minutes of downtime, instead of robotically filling them with media, do nothing and develop not only a strong attention span, but also confidence being alone will yourself!
It’s a fresh week! Go get yourself a win today and do something (or nothing!) to get yourself just a little bit better!
